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Help, My Vandies Sizzle

Hello All, first time posting here, but have enjoyed reading all the posts for several years.
Recently purchased a pair of used Vandersteen 2Cs listed here on A-gon from a great dealer in Hollywood, Florida.
They replaced a pair of Monitor Audio Silver RX8s a few months ago.
 Dedicated listening room with a dedicated 20A circuit, 14x14x8, wood floors over concrete slab, alcoves and bi-fold closet doors allow for some respite from the dreaded "square-room bass boom", heavy area rug covers most of the wood floor, a couple of upholstered cloth recliners, and artificial trees on sidewalls at first reflection points and at front wall between speakers.
Speakers are positioned 7 feet apart, no toe-in, 2 feet from front wall, 3.5 feet from sidewalls, listening chair is 10 feet from speakers. (All measurements measured from tweeters).
Gear is Oppo 103, Krell s300i (integrated). Cables are Anticables.                                                                                   
The problem is a slightly bright sound on most discs, with a definitely hot treble on some, bordering on un-listenable.
Using the mid and treble controls, have tried reducing them by 3 dB. That helped some.
Otherwise, love, love, love these 2Cs.
Not interested in getting back into vinyl.
Will consider any and all suggestions and thank you all in advance for so much good information.

Tom
tomcarr
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,832 posts
 
When I had my 2Cs they were attached to "Supervanderstands" which were spiked to the floor.  If your stands have screwed in spikes, try turning in the rear spike completely and turning out the front spikes a bit to tilt the speakers back.

I agree with many others here who assert that 2Cs should not ever sound bright if set up properly.  After graduating to model 3s, I pined for the smoothness of the model 2 silk dome tweeter over the 3s metal domes.

I hope we can collectively figure this out.  

gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
Just to add something not previously mentioned, perhaps swapping the artificial trees at the reflection points with some kind of sound absorption might also help. 
kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
If only 1% of the music sounds harsh, the issue is not your system, its the source music and how it was recorded/mastered. You  probably don't listen to pop or R&B. If you did, that would be more like 25% unlistenable since they seem to be mastered for listening through earbuds and sound awful in good hifi.
pmotz
412 posts
 
Lots of good equipment suggestions, so I won't add to the list.   To make a bit of a leap (since you make no mention of bass issues) is given these speakers are about 35 years old it would be a good idea to check the foam surrounds to see if there is any deterioration.  The problem with Vandersteens is this is not an easy task given how the socks are installed.  You can try to look through the sock material with a bright (but not hot, don't want to damage the fabric) light to see if you can see the foam surrounds of the woofer and midrange in the front and the acoustic coupler in the rear.  Any deterioration will result in reduced output and you may be overcompensating with the volume.

tomcarr OP
1,504 posts
 
So many excellent suggestions, thank you one and all for sharing your experience and knowledge. 
I will post further with results as time and money permit.

Tom
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