Picked up a pair of Vandersteen 2Ce's (new room)

Been using my JBL L100's for a few years now and they served their purpose in my old house with a smallish listening room. They sounded fine, if not a little bright and unbalanced but good enough for rock 'n roll.

Bought a new house last year with a much bigger living room (approx 17' x 23') and the JBL's sounded terribly bright, harsh and fatiguing. Now that i have a bigger space, I figured it's time i can start playing around with different speakers. I saw a pair of Vandersteen 2Ce's used, in really nice condition, cheap price and figured what the heck and picked them up.

I read some reviews on them and figured they should sound pretty good. Got them home and hooked them up and my ears were initially shocked at the difference from the JBL's and wasn't sure I liked them. Spent a few hours getting them set up, positions, tilts, etc and have to say.. WOW! They sound great! I was surprised with how much detail they have. They also have a very nice sounding midrange and are not fatiguing at all. Much tighter bass than the JBL's but that isn't a great feat as the JBL's can tend to be a little wooly sounding. Overall, I'm very impressed and looking forward to living with these for a while. I'll also mention the room is untreated. It took a lot of fiddling to get them in a nice sounding position.. One thing i must say.. These are some UGLY speakers! =P

They're currently hooked up to a McIntosh MA6200 and an SL1200 MK2 with a Grado ZF1+ Cart with 8MZ stylus.. FWIW

Any Vandersteen owners out there have any tips for these speakers?

 

It definitely requires a little time to adjust to the sound of the Vandersteens compared to most typical types of speakers (especially older, more budget priced speakers like the JBLs). But once you have them set up correctly and become familiar with their sonic signature they really do sound quite good.

"Ugly" is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. My 3A Signatures have a similar design, and I think they look much nicer than a lot of the "cone-in-box" types out there.

 

I agree, the more i've been listening to them, the more i'm enjoying them. They did take some some time to get into and I'm still fine tuning them but i think i've got them set up fairly well. The biggest difference seems to be how much you tilt them back at a specific listening position. I'm really enjoying the sound of the midrange of these speakers. I'm assuming the 3A's are even better in this regard!

 

Those are over achievers and I think you'll love living with them. They are more refined than the JBL's with a very different presentation. They may seem a little bland at first on rock but that will be a blessing in the long run. They are music lovers speakers but they do not favor any one genre. You'll hear really the differences in various recordings.

I think you'll find them less colored and more forgiving than the JBLs. Those JBL's are classics but they are a little long in the tooth I think you've made a good choice. Enjoy them!

 

Powering my 2ce Sig II with a McIntosh MA6600 and they sound very nice indeed.

Thought about making a change last year, but in the end still love the Vandys. If ever I
was to upgrade it would more than likely be Vandersteen Treo.

Enjoy your speakers, you did well.

 

I sold one pair of my L100's and kept the other pair. I think it's more of a nostalgic connection I have with the JBLs but i think i will sell this pair as well, eventually. They just don't sound very good in a bigger room. I owned a pair of Dahlquist CA1/W1's years back but never had the space to give them a chance to sound their best, so I sold them off. I can hear similarities between those and the 2Ce's from what i remember of them but I think the Dahlquists were a bit more dynamic and punchy though.

I'm not sure if I'd call the 2Ce's bland at all. They still rock but differently. I like hearing the difference in recordings for better or for worse. They were a ridiculous value for what i paid.

Humbuster.. What other speakers did you audition before deciding to keep the Vandy's?

 

I've had a pair of 2Cs in my house since 1989. Bolted to the floor on stands filled with lead shot and sand, positioned using decent math to minimize standing wave peaks and dips, driven by a solid amp like my Eagle 2 (recapped now), and listening to good recordings through sources like my old AR ES-1 turntable or my new NAD 516BEE CD player, these speakers have never made me want to switch. This after replacing a pair of Quad ESL63s with them.

I'm an orchestra and choir teacher who spends all day with real voices, cellos, trumpets, snare drums, cymbals. My Vandersteen 2Cs provide music at home almost every evening and constantly have an almost uncanny way of getting the sound of real instruments "right."

 

I used to have a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 9s from about 10 years ago. They were decent speakers, which I picked up at a good price.
When you would start to listen they grabbed your attention because they had a little bit of extra energy in the top end, but after a short period of time they became less involving, and the mid range seemed kind of bland.

