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Not Thrilled with Vandersteen 2CE Sigs - where is the first place to work on?

Trying to build up the system this year, bought some Vandy 2CE Sigs.  Have the anchors, following instructions for placement, built bass traps and a couple of acoustic panels in my medium-sized but odd-shaped basement listening area - still not thrilled.  Using laptop with Tidal and Dragonfly Red - and some stuff sounds GREAT (Steely Dan, SRV, Beck, Dire Straits, Wilco) - but disappointed in a lot of other stuff.  Some objective opinions on where my issues might lie?  Expectations too high? Hearing the truth of production variations?  Running an NAD C272 at 150WPC and an original 1979 APT Holman Pre Amp.  Not MAC, Bryston, etc - but was expecting more.  Thoughts? Rebuild/recap the APT?  Amp upgrade?  Where might the low-hanging fruit be?
gjinwi
audioconnection
1,271 posts
 
We have been selling Vandersteen for 20+ years and never had a comment they sound like “s**t”! We have sold hundreds of pairs new and previously owned in that time and experienced a few previously owned pairs that were not up to Vandersteen standards. Some examples had non OEM drivers installed or burnt parts in their crossovers because of age or abuse but still functioned albeit with substandard sound. 2Ce Sig speakers are 14-20 years old and may be on multiple owners with no one realizing something is wrong. I can assure you that if they sound like “s**t” something is amiss and they should get a complete check up.  
 JohnnyR
burtontjones
8 posts
 
Most of us audiophiles are no different than you.
We obsess until we're blue in the face.
Here's a clue I figured out many years ago:
Regardless of what all these high-end magazines and audio salesmen tell you,
You are chasing a phantom.Something that does not exist.By that,I mean  total audio satisfaction. It sounds to me like you are trying way too hard to like these speakers. I had the same problem years ago with a pair of Magnepans.
Drove myself to a slow insanity trying to figure out what was wrong.Apparently, the Vandys are not your cup of tea. No big deal. Live and learn. Move on to something else.

stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,384 posts
 
@audioconnection ,

Johnny...........those speakers are long gone now, as are the VS VR33 speakers.   It never did occur to me that the speakers could have been damaged.  They sounded distorted.  I was with my friend when he bought them up in Nashua, NH and he never changed any drivers.   He wouldn’t know how and would have had me do it.  Maybe he blew something in the X overs.  At any rate, I spent a lot of money on the rest of the system and it really did sound bad.  
jjss49's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
@stereo5 

I had 2CI’s for over 20 years and loved them. A friend sold me his 2CE’s Signature for an extremely cheap price. Replaced the 2CI with the 2CE in the exact same spots, sounded like s**t. Figured it couldn’t be the speakers so replaced all system components right down to all the cables, plus experimented with different positioning. They still sounded like s**t. Stopped listening to system for 6 months. After 6 months, tried it again and still hated them. Stupidly, I gave away the 2CI to a fellow Audiogoner for free and ended up selling the 2CE. For whatever reason, they did not sound good in my system.

I was using a 175wpc Classe’ amp and an AI Modulus 3A pre, VPI HW19mk II turntable, Pioneer PD65 CD Player, AudioQuest cables and speaker wire.  I bought Von Schweikert VR33 speakers which were an even bigger disaster.  



love it... need a laugh this evening

isn't it fun being an audiophile chasing the dream!!!  
daledeee1's avatar
daledeee1
563 posts
 
I suspect that the Vandersteen, being hard to drive, have low impedance dips that your amp may not like.   Also a moderate priced DAC and streamer would help.  For budget purposes, you could spend about $1000 on a streamer and DAC.  And find a Class AB amp that is big enough to run these speakers.  A brand new 2-3K amp with about 200 watts should do this.  Make sure the power goes up as impedance goes down.  Benchmark, Parasound come to mind.  This is probably a cheaper route than replacing the speakers.  I would give the Vandersteens a chance.  I don't think they have sold so many of them because they sound bad. 
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