...Vandersteen DOES seem to be a polarizing company... but, I think that bad rap is due to the owner, not so much the speakers. Some say Richard himself can be a bit "abrasive"... not sure. I do know that a local dealer actually dropped the Vandy line (years ago) for Paradigm... but it was aesthetics that made that move. Many didn't like the fat Vandy look. My dealer got reamed out by R.V. himself re: the lack of sales.

The first time I heard them (1992ish) I thought they were amazing... ultra smooth, detailed, and fun to listen to. I have had a less than stellar demo of Vandy since... but, I know what they are capable of... I wouldn't judge them by one dealer demo, though.

I'll also agree with TopSpeed about Rotel being on the "nice" side of neutral... it seems it to me, as well as all the measurements. Never bright, but probably a bit dry as well.

I'll disagree with Top on the MLs... I don't find them coherent at all... probably the worst in that respect - at least the models over the smallest ( ie. Aerius..not sure what it's called now) but the larger Logans had some BIG problems to me... they also did a lotta things correctly, not enough to make me wanna buy them.

Not sure what the "proper" Vandy set up is, but I bet you will like 'em!

Let us know what you hear...