Owners of Vandersteen 2CE & Ayre Ax7e...


I have Vandy 2CE signature speakers and I am contemplating picking up a preowned Ax7e integrated as I have heard good things with the pairing. I do have some questions though about room size, type of music and sound character of the Ax7e. My room is a second bedroom which is approximately 11x14. Types of music I primarily listen to is pop/rock (i.e. Pink Floyd, Rush, Bowie) and electronic (i.e. Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jean Michel Jarre). How would you describe the sound character of the Ax7e when using the 2CE’s? Warm? Neutral? Is it laidback or more forward? Is it similar to anything from Krell, Musical Fidelity, Naim, Rega or Simaudio? How is the bass, midrange and highs? Associated equipment is: Arcam irDAC, Cambridge CXC transport. Cabling is Mogami speaker cable and interconnects from Jerry at 10 Audio. Thanks. 
jsbach1685
joey54,That was another question I forgot to ask... XLR vs RCA. I’ve read too that the ax7e sounds best when used with balanced gear. Mine other gear is all RCA. 
riley804,I asked about room size as I’ve also read that certain owners have reported the ax7e not having quite enough gusto to run the 2CE’s. Seems that may be the case. I used to run a Naim XS integrated on my previous 2C’s and it was 60wpc and had major gusto. I sold the 2C’s over the summer and got these 2CE sigs. The 2C’s were laid back in the mids/highs compared to the 2CE’s. So much of a difference that I find myself looking for a laid back integrated that is warm and “tubelike.” I demoed  a Musical Fidelity A5, but it seemed a little cold or sterile. I think the A300 or A308 were the warmer sounding models of the A series. Right now I’m using my buddy’s krell 400xi until I find something. It sounds good, but it too is bit forward.  


You might want to look at the Belles Aria which seems to be a good match to the 2CE’s. 
jsbach1685

The AYRE will sound best using balanced XLR connections.

Happy Listening!
@jsbach1685 

I asked about room size as I’ve also read that certain owners have reported the ax7e not having quite enough gusto to run the 2CE’s.
 
and how big were those rooms ?    your room is not all that big ( 11 x 14 ) and I am sure you are not going to be listening at high levels
This is true. When I had my 2C’s, I ran them in the same 11x14 room with a creek 4330se and naim cd3.5 cd player. That was a dream pairing and sounded wonderful together. The 4330se was 50 wpc and it too had a passive pre stage.