Best

I have several giant killers: Vandersteen 2CE Signature speakers, Magnepan 1.6QR speakers, Adcom GFP-750 preamp, VTL IT and ST-85 tube amps, Nordost Blue cables, Sony XA7ES CD player. The Magnepan 1.6QR is the first serious competition to the 2CE in the 1500 price range. It is a very different speaker in that it has tremendous detail and soundstaging at the expense of bass, room placement, and amplifier compatibility. I just got another adcom preamp; In passive mode with high quality cables it is almost indiscernable from my XA7ES's variable outputs. It might sound better.

Another vote for Vandersteen 2 series. Like you Craig the 2C was my first "Hi-End" love affair that I owned for 10 years and was chosen OVER Magnepan 2.6 speakers. It was a tough choice but the Vandy's won out, it was that natural bass that the Maggie's didn't have. I am sure the only reason I still don't own those wonderful speakers was the fact that I moved and I could not get them to work their magic like they did in my prior room as much as I tried. I always recommend them and they stand out to me as consistently the best value in Hi-End audio. The money saved in the speakers can be used in better electronics. But as much as I like the 2 series the 3A Signature's are an equally great value at their price point and you wonder, How does Richard Vandersteen do it?

Glad to see support for Vandersteen 2C and 3A speakers-- I own them both. Re: Tubegroover; It seems to me as an essentially boxless design, R. Vandersteen avoids the large cost(s) associated with the furniture grade veneers of box design speakers. Just a wild guess, but could that be as much as 50% of the cost of high quality box speakers?Cheers. Craig.