Vandersteen 2CE Signature III — video review on YouTube by Steve Guttenberg (1/15/2023)

its no surprise that some manufacturers of gear resort to meaningless specs like frequency response to 30khz to try to sell their wares... for tweeters, it often less about frequency extension, rather more so about the flatness of response through the audible range, managing ringing/resonances, which are usually excited during musical transients being played

that said, one man’s rolled off is another man’s natural and balanced sounding... then there is always the room effect, which generally overwhelms more minor differences in speaker frequency range output in any anechoic situation, couldn’t be farther than real world.... haven’t yet met someone who could hear a speaker without a room it sits in...

another thing to bear in mind is that what was right in terms of voicing components 10-15-20-25-30 years ago is not wrong today, it has also been about synergy through the chain using system components of the day -- shrill early cd players, screechy lean solid state amps, tipped up mc carts, rolled off classic tube gear.... optimization and balance of all such aspects has always been what it’s about in successful system building

I have had the 2ce signature in the past and loved them!

I just thought that tilting them just right was a pain in the neck.  And they were heavy.

Also, I do not understand why they still dress them up in socks. They could look decent undressed, with a good coat of paint, black white red or blue, whatever.

So, all of you are more qualified to tell us what Steve heard than he is himself? 

@chrisr 

Also, I do not understand why they still dress them up in socks. 

keeps $$$$$$ down. ‘Socks’ are much less expensive than finished cabinets.

Also, I do not understand why they still dress them up in socks. They could look decent undressed, with a good coat of paint, black white red or blue, whatever.

I suspect you are an orthapedic surgeon or like to look at X-rays 😎

I like to peek inside a kimono as much as the next person, but I would also suspect that without the sock people would obsess over dust/etc and start poking the drivers.
Or a cat would jump in.

I currently have the Vandersteen 2ci and do agree with everyone here that they have a rolloff top end. I also read that the tend to be on the warm side but i dont know if that is true. I personally think that the older are voiced to be a balance speaker.  When I did a room response, I hve notice that it starts to roll of gradually maybe 6db/oct at about 8k. 

It was not the downward slope that I was referring to, which is somewhat minor.
It was the lumpiness of frequency response through the middle.
But probably as good as anything from the era??

In the HT AVR I entered in the PEQ values that make it a bit flatter across the middle… and the room does some of its stuff as well.

It would be pretty nice to see similar analysis of the models.
One can see near the bottom of the link, that there is step response and compression. (Most of the manufacture data for speakers with higher order crossovers leave out step function response.)
Frequency response is talked about as being more important, but it is not a crime to have textbook step function response.

https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/vandersteen_model_2/