I would say go for it. A couple years ago I bought some used 1C’s. Loved them from the start, so much so that I wanted more. So, only 2 months later saw a pair of 2CE Sigs available for a good price, and jumped on them. The difference is quite large, and I do not regret purchasing them in the least. You get more of ’everything’; the acoustic coupler and dedicated mid range speaker being the two differences that cannot be denied. The overall sound is simply much more ’full’, deep, and wide. My room is about 12’-6" x 17’-6" + 3’ for partial opened stair. The 2CE Sigs are on the narrow wall. No problems at all. With the tilt, and placement per Vandersteen’s guidelines, you could probably make them work even in a smaller space. I listen to a lot of orchestral music myself, along with jazz and ’rock’, and the 2CE’s are wonderful. To me, they do like power in order for them to perform more effortlessly. I ’power’ them with an old Belles 400A amp at 200 wpc. But, previous to that had a original B&K 125.2 at about 135 wpc, and that worked fine as well, but glad to have the Belles. Amp current rating is probably more important than watts. (I edited re: power as mcreyn posted).
I still have the 1C’s as rears in my HT set-up, and as back-ups should anything happen, or I decide to downsize in the future, but that is doubtful any time soon.
I still have the 1C’s as rears in my HT set-up, and as back-ups should anything happen, or I decide to downsize in the future, but that is doubtful any time soon.