Model Seven XTRM

Meet the Model Seven XTRM, the newest Vandersteen Audio flagship!  The original Model Seven was introduced in 2009 and remains firmly ensconced as a Stereophile Class A Recommendation, a perennial TAS Editor’s Choice winner, and a winner of universal praise from reviewers and consumers worldwide.  All of which is testament to the fact that the Seven was a formidable speaker to improve upon!  Vandersteen is proud to announce an upgrade to the Model Seven Product range.  This new evolution features a recalibrated internal linear 400-watt amplifier with a power-factor-corrected switching power supply, powered Counterforce Bass^TM with new Opposing 11” Side-firing Subwoofers.  Founded upon an included constrained layer damped Bedrock^TM mass loading base, the cabinet maintains the already quiet Stealth^TM carbon fiber box-in-box construction.  The 11-band EQ now yields more control into the mid-bass to bass integration for better driver transition transparency.   

Of course, the beating heart of the Model Seven XTRM is the patented carbon-fiber-clad Perfect-Piston^TM drivers that made the Model Seven a sensation.  Richard Vandersteen spent 10 years developing these amazing carbon cones, a completely original technology that realizes the dream of true pistonic linearity from dynamic driver cones without the unnatural sonic colorations inherent in metal driver cones.  A video showing measurements of this driver is linked below.

Each change contributes significantly to the overall sonic XTRM improvement.  This new model substantially improves clarity and harmonic information, better driver transition accuracy resulting in more fluid and holistic clarity.  Every pair is handcrafted entirely at the solar-powered factory in California with unlimited choices of high-gloss automotive paint.  To ensure precise response and driver reliability, one unit at a time is measured and adjusted using Vandersteen’s anechoic response measurement (ARM) and calibration.  Each piece is then explicitly matched in driver response, crossover accuracy with its twin to make a perfect stereo pair.

The Model Seven XTRM advances are rooted in our 40-year-old cornerstone concept: to design full-range, time- and phase-accurate, minimum baffle, vertical array speaker systems.  We introduced this concept with the original Vandersteen Model 2 in 1977.  The fact that narrow speakers with vertically arrayed drivers are ubiquitous today demonstrates the influence and validity of this speaker design.

Our flagship Model Seven XTRM is entirely uncolored and free of cone-imposed distortions that even the most astute listeners never identified as originating from the loudspeaker itself.  The Perfect Pistons’ startling linearity opens an entirely new window on your music collection, revealing nuances only heard by the artists and artisans who made the original recording.

PISTONIC DRIVER MEASUREMENT

Click HERE to see the complete truth about pistonic driver cones!

PAST ACCOLADES FOR THE MODEL 7

“Vandersteen Model 7 loudspeakers have played an essential role in my professional evaluation of recordings for many years.  Their utter lack of identifiable tonal coloration, as well as phase and time coherence, provides me with a clear window into the recording.  In addition, the ability to calibrate the low-frequency response to near dead flat in my room makes it incredibly easy to determine whether or not we have the overall balance of a recording correct.

Model Seven Mk II & M7-HPA Stereophile Class A Recommended Components, Editor’s Choice Award Winners!

“... high frequencies seamlessly blended with their midrange ... delicious solidity to the sound even when the recording was mono ... true full-range sound, superb transparency, and soundstaging, and a magically palpable way with recorded voices.” - John Atkinson, Editor Stereophile Magazine

2015 PRODUCT OF THE YEAR- THE AUDIO BEAT

“A genuine flagship performer, regardless of size and price, the Vandersteen Model Seven Mk II takes holistic design to another level.” -Roy Gregory,  The Audio Beat.

DESIGN MANDATES FOR ALL VANDERSTEEN SPEAKERS

Everything we do at Vandersteen Audio revolves around one simple precept… serve the source.  In the case of loudspeakers, this means faithfully preserving the waveform produced by the power amplifier, including all of the delicate time-domain relationships that comprise the recorded musical performance.

