I looked at the Vandersteens, but have heard from a good number of people that they're just alright so I decided to give them a pass. I listened to a pair of Meadowlark Osprey, but they sounded pretty flat, lacked dynamics, seemed a little shrill, and were missing low-end bass. This might have been due to the setup, but it might not. I had my modded 999es, running through a Dodd tube amp, and obtained these results. I've heard great things about these speakers, but I feel like they're more suited for classical/jazz playback.
My musical tastes include electronic to rock music like autechre, coil, kraftwerk, the cure, rolling stones, roxy music, wire, brian eno, john cale, omd and the Osprey's didn't fully pick up the detailed and/or live sound of these recordings. I went ahead and bought a pair of VMPS 626R's with soundcoat, auricaps, and FST tweeter along with a VMPS 215 sub. The only way I could hear these speakers was to order them so we'll see how they work when they get here. I'm pretty excited to hear what they sound like. They get pretty much rave reviews and seem like they'll be a great match for my musical tastes, but you never know until you hear them.
