Vandersteen 1C to 3A Signature

Excellent advice thus far. I moved from my 1C’s to 2CE Sigs in a matter of a month (got very lucky with someone selling his 2’s for a very very fair price), seriously, as I fell in love with the 1’s sound and wanted more. You would not loose anything moving up, IMO, only gain more of what you already like about the 1’s.

The 3’s should work nicely for you if the price is right, but as Jim @tomic601 stated, the new 2 model III’s sound to be an incredible solution as well, as would be the Treo’s, but I would assume a larger investment.

I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them. BTW, I still have the 1’s as ‘rear’ speakers in my HT set-up, and comforted in that they are solid back-up speakers as well. I had to do that while getting one of my acoustic couplers repaired. Was nice to have them at the time, but could not wait to get the 2CE Sigs back in operation. Big difference.

I would call John Rutan at the Audio Connection in NJ he's a dealer but also a great guy I'm sure he can answer all your questions.

I auditioned the Treo CT and the newest 2CE Signature III against each other for a long time, and chose the new 2CE to replace a 20 year old pair. At the time I was considering a like-new pair of Treo CTs (1 year old, $6000), and I still second-guess myself for not getting them. They don’t come up for sale often.

I think the newest 2CE is arguably a better speaker than the 3, and my dealer said the same thing. It’s certainly a better value. I would get the Treo CT instead of a pair of 3’s for sure.

Virtues of the 2CE Sig III:
* Price ... a superb value.
* Better bass extension than the Treo (though the bass the Treo has IS superb)
*Same mid-range drive as the Treo CT, iirc

Virtues of the Treo CT:
* Gorgeous speakers, and much better spouse acceptance factor esp. for a living room
* More solid cabinet, fewer resonances
* Carbon tweeter. My 63 year old ears couldn’t hear much difference between it and the 2CE, and the midrange of the two seemed equal. Said to be a better tweeter by "everyone" though.
* Can be placed closer to the wall without messing up the bass response

The salesman at my dealer owns a pair of 2CEs that he has paired with $20k of amp and preamp, and he says they just sung beautifully. With every improvement to the front end, the speakers rose to the occasion. When I was trying to choose, he warned me that the Treos might reveal deficiencies in my front end more than the 2CE’s did, which meant upgrading everything and I couldn’t do that. The other salesman there has Treo CTs to which he’s added a pair of subwoofers (the alternative could have been the Quatro CT), with an Audio Research front end and Chord Hugo TT2 DAC, and he says it’s magical. More $$ than I have!

I am in the process of investing about $10k in amp/preamp or integrated soon, and I think the 2CE’s will rise to the occasion. Of course, that’s pocket change for some of you! Maybe later I will switch to the Treo CT. Maybe.

Long-winded tale, taking it FWIW. Good luck.

@patrickdowns

Thanks for your opinion of the new III’s. Since they came out, and have received so many glowing reviews, I am really thinking about the new 2’s as a replacement for my older Sig’s. 

The 2CE Sigs do fit my space/room nicely, and I’m not sure I could do a lot better than the III’s for the money.

+1 on contacting John Rutan (audioconnection).
+2 on looking at the Treo's
I own the non-CT version (after owning the 3a sigs), and find them to be significantly better- sound wise.
@patrickdowns,
Nice Post!.
Bob