How do vintage (1979) Vandersteen series 2 speakers compare near exotic speakers?
Answers: Speaker technology, at least in the lower than $1000 price range, hasn't changed significantly since 1979. The only exceptions are lightweight terracotta drivers and a lower cost/broader use of ribbon tweeters. Overall, the Vandersteens are still quite good, but if you can find anything contained by your price range with ribbon tweeters, you may want to audition them. Ribbons extend another octave or so beyond more conventional domes, and can commonly impart more detail as a result.
Those speakers are pretty sweet. You will need to place them slightly away from the wall because they are ... dipole or bipole. Sorry, too many years of following the "Dead" around & too inactive to look it up. The cool part about i.e. the sound dispersion pattern get full and cool. Almost like a wild pseudo surround.
You will want to run the 3802 on Pure Direct when you are critically listen and it will shut off the sub, so stereo will be what you use most of the time. I recommend Dark Side of the Moon. The intro to "Time" should be a great "placement barometer". A word of caution, that JBL could brand the sound awfully warm so adjust the cross over on the sub as expected.
The downside to ribbon tweeters is that they lean towards bright / harsh / tinny. I have a set of JM Labs/Focal Profile 980 (they make/made inverted dome tweeters for B&W for years) on a Yamaha Rxv1500 and the nouns is crystal clear.
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