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Help: Searching for Vandersteen-like speakers...

I have been searching hi and lo for the right speakers until I found the Vandersteen 2Ce and I thought my search was done. Ok, so, after hearing a few amps, I think I am really in love with SET tube amps of one kind or another. The thing about SET amps that I have seen is they have very low wattage(one had 3 watts and another had 18 watts) and this leaves the Vandersteens out in the cold with an 86db sensitivity. I can see why Vandersteens go well with SS amps. Plus, besides the sensitivty, Vandersteen 2Ce also have a recommended amplification of 40 to 160 watts. This sort of leaves SET amps right out of the question.

My thing here is that I would like to find something like the Vandersteen 2Ce in the $1500 dollar range or else forget about an SET; however, if all else fails, I will go back to my original idea of mating the 2Ce with an ARC 100 watt amp.

Any ideas?
matchstikman

Showing 3 responses by matchstikman

matchstikman OP
205 posts
 
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
matchstikman OP
205 posts
 
Phasecorrect, I really like the tube sound. I already started a thread about finding a SS amp with a tube sound and the ending result seem to be that there is really no such thing; close, but no cigar. However, are you suggesting that it is possible to get a nice tube sound from a SS amp if I used a good tube pre-amp?
matchstikman OP
205 posts
 
Bigtee, I currently use B&W DM602 speakers which I think sound damn good, but they only go as low as 52hz. Because of this I use a subwoofer, but I have to set the subwoofer crossover to high to capture all of the range and there is my problem. If the DM602 would go down to the 40hz range, I would be a happy man, but it doesn't and I'm not. I have checked out other B&W speaker in my price range and they all sound good, but none of them go very low. However, I know such a beast has to exist. I recently saw an Infinity Alpha 50, full range, tower that went down to 35, 91db and could handle 10 watts and the towers were at 1000 MSRP. If Infinity could do it, so could other people.

Bigtee, one thing for sure, Audiogon has been schoolin' me pretty good.
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