Vandersteen 2ce questions

I have them bi-wired with Audioquest cables. The man who sold them to me supplied them.
I may have judged them too quickly. My jamos with 2 5 and a 1/2 in drivers produced room shaking bass on most everything. Since I moved these out from the wall more, I'm getting beeter bass response. I don't know if I'm getting 30hz in my room, but I just listened to Tom Waits' Mule Variations and it was pretty massive sounding. Now I'm playing Gorillaz' 1st and it is hitting pretty low.Maybe just more revealing of the recordings than I've experienced in the past. The cars 1st album did not have the low end I got with the jamos. Playing them a little louder than I normally listen makes them come alive more as well.
Its funny because I've been reading Audioreview and the folks either say massive bass, or no bass. They also said to live with them awhile and their strengths become more in focus. I am experiencing that. The fact that I have not stopped playing them is a good sign. Watching football with the sound down.

I don't remember your Jamo's, but often manufacturer's will add a mid-bass bump to the output in attempt to fool the listener into believing there is more bass output than is truly there with some of their smaller speakers.

I had the 2ce 's back in the 90's. I don't remember them being bass shy and I had them a ways from corners.

Double check your speaker cable wiring on both the amp and speakers and make sure you have all + to + and - to -. It's easy to make a mistake and bi-wiring makes it even easier.

Also put your ear up to each woofer and verify that you have sound coming out of both. Good luck.

I have a pair of 2CE Signatures. I really, really like the Vandersteen products. I drive mine with a McCormack amp that puts out 185 watts per channel. They do like, and benefit from a decent amount of power, and they are not extremely efficient. My first thought is that the Jamo speakers were more efficient and gave you more output from the NAD receiver, whereas the Vandy's are less efficient, and you get less sound output.....most noticibly on the bottom end. I would not give up on the 2CE speakers. One other thought, have you double checked the speaker cables to make sure they are in phase(+ and - wired the same at amp and speaker terminals)? If out of phase that will tremendously impact the output as well.

Good luck

I know your speakers fairly well. I know this is a fairly basic recommendation but I would check that you have all of your cables connected properly. If you make a mistake hooking them up, your lack of bass can definitely be a result. Assuming you made no mistake, Islandmandan's advice about trying different placements is definitely a good idea. My best guess, though, is that your NAD may not be able to give the Vandersteen's what they need in terms of power. I don't find them too difficult to drive but they do like a little power.

The one thing I can tell you for sure, is that Vandersteen's do have excellent bass. Unless your speakers are damaged in some way, the problem is not likely to be with your speakers. I think it would be a good idea to go try a few thing mentioned in the posts and see if anything helps. Also, if you didn't use the directions that came with the speakers on how to set them up, you really need to do that. You need to use the formula they give you so you know how much back tilt you will need.

I have a lot of experience setting up Vandersteens. Post back with an update. If the problem remains, maybe we can try some other things, as well. Once you get them working properly, you will be very happy you bought them.