Vandersteen speakers set up Newbie needs help Plea

If the 1C will work, of course the 2CE will work much better . . . ;-)

I'm assuming that you are wanting to switch to the Vandys to get better music over the ARs . . .I have an old pair of 2ci that I used for years as my main speakers for music and movies (2ch only). Loved them, they are now in the bedroom, but oooh what the addition of money can do . . but that's another story.

I assume that you have listened to other speakers and liked the Vandys the best.

I agree that your money might be better spent getting a Vandersteen center channel and staying with the 1C (and upgrading to 2CE later--but look for them used, and you might be able to afford them now.) Let's see, you could go ahead with the 1C and center, and then turn them into rears when you could afford to upgrade the fronts. . .

They do like a little power, tho, so I'm a little worried about driving several Vandys with a 100W Pioneer multichannel . . . but then you can upgrade THAT . . .ah fuggedaboutit.

I wouldn't sweat the cables, just use competently built ones with enough wire gauge (not the interconnects that came with your equipment. Ditto the speaker cables. Signal cable has good value in this area.

I own the Vandy 3a sigs. The 1C's are good, but since you listen to a lot of Classical I would definitely look for the *3-way* 2C
's (in whatever incarnation), used or new--they sound much larger. The Vandy's take a lot of power to run; I'm sure your amp can handle, but you might have a problem getting mixed speaker brands to blend--will one brand be louder at a specific volume than the other? You can adjust volumes individually I hope! My audiophile "pusher" said that cables don't start making a difference until about $400 and up, and no cable will make a difference unless your amp and speakers are capable of the nuance that the cables are supposed to retain in the first place. Definitely go for the 3 ways though. What's another month or two of starving? : )

I guess I qualify here on A-gon as one of the regular commenters on Vandersteen speakers (look back through my posts over the past 5 years). Based on my own ownership experiences, and a lot of listening to other people's Vandies, let me make a few comments that I hope you will find useful.
1. Although I have owned every model of Vandersteen except the Model 5's, and think highly of them all, I am not a big fan of the 1C. I think there are too many speakers in the 1C's price range that are better (the PSB and Paradigm models come to mind), and if you want to get into TRUE Vandersteen performance, you need to start with the 2Ce (and preferably 2Ce Signatures).
2. I own a Vandersteen VCC-1 Signature center channel speaker, and have been generally pleased with it. I have friends, however, who bought the VCC, did not care for it, and subsequently sold them and got something else. The VCC-1 does provide good, balanced sound, and its coax design yields a true point source from a relatively small enclosure. The MSRP, however, is a bit high for its performance level, so if you plan to get a VCC-1, I strongly recommend you find a used model (typically in the $300 range). I do NOT recommend the Vandy VCC-1 Signature: it simply is not worth its high price tag.
3. If your surround system provides for a phantom center channel output, and your main speakers are not spread too far apart, then you may want to delay the purchase of the center speaker and spend the extra money on a pair of Vandy 2Ce Sig's, particularly given your intent to listen to 50% classical music. The 2Ce's will do a MUCH better job with full-range music than the 1C's, and a good phantom center channel setup can be surprisingly good (based on my own experience with phantom center channel for 2 years). There are some audio critics and reviewers who have even stated that they find a good phantom center channel setup preferable to a mediocre discrete center channel.

Well thank you all for your help. So if I go with the 2CEs (probably not signature though as I can't see them used anywhere) is it the consensus that I'll need more power for a 5.1 set up (with the ar speakers in back for now)? The Pioneer Elite is rated quite highly but maybe that doesn't matter??
If I do need more power (how will I tell that) what can I add to the present pioneer receiver to increase the power (wattage or whatever you call it) that won't cost too much and I can likely get used? Also, should I be bi-wiring the Vandy 2s? Thanks alot everyone!

Mary- You will either need to biwire the Vandys or use a jumper. I'd recommend biwiring. The only way to get more power out of the Elite is to take the front L&R signals from pre-amp outs (if available) to a separate amp for the Vandys.