Replace Vandersteen 2ces?

[Dennis W]

Been upgrading now that I’m stuck working from home so much. I have cxa 81 w/ it’s internal DAC for streaming from my MacBook Pro and for use w/ my cd transport, and for vinyl I use SL1200G through a CA Duo. Have a pair of Vandersteen 2ces. Like them, but for the tweeters. I know, I went backwards and should have started with speakers, but I was trying to solve streaming issues and this is where I’m at.

Room is 14x32 - open floor plan w/ normal height ceilings. But listening spot is 10’ from speaker fronts on short throw of room.

I listen to everything, except very little classical. Mostly jazz, hip hop, reggae, all rock indie to metal, ambient, dance.

Live in Vermont. So not many options to review speakers even w/o COVID. But, I’ve read a ton and compared speakers on Crutchfield with their listening tool. I don’t want to lose my bass, but I do have an SVS PB2000 Premium. I REALLY want better clarity on the tweeters. Maybe MA Silver 500 or Focal Aria 948. Thoughts?

 

[Dswankey]

Have a pair of Vandersteen 2ces. Like them, but for the tweeters....I listen to everything, except very little classical. Mostly jazz, hip hop, reggae, all rock indie to metal, ambient, dance....I’ve read a ton and compared speakers on Crutchfield with their listening tool. I REALLY want better clarity on the tweeters. Maybe MA Silver 500 or Focal Aria 948. Thoughts?

How long have you had the Vandersteens? is the tweeter issue recent? have you contacted Vandersteen?

 

[Dennis W]

Someone in another forum reminded me about the rake angle. Had rearranged my entire setup, changing the listening distance from sixteen to ten feet BUT forgot to change the angle. Completely cleaned up. Phew.

BTW, these are the original 2ces. This particular pair was built in 1996.

 

[trinhsman]

Vandy 2CE’s are very nice. I owned a set. I’ve also heard the Aria 948. IMHO the Aria blows the Vandy out of the water. I now own Tekton Double Impacts. Size is a little issue, but I love the sound. I also listened to the Von Schweikert Endeavor III’s and loved them, but too much money. Same with Tannoy DC-8T’s. The crazy thing with all of this is I recently found a vintage set of DCM QED Speakers for next to nothing at a thrift store. My wife loves them. They are probably one of the more musical speakers I have ever had, regardless of money spent. I was going to flip them, but have decided to restore the cosmetics fully and keep them. Just my 2 cents on this stuff.

 

[Splatter Pak]

Try a different amp. My Vandersteen's are somewhat lowly 2C's but they sound great to me. I tried them with a variety of amps, even biamping at almost 300 wpc total power. The best amp I found was a (mere) 50 wpc Proton AA-1150. It makes the Vandy's sing.

 

[goodolpg]

Someone in another forum reminded me about the rake angle. Had rearranged my entire setup, changing the listening distance from sixteen to ten feet BUT forgot to change the angle. Completely cleaned up. Phew.

BTW, these are the original 2ces. This particular pair was built in 1996.

Toe in/out.
Angle up/down.
Listening seat forward/back.
Speaker separation closer/farther apart.
It's amazing the changes to the perceived sound a movement, even a small one, can make.
And it's free.

 

[Dennis W]

I like free! (Although found those Focals for almost 50% off which is dang tempting - under $2500!)

Just separated the Vandys 2 feet more, placed the sub between them, and toed them a bit. Forgot playing around with placement of these things (and the correct angle) could make all the difference in the world - and it has.

 

[Dennis W]

Try a different amp. My Vandersteen's are somewhat lowly 2C's but they sound great to me. I tried them with a variety of amps, even biamping at almost 300 wpc total power. The best amp I found was a (mere) 50 wpc Proton AA-1150. It makes the Vandy's sing.

Now that I’ve done some playing around and fixed the angle this cxa81 is killing it! Totally different experience.

 

[pyoung272]

Also remember to experiment with how far the speakers are from the back wall. My experience is that vandys likes to be away from the back wall. At least 3 feet. Too close to the back wall the soundstage sounds flat but once out in the open, the vandy magic comes thru.

 

[SleeperSupra]

You should consider selling your Vandersteens and buy a pair of ESS air motion transformer speakers.

I've owned similar Thiel CS2 speakers and now own ESS AMT 1B and I'm never looking back. I've listened to the Vandersteen's extensively, as a good friend of mine has a pair, and I thought they were a little bit on the dark side compared to the Thiel CS2.

The ESS speakers blow them both out of the water, in my opinion and his too. The ESS is a much more dynamic speaker.

The air motion transformers are dipole and they have a huge sound stage. I believe they're exactly what you need for a room that size. The ESS are not a perfect speaker, as I have never run across a speaker that is perfect, but what they do they excel at.

 

[Audiofreak71]

Like some have said here positioning of your vandys are key to getting the correct sound in reference to your seating position, if they aren’t setup correctly you will be outside the window and will likely not sound right.

Do you have the base stands that are required with them? If so then your good to go for getting the rake angle correct if not then it’s highly recommended you get some for them. Lastly have you adjusted the Lpads on the rear ? You said you weren’t getting enough From the tweeters and by adjusting the tweeter Lpad you can get a bit more gain out of them.

Here is a chart for getting your speakers tilt correct per your seating position, it’s on page 8. Hope this helps.

https://www.vandersteen.com/media/files/Manuals/2ce_signature_ii_manual.pdf

Audiofreak71

 

[bimasta]

Easier to try a new tweeter than the entire speaker... especially when you like them so much.

 

[homebrew]

I'd add another SVS sub if I could. Unless space is at a premium, two subs will add energy and overall presence to your speakers.