alon II or Vandersteen 2ce how do they compare?

I actually owned both. They are ENTIRELY different animals. The Vandies were always musical and forgiving and seemingly easier to drive. They were more forgiving of ancillary equipment and wire, etc.. The Alons were certainly more revealing and even more open and spacious. They need the right speaker cable or they can sound dreadful and wiry. I would also recommend at least 50 tube watts to drive them. Your B&K should have no problem at all. They hated Kimber wire. The Alons were more an audiophile type speaker and the Steens were for just enjoying music. I hope that helps

I've never heard the alons, but Chris and Bob are right on with respect to the Vandies. And you can always hear the impact of an upstream upgrade.

Hey Bob,
It seems like we heard the exact same thing!

I owned the earlier 2ci and later owned the Alon II. I have to agree w/most comments above, except that I think the Alon is being sold a bit short. IF you plan to upgrade electronics eventually, the Alon gives you much more of a long term path to pursue. If you really "have the bug" the lack of detail resolution of the Vandys will leave you wanting to upgrade somewhere down the line. I used the Alons w/ a VTL 80w stereo amp. Rogue & Sonic Frontiers are other affordable tube options to consider IMHO.
You're definitely looking at 2 nice options. Good luck.

For some reason, Vandies produce a "nose-dive effect" at high frequencies for most any amp connected to them. As such, they tend to sound slightly tilted towards warmth in tonal balance and lack "apparent" upper frequency detail. Most of this is probably due to the reduced high frequency output and lack of "glare" that one is used to hearing on bad recordings. One can somewhat counter the roll off by going to an amp that has a rising high frequency response above appr 8 - 10 KHz or so. That is, IF they are trying to sum the system towards flat response*.

Personally, i don't think that your B&K amp would be a good match for Vandie's as both the 202 and the Vandie's are on the "warm & relaxed" side of neutral. If you like everything to sound "smooth and romantic", it might be a good match. I would not expect tightly controlled bass out of that combo though, especially as volume increases.

I can't comment on the Alon's as i've never heard them. I have no idea as to whether or not they would be a good match for your electronics.

Having said that, B&K's in stock form tend to work best with smaller woofers ( 8" or 9" at most ) and speakers with a higher nominal impedance ( 6 - 10 ohms ). The lower the impedance that you go with a B&K, the more congested / less defined the sound stage will become. On top of that, the bass will become looser and lack control and definition. Sean
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* While i've never heard the combo, i'm thinking that a bigger Aragon amp might be a good match for Vandie's. The high current capacity of these amps will help control the Vandie's slightly loose bottom end and the Aragon's tendency towards slight brightness might balance out the Vandie's soft top end. Anyone ever try this combo ? What kind of results did you get ?

PS... Richard Vandersteen prefers that one use tubes with his speakers, primarily ARC products. At least that is what he told me at a Stereophile show.