Calling all Vandersteen Fans


A little over a year ago I owned he 1Cis for a short time. While I enjoyed many aspects of the speaker, I found their top-end was a bit ripe and sibilant, with multiple amps. I ended up having to attenuate the treble by 1.5db in order to enjoy them at all.

Lately I've been thinking about how well those speakers produced a realistic decay of instruments, the likes of which I haven't encountered in any other speakers. I'm wanting to give Vandersteens another chance and am considering the 2CE SigIIs, however, it appears they and the 3As have the same tweeter as the 1Cis. That and the measurements in the Stereophile review give me pause. I suppose it could be that I didn't allow the 1Cis enough break-in, or that I was actually hearing upper midrange distortion from their 8" midbass driver

I'm soliciting input from those very familiar with the brand. Would you say the 2 Sig IIs produce a warmer balance than the 1Cis? Do they in-fact share the same exact tweeter? 

Is a 100 watt/ch amp enough to drive 2CEs to satisfying levels in a 26×15' room?








helomech

Showing 1 response by kenwood61

I have spent most of my audio journey with vintage gear. The best speakers I have owned are Vandersteen 2C and now 3A. For my small room, I would easily trade my 3A's for some 2Ce Sig II's. They would be perfect.

If you are enjoying the Advents more than the Vandersteen's, that tells me there are contributing factors that are not the speakers. Like others have mentioned, positioning is important, and I personally think Sound Anchors are the only choice over stock stands. They make a difference.

I have used Supra Quadrax and Canare Star Quad cables. I like the equally. 

Early on, I tried to drive my 2C's with a Parasound HCA-1500, HCA-2200, B&K EX440, and settled on going mono bridge with two Parasound HCA-1500's. That sounded the best. However, I didn't read the FAQs on the Parasound site and ended up with two amps with blown outputs on the L channel. All I can say is that for me, 200+ wpc gave me the performance I wanted. As some would say, they "woke up". 

I have never had any sibilance. Like all my gear, I keep my pots at neutral. However, in the different spaces I've had my system, I have increased the setting on both mid and treble 0.5 - 1.0 db.

The other BIG thing is you MUST pull away from the walls. I don't recall you mentioning how you had your speakers positioned, but in my 11x13 room, I had the speaker center point ~40 inches from the back wall and ~30 inches from the side walls, with slight toe in. Maybe half an inch.

All to say that when you dial your system in with these speakers, I don't know of any speakers at the same price point that can deliver the impact, clarity, and enjoyment I have had. I have owned Vandersteen's more than any other speaker. And for context, here are the speakers I have owned, in no particular order.

ADS L570
Advent "The Loudspeaker" with fried egg tweeter
Allison One
Allison Two
B&W DM110i
Boston Acoustics A40
Boston Acoustics A150
Dahlquist DQ-8
Dahlquist M903
DCM Time Window 3 (currently own)
Infinity Reference Studio Monitors (RSM)
JBL Jubal L65
Klipsch KG 3.2
Miller & Kreisel S-1B & V-1B (recapped and currently own)
NHT SuperOne 2.1 (on living room HT)
Paradigm 3se Mk2
Polk Monitor 7b
Quad 12L
Vandersteen 2C
Vandersteen 3A (currently own)

Now that I think of it, the Infinity RSM's gave the 3A's a run for the money on certain material, usually classic rock that gets congested. The Miller & Kreisel setup is the main one I'm using now while I wait for my Parasound amp to get fixed. Then the Vandies will come back into play.