HOW DO THE VANGUARD LOUDSPEAKERS SOUND

These are a small speaker very much in the vein, in my opinion, of the classic sealed box speakers such as the KEF Model 102, indeed, both are pretty similar in their make-up and the size of drivers used. This is a good thing and I have a soft spot for small, infinite baffle standmount loudspeakers. I’ve always found that despite being limited in bass (you can’t beat physics with regards the size of the enclosure and no bass loading) but they often make up for this with superb imaging (which is very important to me) and a nicely integrated sound.

I allowed the speakers to break in for a bit and put them in our main system mounted on a pair of SolidSteel stands which put the tweeters exactly at ear height. The tens of thousands of pounds worth of kit before them is wholly inappropriate, of course, but I will be commenting on them used with a more modestly priced Clones audio amp in due course. However, for the main part, they are in the main system and in a pretty big room firing across the room rather than down it, around 2m apart, and a good metre or so from the rear walls and nowhere near side walls. I am aware that a small speaker like this is more likely to be used in more confined spaces than this.

Imaging, as expected, is excellent with these speakers and whilst it isn’t as good as, say, our Falcon LS3/5As there’s nothing to whine overly about here. The Renegade Sound Wave “In Dub” record has lots of sound effects and psychoacoustic effects on offer and these little speakers do a fab job at getting this across. In fact, they are very good indeed in this respect, and whilst they don’t go particularly low, I did get a good impression of the basslines on tunes such as Black Eye Boy. I’d say these are quite monitor-like in their imaging abilities with left-to-right effects being excellent and the image having decent enough depth. When warming up I found that the Vanguards were pretty insistent and grumbly that I keep the volume down, but once they loosened up I found that I could push these speakers quite hard and on the Leftfield remix of Renegade Sound Wave I could push the speakers to volumes that would be uncomfortable for long periods, without them getting too flustered. There is a point where all speakers have their sweetspot with regards to volume and the music being played and the Van- guards are no exception in this matter – they like to be pushed a little but not too much to get the best from them.

As I mentioned, I do like a sealed box speaker (infinite baffle) and it seems that the modern norm is to add loading in the form of ports which can lead, in some but not all instances, to a bass that errs on the side of one-note and a bit slow and boomy. I’d much rather have a tight and coherent bass that doesn’t go mega-low than one that is flabby and bloated. The Vanguards pull the tight, sealed box bass sound off really well and I didn’t really miss the trouser-flapping lows. In a smaller room you aren’t going to miss this anyway and it may well prove to be a benefit!

I’d purposefully chosen tunes to listen to that were demanding of smaller speakers and I think the Vanguards did a rather splendid job with electronic music with their main strengths being imaging in the left to right field. I especially enjoyed the delayed plinky-plonky delayed sounds at the start of Richard H Kirk’s Lost Souls On Funk and the way the different elements of the mix were separated into their component parts. Like I mentioned, quite monitor-like in their presentation and I could see these being used as nearfield monitors. Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene was particularly enjoyable. Tonally on electronic music like Jarre, I would say the Vanguards are quite neutral and pretty uncoloured. Detail and timbre of these electronic instruments was good through the mid-band but not (as I would determine) as accurate as say our Falcon LS3/5As, but then they cost a LOT more.

The classic BBC design and these speakers are bound to draw a comparison, and the LS3s are the only small sealed-box speaker I actually own and have to hand with which make direct comparisons, but the differences are not massive. The Falcons win the contest overall with better imaging and midband but then the Vanguards go a little lower. The difference is not equivalent to the extra money the LS3/5As cost, BUT audio and pricing NEVER works like that.

On Jazz (Kind Of Blue) I found that I needed to up the volume a little to get the best out of the Vanguards (that sweet-spot thing again) but once you get the optimum loudness the Vanguards proved to be a pleasure to listen to. Basslines stroll along and are easy to follow, there are good representations of