Vandersteen 2CE Signature III — video review on YouTube by Steve Guttenberg (1/15/2023)

I remember that some criticized Vandersteen speakers for being "rolled off" in the highs.  To me, I owned three pair of the 2s over the years, they were natural sounding.

But about that time in the '70s there was increased demand for MC cartridges, many of which had a rising high end in their response.  So I suspect that increased, sometimes false, sense of detail from a brighter high end became a popular norm.  Then any speaker which did not match that characteristic was criticized by many folks.

I currently have the Vandersteen 2ci and do agree with everyone here that they have a rolloff top end. I also read that the tend to be on the warm side but i dont know if that is true. I personally think that the older are voiced to be a balance speaker.  When I did a room response, I hve notice that it starts to roll of gradually maybe 6db/oct at about 8k. 

Voicing the speakers was done right with the older Vandersteen as well as having time aligned. 

I think that some older speakers weren’t capable of true high end extension, which allowed the rising high end of many mc cartridges to gain in popularity. Later with more capable tweeters and the entrance of CD’s this was altered.

I do know that MY hearing (at age 65) at high frequencies has been rolled off! I can hear maybe to 12,000 Hertz now. So I laugh when I see speakers that tout specs of 30,000 HZ frequency extension. What’s the point? Give me amazing performance between 30hz and 15,000 and I’m good. Am I wrong?

^You might not be wrong for you, but for others, missing sound beyond the limitations of FM could be lacking. Furthermore, there something to be said for the wiggle room beyond the limitations of hearing.