The Vandersteens didn't grab you right away, but the more you listened, the more involving they became. That mid range made a huge difference.

 

When you listen to a real cello or clarinet, you don't think in audiophile terms about it. You listen to how well the musician shapes an artistic idea with his instrument. When I coach a trumpet player I never use hi-fi terms to help him explore the possibilities afforded him in interpreting a musical line. Can you imagine? "In measure thirty, right before the sixteenth notes, give me a little more phase alignment with a wider stand stage." Ha!

That's what I like about the Vandersteens. Ever since I got them I've thought less about listening to speakers and more about listening to music.

 

Funny you should say that. I was going to say that I don't consider myself an audiophile but enjoy music, especially when it sound good! The 2Ce's don't overwhelm the music in any way.

 

I have 2CE Signatures that I am powering with a Peachtree 220 amplifier. It's 220 watts x 2 channels of solid state power. My goal is to be driving these speakers with a tube amp in the future. Hopefully a Rogue Cronus Magnum II.

 

I listened to PSB Synchrony (I cannot remember the exact model, but they were towers and retailed new for around $5K). IMHO, the 2CE were much better. When I heard the Vandys, it was game over.

 

Great speakers. Enjoy them!

 

Great find.

 

Not much one can do about the looks. I don't mind, even with them in the living room and neither does my wife (fortunately). They have been doing a great job for me for years now. Getting them out a foot or so from the wall is a necessity and I found it worthwhile to play around with toe-in a bit.

 

Do it! I'm driving my 2CEs with a Rogue Atlas and I love the combination!

 

I can imagine that sounding very good. My Electron Kinetics Eagle 2 sounds amazing too. I think one of the things that makes Vandersteens nice is that they present a very manageable electrical load to an amp and thus sound really good with just about anything.

 

I'm surprised you find them ugly. I had them for a few years back in the early nineties and thought they were just fine aesthetically. Unless the design has changed and I don't know about it. Can you post a picture from your room?

 

To answer your question I would suggest a few things:
Get them spaced as wide as possible in your room
Play with the tilt but tilted back too far is better than tilted too little
Consider bi-wiring. I really like audioquest as there is synergy with Vandersteen
You are correct to play with toe in but I have found they typically need some but not a lot. I set the toe in to have each speaker aimed over my shoulders. You will know when it's right because the soundstage and imaging will create a huge holographic experience.

Have fun!

 

Placement took a while but i settled at approx 30" from the rear wall to the acoustic center of the speaker, 5 feet from the side wall and approx 7 feet in between the 2 speakers. Listening position is around 10 feet and i tilted them back according to the manual but found they need just a touch more tilt for the imaging to come together.. I could still probably tweak the a bit but overall i'm happy. I didn't really need to toe them in any. When i tried, it seems to throw the soundstage off balance, especially vocals.

chacha, maybe 'ugly' is a bit harsh.. Perhaps 'imposing' is a better word! They definitely don't let you forget they're there!

 

It looks like your room has a lot of reflective surfaces. I think you'll find the speakers taking you to an even higher level if you can tame some of those surfaces. Throw rug. Shelf full of books and trinkets. Curtains. Anything to make the room less "live" will make a speaker with wide dispersion sound more lifelike. I've had my 2Cs in many rooms through the years and they've always sounded better in "dead" rooms.

 

William, I absolutely agree wholeheartedly.. I didn't get around to treating the room yet and I'm sure it's the reason positioning them was such a chore. I'm going to put a bass trap on the right wall to catch those reflections and perhaps 2 more traps behind the speakers. I actually have some I can play around with from my home studio. I'm going to put a thick curtain behind my listening position, not ideal but will have to do. I also have a vaulted ceiling i need to deal with. There's nothing I can really do left of the speakers as it's an open room into the dining room and then to the living room. The entire floor is very open. A nice big throw rug is on the docket as well!

All that said, they still sound pretty darn good considering!

 

Here's my room for comparison. You can't see much, but there are thick carpets, bookcases, curtains, sofas, and so on. The result is a relatively "dead" room and really good sound.

 

Is that a Bach trumpet?
Mt Vernon Strad?

 

Not Mt. Vernon. I went to Elkhart in the 80s and picked it from a long row. It really sings.