If you couldn't get Vandersteen speaker's

I owned a pair of 2CE sig's and they worked great in my old house, where they were placed on the long wall of the room spaced out about 2 feet.
When i moved into my new place, the room required them being placed along the short wall ...about 2 feet from the side wall, and i could never get them to sound the same.
I've since gone to a Von Schweikert VR-2 and they work great that way. They are very detailed, natural sounding with great imaging.... very similar sound to the 2CE Sigs in my old room.

I think the 2CE's will still sound better than the 1C's given your room. I also think that if you have problems with Vandersteens, you will have the same problems with other speaker brands. Test the 2CE's vs the 1B's in your room and see which ones you like better. The purpose of you buying your system is maximum enjoyment. Don't worry about holding a speaker back (speakers don't have feelings last I checked :)), worry about what sound you enjoy the most. Once you audition both speakers and you make your decision to buy the 2CE you can thank Sdcampbell for his advice :).

Dbx: yes, I have a hard time not responding to posts about Vandersteen speakers. For one thing, I know more about this speaker line than any other (after nearly 16 years of owning Vandies, I should!), but beyond that I believe strongly that Vandy speakers provide exceptional sound quality for the price. I hope you can find a way to audition the 2Ce Sig's in your home, because I think there's a decent chance that you'll find their performance quite acceptable. Good listening to you!

Sdcampbell- I knew if Vandersteen was mentioned you would reply, as most of the threads I've read about Vandy's had you input. I've heard the 2ce sig's only two time and that was enough to sell me on them. I realize very few if any speaker would be at their optimum performance level, I just don't want to take an excellent speaker and hold it back by 50% or more of it's performance level. If, let's say I only lost 20-30% (0% being no sound and 100% being optimal) then it would still be worth it to me to get the speakers since they would still sound better to me then the my Polk's which have served me faithfully for several years, I'm just ready to take it to the next level. I'll have to take your advice and give them an in home try.

Jkphoto, actually the polk RT800i's I'm currently using sound the same were they are and when I was able to move them farther away from the wall. Of course I couldn't keep them there because they interffered with watching Tv, but for music they sounded the same, and of course my wife almost blew a gasket with them out there. The biggest improvement I've had with these speakers is when I move them 3' from the rear wall and toeing them in a bite as apposed to them being up against the rear wall. My assumptions about the space needed for the vandersteens comes from the many post here and other sites.

The closest thing to Vandersteen that I've heard (and I think they are less critical of placement and about as forgiving to associated gear) are the Meadowlarks and perhaps the Spicas. I can't comment on the Green Mountains, perhaps some one else can chime in with regard to them.

Dbx:

I don't mean to be discouraging, but putting ANY speaker in that small space between your entertainment center and the left side wall MAY be problematical. The distance between the speaker and the rear wall will be sufficient, since the front of the speakers will protrude in front of the entertainment center, but the left side clearance may introduce balance and soundstaging problems. However, don't automatically accept the conclusions of others about whether the 2Ce's will or will not work, since room acoustics are complicated, and you may find that the 2Ce's will work fine.

Many of the posts here on A-gon state or imply that Vandy speakers need a LOT of room to perform at their best. While that's true to a substantial extent, it's not true that the Vandy 2Ce will necessarily sound BAD if it lacks the optimal placement. I strongly urge you to audition the 2Ce's in your home before you make a final decision. (Since the late 1980's, I have owned 2Ci's, 2Ce's, 3A's, and now the 3A Sig's, so I've got a pretty good experience base for offering advice.)

If your audition of the 2Ce's leaves you dissatisfied, then my best suggestion is to consider a speaker with a narrow front profile (with the cabinet extending to the rear, where you have more clearance), preferably a shielded design so you can move it closer to the left side of the entertainment center.

Consider trying the smaller Vandersteen 1Cs -- you should have enough space, and they have a similar sound character to the 2Ce series. (I've owned both -- they're both excellent sound and value. The 1c has less low end, but if you are using these in a home theter system with subwoofer, then that won't matter much. Even without sub, the 1Cs are worth considering.)

Is the assumption that some other speaker would work better at the stated position than the 2ce's? If so, can you explain why?