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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
jjss49's avatar
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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
570 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. 
ctsooner
2,480 posts
 
Teh Vandersteen’s are actually very easy to drive. I’ve driven them with lower and higher power amps and all have sounded incredible. I’ve never heard anyone say they sounded like crap.

Most of the time it’s poor recordings. Way too often we are hearing poorly recorded music or possibly damaged speakers or amps. It can happen with any good gear.
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
3,151 posts
 
As much as Mr. Rutan would like to believe otherwise, not everyone is a Vandersteen fan boi.
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
Do not mistake advancement of an audio system, with its thin sliced improvements in sound quality, for resolution of displeasure of the character of speakers. This applies to any brand and model of speakers.

Confusion on that point can be costly.   :)

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