Vandersteen 2Ce Signature vs 3A


Can anyone tell me what the major difference is between the 2Ce Signatures and 3A in terms of sound? How about the 3A vs the 3A signature? Are these upgrades significant or not worth the money?
kmiller5
In short, yes, bi-wiring the Vandersteen speakers does result in a noticeable improvement in sound, especially at higher frequencies. The sound becomes more clear and open when you bi-wire. Here is why:

The purpose of bi-wiring is to provide two physically separate wire pathways; one for high frequencies and one for low frequencies, which are isolated from each other. The reason for this is that when high and low frequencies travel together in the same cable, the delicate treble information is modulated by the much more massive current and magnetic field associated with the low frequency signal. The large magnetic field blurs and distorts the delicate high frequencies. By separating the high and low frequencies, bi-wiring eliminates this kind of distortion and results in noticeably improved sound.

People often see a bi-wire setup and ask what good it could possibly do to have two separate cables (high and low) both coming from the very same amplifier (actually, the very same output terminals on that amp). The assumption is that the two cables are carrying the same information to each part of the loudspeaker. But this is not the case.

The cable which is attached to the “high” input of the loudspeaker is actually loaded by crossover components (capacitors) that will only "pull" high frequencies (in the form of current) through that particular cable. The same is true of the bass. Your amplifier doesn’t just “push” or send the entire signal through a cable that is attached to a speaker. The speaker “pulls” those frequencies that it wants (based upon the crossover components attached to each cable) from the amplifier.

To understand this better, imagine yourself in NY holding one end of a very long speaker cable, and a friend located in LA holding the other end of that same cable. You connect your end to the output of an amplifier. He connects his end to the high frequency input of a loudspeaker. When you hit play on your CD player the amp does not send the entire signal all the way to Los Angeles only to find out once it arrives that nothing below the treble frequencies are allowed to pass. Instead think of the speaker in Los Angeles as "pulling" only those frequencies that it wants from the amplifier back in NY.

Because of this, when you bi-wire, what you are really doing is moving the dividing action of the crossover from happening inside of your loudspeaker to instead happening right at the output terminals of your amplifier, which means prior to your speaker cable runs. In the NY/LA example, this means you would literally be moving the crossover action of the loudspeaker from occurring in LA to instead happening back in NY.

For an even more thorough discussion of how bi-wiring works go to: http://www.vandersteen.com/pages/Answr7.htm
Landru64 - I moved from 2ce sig powered with VTL MB 125 with 2Wq subs to 3A sig powered with the VTLs and 2wq subs. The 2ce sigs sounded great with the 125 watt vtls but the 3A sigs were awful. No dynamics. Its strange because the 3As are more efficient. In my opinion and experience the 3A sigs need a lot of power and current to sound great. I am now running them with parasound JC 1s with excellent results. I personally think they need to be played at about 80 DB or more to sound their best. BTW my room is 13x35x8. The 3As may work better with lower power in a smaller room. My room is the smallest Ive heard them in. Hope this helps.
braro-
i got the 3a's home-- got a deal i couldn't refuse on them. still have my 2ce's. with the BEL, the 3a sigs are just ok, but the slam is missing. a lot more resolution in the mids and top with that same vandersteen musicality. as you suggest, dynamics aren't terrific. i'm a professional musician and i know what dynamics are ;)

i tried borrowing some biwire cable that is slightly inferior to my cable, but that didn't 'fix' it. my dealer friend who carries this stuff thinks that the one BEL just isn't quite enough. it isn't clipping. but perhaps, it is suggested, it just isn't CONTROLLING. so i'm considering a search for a second BEL1001 mkIII. or else i'll go back to the 2ce's. ignorance is bliss ;). thanks to everyone else (mikej) for input and help! any other suggestions are appreciated!
I got 2CE Sig II now, if I upgrade to 3A Sig, will I notice the difference since they both uses the same tweeter and midrange?
The newer 2Ce Sig 2's have the same mid/tweeter as the 3A Sig and model 5's in a smaller package. Prices on these models just increased. You could try the 2WQ sub but the newer 2's have decent bass.

It's a catch 22 question. You will also need a larger amp
for the model 3's. I don't think you can beat the overall
value of the model 2Ce Sig 2's. Spending another $2100.+ not including tax and selling your 2Ce's at a loss or trade in doesn't add up to me. Of course you could call Richard Vandersteen and get his advice...