From Vandersteen 2CE to Devore Gibbons 8 or Focal


I presently own Vandersteen 2ce speakers and I am less than pleased with the treble response in my room (too bright). I am thinking of buying (used) either a pair of Devore Gibbons 8 or Focal 836V speakers. I will have to travel quite a distance to hear either pair of speakers, so my question is in your opinion, which speaker would be a step up for me? I am looking for a smooth sounding treble which I don't get now. I listen kind of nearfield, about 7' from the speakers. Associated equipment is Classe 15 amp, Modulus 3A tube preamp and Raysonic 168 tube cd player.

Anyonw?

Robert Vartanian
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Have you played around with speaker toe-in, placement, and/or room treatments to address the issue before thinking of switching out the speakers?
I do not think the Vandys are bright. I think something else is your problem.

Maybe a new PC would help? Speaker wire?

I have not heard that particular amp but do not especially care for Classe myself.

good luck
this a pretty good sounding speaker and would say cabling also. I switched to a SUPRA 1.6 speaker cable & it sounded incredible w/my 2c,s Good Luck
The rap on Vandersteens is always too warm, never too bright; even more so with the pre signature models. It's surprising that you're having this issue with all tube equipment. The Focals, in particular, tend toward a prominent treble. You could consider listening further back, changing interconnects and speaker cables, or even using ferrite rings around cables to block rfi/emi. You could also contact Vandersteen for their input.
I have experimented with speaker placement. My cables are MIT Terminator 2 speaker cables and interconnects. I have replaced most of my source components, in addition to the Raysonic cd player, I have a Marantz SA8001 sacd player, a Magnum-Dynalab FT 101A tuner, VPI Scout/ZU Denon 103 cartridge. I have changed tubes in my Modulus 3A from the Sovtek 6922, to the 6h23eb tubes and have settled (for now) on the JJ 6922 tubes. I switched amps from my Classe 15 to the Classe 10 in my upstairs system. I also substituted my origional Modulus 3 preamp from my upstairs system.

This all started when I replaced my Vandersteen 2ci speakers with the 2ce speakers. If I put the 2ci's back in the system, it sounds fine. I even sent the Vandersteens back to the factory for a full check up and they came back fine. All I did was waste 200.00 on shipping to and from the factory. I am also getting very tired of the Vandersteen sound since I have owned them for 17 years.