Anyone care to share their opinion of the Vandersteen 2ce sig mkII?

Not bi-wiring, and not adding the correct tilt will make them sound less than ideal.

And, you haven't mentioned what equipment you are using.

That, I believe, might be part of the reason you aren't finding them more engaging.

I just ran an audition of Ralph Karsten's Atmasphere Class D amps at Audioconnection. All of us found the amps to be quite good, but just didn't have the upper mid/high frequency openness that the Belles amps we were comparing them to had. The Vandy's sounded good, but not involving.- Which seems to be what you are saying, I think.

Bob

It did good things for the bass of course but I didn't like what that did to the imaging. I am somewhat limited with width getting them max of 7' on center. The room has some treatments with fairly thick floor to ceiling corner traps and first reflection points.

I've moved them around quite a bit as well as my seating position. After app. 6 weeks of listening and experimenting I find that the issue is in the midrange. It is always a little dry and lacking of warmth or sufficient tone. At times even being a bit shouty to my ears. In the end, I think they just are not my cup o tea. Maybe it's my room, not sure. I doubt it's my Hegel or Rogue amps. Could be just be my ears getting older!

I would be looking for a used Vandy 2W (subwoofer) and then you can keep them away from the wall, and still have the sub on the corner for bass.

Maybe dialing the pots on the back of the speakers to find some tone control?

Is it possible that the room was treated with wider dispersion speakers, and now appears to be over damped with the tighter dispersion? And do the treatments do the midrange, or mostly the high freqs?

@gdnrbob 

Not engaging might be a good way to put it.  To my ears at least.  I do have the Vandy stands and tried various tilt angles as I moved them. In my past experience I've not heard much difference with bi-wiring.  Granted, that could be different with the 2ce, but I don't have any bi-wire cables right now and I'm not about to run out and plunk down significant change on a set in hopes that they will magically make me fall in love with the 2ce.  Maybe if they don't sell fairly quickly I'll try it, maybe not. 

Equipment pairing is Hegel H360 int. and Rogue Atlas Magnum KT120 tube amp with rogue Perseus tube pre.   Both options pretty smooth and on the warm side IMO.

Thanks for your reply

@holmz 

I failed to mention that I did try them with my REL t9x for a while.  It did help fill out the bottom end but, honestly, the bass wasn't an issue with the 2ce and I found the REL wasn't really necessary with most music. 

I did mess with the treble/mid pots a bit and in the end I had the mids almost all the way down and the treble boosted a bit. 

First reflection points are 1" fiberglass panels on side walls and ceiling.  They work well for highs and to just knock reverb time down a bit.  I definitely would not call my room overdamped.  As I moved the 2ce back closer to the front wall the first reflection points actually became less in play.  I think it added a bit of air and extension but did not help the mids unfortunately.

Thanks very much for your help and suggestions!

Since 1977 they have not been everyone’s “ cup of tea “… it’s OK.

I do have a set of 8’ Shotgun external biwire cables terminated w low mass Vandy sized spades that have about 100 k miles on them as evaluation loaners so Vandy owners can properly biwire. I believe many take a cursory unfortunate run at it w an internal bi wire cable which defeats much of the benefits…

enjoy the music !!!

I should clarify, I am NOT a dealer, Just like people making a fair run at various approaches to better sound….