Help: Searching for Vandersteen-like speakers...

I agree with the idea of a tube pre and solid state amp. I use an Audible Illusions with a Theta. Too much of the tube thing can be bad with the 2Ce. They will become a little over warm. If you like that sound---then so be it. Also, SS tightens up the bass.
I wouldn't drive the Vandersteens with anything less than 60+ watts depending on your room and levels.
The only speaker that sounds like a Vandersteen is a Vandersteen!
Also, if you go with Vandersteen's 2 series, I would go with the Signature. It IS a better sounding speaker. More detailed and open.
The Audible Illusions(or any good tubed pre) and the McCormack amps are good with Vandersteen's.

One other thing I forgot to mention. Of all the tube amps, The ARC tube amps to me sound best with Vandersteen's. Vandersteen told me once that Quicksilvers were good also.

Bigtee, I have a pretty good tube pre-amp that I really like already, so what would you consider a good SS amp to go with the tube pre-amp?

For clarifications sake, the Vandersteen is not the end-all of choices for me, but it was my reference point. Some of the specs that I was looking for included: 90db or better, goes down at least to 35hz and can handle at least 10watts, with a MSRP of around 1500.

Thanks

I would give a McCormack DNA 0.5 a try. Deluxe version should cost you around $6-700, Rev B upgrade about $200 more. Better sounding than the DNA-1. You can add another to bi-amp later if you want; OR try adding the 2WQ as an upgrade step. I used one with 2cis and a BAT VK3i very successfully before stepping up to bi-amped 3ASigs.

There are a lot of good solid state amps out there. You would really need to decide on your speakers because some amps do work better with certain speaker loads and form a kind of Synergy.
The McCormack DNA .5 is a good choice. The Belles 150A Hotrod is an excellent amp. These are my two top choices in something you can obtain reasonably.
I used a pair of DNA .5's in a biamp for a long time with the 2Ce Sigs. It was an excellent combo with the Audible Illusions.
I then sold the Ce's and bought the 3A Signatures. The McCormack's continued to work well. Then I went nuts and bought a pair of 2Wq's and the 4-ch Theta Dreadnaught. This was pretty much a case of overkill in my room. Once set up, it sounds as good as anything I've ever heard and i've heard a bunch. But the point is that the McCormack's more than held their own in most respects.
As for your speaker recommendations, well, that's going to be tuff. The Vandersteen's are not very efficient and will not play that loud in absolute terms. They do go down in the upper 30's however. I really am at a lost for a good speaker than meets all of your criteria. To go down in the thirties with a 90db rating, it will most certainly have to be a ported design. Sealed enclosures will require more input power but will go deeper. Most ported designs really don't do much below 40Hz. Some people think they do but what you hear is the bump up before the crossover which gives an illusion of better bass than it really is---especially in the $1500 range. There are good speakers out there but they don't sound a lot like a Vandersteen. Meadowlark is a first order crossover but the Kestrel is not the speaker that the 2Ce Sig. is. Might look at the Shearwater used. I personally don't like its midrange but a lot of people seem to.
If you need the efficiency of 90+db, it's going to be tuff in that price range to get TRUE 35hz performance.
Might need to back up and look at Paradigm 100 series or even the Triangle Celius. Excellent speakers that can be found used for this money. Entirely different sound than Vandersteen but accurate speakers non the less. The Triangle has a tendency to be a little bright with solid state. You could drive it with an SET amp. It is very efficient. With all tubes, it sounds nice with extension down to about 40hz.