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
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
I owned 2ce Sigs, 3a's & 3a Sigs, all very nice speakers. I used them with a number of different amps, McCormack, NuForce, Musical Fidelity, Belles. While the bass is deep, I always felt they were lacking in "slam"/dynamics. As much as I liked the Vandersteens, in order to get the slam I was looking for, I ended up going with a different speaker.
I had the 2Ce Sigs with stands, purchased new from the local dealer in town, for about two years and I could never get them to recreate anything approaching a true 30 Hz tone, no matter what high power integrated amp (Musical Fidelity 5 integrated, Krell300i or CJ CA200 control amp) I threw at them, or where I placed them, treated the room etc. Bass was mainly a boom, or suggestion, and not a true note. They do have a very relaxed sound and just don't "slam" for dynamics, whic for some listeners, may be exactly the correct recipe. But not for me in the long run. So, I upgraded to Thiel 2.4s, which easily cover all the low extension and dynamics areas that were missing with the 2Ce Sigs. I have also listened to the 3As and have to say that, although better in the low end extension area, they are not that much more in the dynamics dept over the 2s. Only the 5 or 5A are the Vandersteen models I would now consider as equaling Thiels in this regard.
Speakers have a tendency to get the blame for many things when in reality the speaker is only reproducing what is being fed to it.