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Need help on speaker selection

I am in the process of putting together a budget audio system. I started with purchasing a Jolida 502A amp to replace my old 20w nad. I now need to find a set of used speakers within a $800 budget. My musical tastes are mostly concentrated in the folk, blues and rock areas. My listening room is 11x15x8high (plan to move up to a larger room in couple of years). Would my jolida be able to drive a set of Vandersteen 2CE's? Would the 2CE's have too much bass for my existing room. I am asking this because I liked the Vandersteeen 1C that I heard and now have the chance to purchase a used set of 2CE's for a good price. There is also a set of Epos m12's available but I'm not sure if they would have enough bass. I live in an area that doesn't have any high end audio stores, so any advice or suggestions for my system would be greatly appreciated.
rcmaccallum
jax2
3,031 posts
 
I've not heard the Vandy's but have heard good things about them. I owned a Jolida 302B for a while. Great little integrated amp, and I'd bet the 502 is as well. I'd consider pairing it off with a vintage Klipsch horn-loaded speaker. Heresys or Forte II's would both suit the range of your musical tastes well. The Forte's are substantially larger and kick out some more bass. The older Heresy's would take a bit of tweaking, but are very nice speakers overall and pair off nicely with tubes. Either of those would give you a handfull of $ back from your $800 budget and be very satisfying to listen to with the Jolida. They may take some looking for to find a local pair in great shape, but it would be worth the effort IMO. There are certainly other choices out there, but those have worked well for me. Big-bang-for-$. Don't even think about the current-production Klipsch that weren't designed by Paul W. Klipsch...you may as well by Bose, or perhaps something out of the back of a van if you live in an urban area.

Good luck!

Marco
rives
953 posts
 
Vandy's have the ability of having abundant bass. However, Richard Vandersteen designed in compensation for a flatter response. I do know he did very elaborate designs on this for the Model 3 and Model 5. I do not know what he did for the 2 series. If he used similar compensation methods, then you should be able to adjust the speaker quite well, and it's a good choice because you are going to have a pretty serious bump around 75 Hz that's going to need to be tamed.
tommytcg
6 posts
 
Get an Oris 150 or 200 and LIVE
scotty_910
119 posts
 
I bought a pair of green mountain audio europa's recently and am very happy with them. Two way time and phase aligned, marble composite cabinets. Overbuilt - read morel tweeters, audiomagic silver wiring, first order crossover - basically these things have increadible imaging, a coherence that is hard to beat, and increadible prat. You would not get the lowest bass as it has a 6" woofer, but these would be great to start with. They are highly efficient too! New I think they list at between $780 - $900 range. Give them a listen, they are worth seeking out.
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