It always amazes me how much debate gets generated over Vandersteen speakers. I have owned Vandy speakers since 1988 (2Ci, 2Ce, 3A), and they have never failed to satisfy me. Maybe I'm an abnormal "audiophile" in that I love a wide variety of music - classical, jazz (all genres), blues, bluegrass, some country, some pop, older rock (mostly pre-1980), some new age, world music, even gospel. The various Vandersteen speakers have never failed to "play music". Do they reach out and grab you by the throat, or analytically present every little detail? No, they don't. What they do, at least to my ears, is present music the way I hear it when played live. Although I concede that the Vandy's may not be the best in all performance characteristics, I have never felt that the Vandy 2Ce's lack imaging specificity or transparency. My wife, infact, has often commented on the immediacy of the imaging. The Vandy 2Ce's may sound just a bit veiled compared to speakers costing 2-3 times as much, or even compared to good mini-monitors in their price range, but I can't think of another speaker that does as good a job from mid-bass to top end. I recently sold my 2Ce's and bought a pair of Vandy 3A's (soon to be upgraded to the Signature version). A friend of mine who has good ears (and owns Vandy 2Ci's)was listening to my Vandy 3A's last weekend, and said that he was so drawn into the music that the speakers seemed to "disapper". To respond directly to your question: I think Vandersteen speakers represent a superb choice at their respective price ranges. If you can afford the 2Ce Signatures, I think the extra $200 is well justified - in short, an excellent return for the small additional cost. I have been an audiophile for about 35 years, been a high-end audio salesman several times, belonged to the Pacific NW Audio Club, and consequently heard a hell of a lot of speakers over the years. The one speaker that is always on my list of recommendations to friends are Vandersteens. You can surely spend more, but you won't get more - maybe different, but NOT necessarily better.
