Vandersteen 2ce questions


I have been upgrading my system over the past few months. My newest upgrade is some older Vandy 2Ce speakers(not sigs) replacing my little Jamo E855s. My system is now NAD c370, Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista DAC, and Yamaha dvds-1800 as a transport.I know its nothing special compared to people's systems on Audiogon, but I'm a single parent and my budget is low enough to be almost non-existant. I am wondering if I'm doing something wrong with the Vandys. The lierature that came with them says they go to true 30hz, but they dont have the bass slam that my little jamos do. I've moved them all over the romm(about15x23). Wood floors with nothing on the sides and about 24 inches behind them.I wanna love these as they cost me more than everything else put together. I'm really pleased with the mids and highs, and get ALOT more detail from these than the jamos. I just want more bass and cant really use a sub because I'm in a townhome. Any advice for this newbie?
biffrythm
Great advice. I havent done anything with the tilt as the stands were alreadt attached. I like them better about 3 and half feet from the rear wall. I don't really know what more power will do since I'm only using about 20 to 25 percent of the volume control as it is. They're plenty loud. It may just be a mid-base hump that I'm used to. I'll look at setting the tilt and see if that helps. I really like everything about them except the amount of low end.
Vandersteen speakers are sensitive to amplifiers especially in the bass department. It's not so much the amount of power as it is the quality of the power. The best bass I ever heard from Vandersteens was from a high quality 60 watt solid state power amp. Maybe your NAD isn't up to the task.
Indeed, use a test CD/tracks to check if the wiring is correct.

Jamo E855 with their dual active woofers / speaker (is it bass reflex?) should have more emphasis on bass vs the Vandersteen 2Ce (one active / one passive).

I still use a pair of Vandy 2Ce in my study and the bass is more than adequate despite their dismal positioning -half hidden away between bookshelves - driven by just a 8W tube amp.
I always found the Vandersteen 2 and 3 series to have good bass extension but not the bass slam you are looking for. While the bass can be maximized, I think the lack of slam is somewhat inherent in their design.
I have seen some folks place speakers on a piece of wood
on top of carpet or wood floor.
This allows the speakers to wobble or absorb the bass instead of let lt go.
Make sure the attached "bases are snug fit onto the speakers finger tight,then one full turn this is easily overlooked"
and confirm "spikes/nuts are all tight."
Make sure the spikes are in the floor or in a pair of Vandy Soft shoes on the wood floor.
"Having at least an area rug in between you and the speakers" avoids the first reflection.

The last room your speakers were set up in probably had floors most likely different than yours are now.
Most floors are never level.
When you get the tilt back set correctly as in the manual
it should change your perception of what you experience, not only in the bass,but also overall performance.
Read the manual Start with a bubble level string plum bob or "washer/string and get the speakers side to side level then do the tilt back."
Take a laser pointer set on top of the speaker inside
wood, aim it on the wall behind where your head was listening chair area.
Get a sharpie pen with a post it note, now draw a circle on the target O where the laser lands.
Next do the same for the other speaker and make sure both speakers have the same tilt landing on the O bulls eye next sit and listen,then slouch down in your chair,then listen sitting on a pillow.
One of the 3 positions will have magic.
Then adjust the final tilt to where your normal seating position is.
Please let us know when you find it.
Cheers JohnnyR