We develop and blend both engineering and technology to act as the conduit between you, the listener, and heightened satisfaction from your music collection.

Perfect-Piston™ driver diaphragms.  Vandersteen has revolutionized loudspeaker design by combining structural engineering and material technology to create diaphragms that act as perfect pistons throughout their operating ranges and beyond.  The unique diaphragm material used to make Vandersteen Perfect Piston™ Drivers marries carbon fiber and balsa wood in a unique 3-layer configuration with the highest stiffness-to-weight ratio available.  It allows all direct-radiating drivers to utilize diaphragms made from the same materials.

Bass response and harmonic response are fused in a seamless blend, maintaining full-range amplitude linearity and phase-response.

Stealth™ Enclosures.  The structure or body of a musical instrument, like a piano, violin, or guitar, is designed to add rich and pleasing resonances to the sound of the strings.  Any sound created by the structure of a loudspeaker is distortion and must be eliminated.  Vandersteen Stealth™  enclosures eliminate these distortions by virtually eliminating resonances, minimizing baffle dimensions, covering the remaining surfaces with non-reflective materials, and carefully contouring all edges.  Vandersteen speaker enclosures are acoustically inert.  All structural panels are made from proprietary constrained-layer-damped materials and are heavily braced.

Creating and integrating the finest components is a start, but not good enough.  Equally important is the ability for those components to perform as designed in the presence of other elements – Vandersteen loudspeakers have established the ability to perform with organic ease and pace, with natural timbre and tonality, without compromise, in a wide variety of environments.

Subwoofers don’t simply “augment” bass.  They extend the low-frequency response of the speakers while reducing distortion in the midrange.  They are adjustable to the environment where they are implemented.

• Model 7 Absolute Sound review
• Model Seven Soundstage Review
• Ultra Audio Model Seven review
• Model Seven White Paper
• Model Seven Preview by Robert Harley
• Model Seven Manual REV1
• System Nine BEDROCK Granite base installation instructions
• Model Seven XTRM only setup sheet

• Jun 13, 2024
  Model Seven XTRM

  The Vandersteen Audio Model Seven XTRM is technically innovative, reflecting original thinking rather than following a “me-to” cones-in-a-box approach. It is the culmination of 47 years of continuous development that can trace its fundamental design principles to Vandersteen’s Model Two from 1977.

  Robert Harley

  See Full Review
• Dec 2, 2023
  Model Seven XTRM

  Richard Vandersteen and Robert Harley, Senior Editor at the Absolute Sound, discuss the Model Seven XTRM.

  Robert Harley

  See Full Review

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  M7-HPA

  Vandersteen Audio's liquid-cooled M7-HPA (High-Pass Amplifier) is the revolutionary next step in power amplifier design and loudspeaker performance. The dramatic reduction in distortion realized by Vandersteen patented Perfect-Piston drivers US patent #8320604) made it clear to Richard Vandersteen that the next frontier of speaker performance would only be achieved by designing a radical new state-of-the-art amplifier from the ground up, exclusively for systems employing Vandersteen's time- and phase-correct powered subwoofers and/or powered-bass loudspeaker systems.

  Starting at $83600.00 /pair

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  M7-HP

  This top-of-the-line High Pass Filter is specifically designed to be inline in front of your amp to roll off frequencies below 100 Hz. which are passed to the Model 7 series speakers and reconstructed in the amplifier powering the bass driver. High Pass Crossover is shown in the Balanced Configuration. The single-ended option is available at a slightly lower price. This product may be available with a discount when purchased together with a matching Vandersteen speaker.

  Starting at $3498.00 /pair

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  M5-HPA

  Combining the M5 High Pass Amplifier (M5-HPA), the included 30-inch HPA interface cable, and your Vandersteen speakers yields a fully-powered solution optimized by the factory. This eliminates the need for another amplifier and an external crossover, so plug your pre-amplifier into this M5-HPA, and you are ready to play. The Price Shown Includes High-content Silver and Copper BiWire 30" HPA Interface Cable.

  Starting at $21000.00 /pair