Vandersteen Forum

I bought an older pair of Vandersteen 2Ce and did not like them. Found out one woofer was crackling (what I did not like was poor tweeter and midrange). I went onto the Vandersteen forum to see if changing a component or two would better the sound than 25 year old speakers. In 2022 almost anyones speakers sound better than 25 year old Vandersteen technology. 
The replies raised my eyebrows. I was just wondering if anyone else has had any experience with that forum and did they find it cult-like or is it just me?

My set of 2C are about 38 years old now, and they sound fine.

In addition to the other posts about the RMA, your saying that you spent $4k for a used set that and being told that it was too much probably was not well received.

I am on a few of the various cult fora… Here, Vandy, ASR, and others.

I am not sure about your chiropractic work, but you did seem to put a few people noses out of joint.

Anyone want to buy some 2Ce’s really cheap?

Where are they at, and how much?

"In 2022 almost anyones speakers sound better than 25 year old Vandersteen technology."

And… there are many speakers that do not sound as good.

One would think that starting with more knowns would be an easier starting place, but it is amazing how many modern speakers have cabinet issues and a host of other kindergarten problems, that were known and solved 40 years ago.

The 2C are not perfect, but their flaws are strengths are pretty well known.

"i drove around in this porsche i just bought with a flat tire, geez it just drives like crap, so i went to the porsche forum, asked people can this car be made to drive better if i went to jrz coilovers instead of the stock bilsteins... and man, those people had nothing useful to say, just told me to fix the flat, don’t modify anything, and wouldn’t engage on anything else.... what jerks...

I think that it is even worse than that @jjss49, as the OP was suggesting replacing the one driver with a JBL… so it would be like running the Porsche on 3 Michelins and 1 Pirelli.
But maybe he was talking about using all JBLs?

In your car analogy, I guess that the JRZ coilovers would analogous to the crossovers? So I think one may want to tune the suspension to the tyres?

I cannot see any easy way to do that. I only see finite options:

1. The RMA approach.
2. Going full DIY and wiring each driver in an active crossover scheme.
3. Or totally reworking the passive XO from scratch.

#3 is way beyond my skill.

I feel for the OP, as I would be upset if I spent 4K on used speakers and a driver was blown. And knowing I could have got them brand new for $5350.
But that decision process was not the fault of the V forum.

It is possible that it might have been your tone that set people off?

As an idea I’ll add “a #4” to my previous list of 3 finite possibilities:

1: Speaker driver:

What I would suggest is to get a Parts Express DATS. Remove the driver from the speaker that works. Then once you have measured its T/S parameters, you can find a good candidate for a replacement.

Whether what matches best is that JBL, a ScanSpeak wu18, or something else like a Peerless or Seas, is unknown… but at least it would be a way to select a driver that does its best to work with the existing crossover.

2: Crossover:

You could move the crossover left to right to determine whether, in fact, it sounds the same in the existing good speaker.

MY speakers were $800 plus $400 for shipping. That isn’t as good as one guy who paid $175 but better than the eBay guy who wants $3000. It was Sir Vandicream that was the one who said I paid too much for my speakers so he himself does not value them at $800. Why the heck should I fork-out $400 to $500 to send them to the Vandersteen Factory (including 2 way shipping? Is it not my choice?

I think your post over there may have been interpreted as you spent the $3000 and $1000 in shipping… which was at least how I had read it. Maybe other’s did not come to a similar conclusion.., “I dunno”.

BSPKE is a nice man. He offered good advice and was a gentleman.

Agreed… and I’ll strive to try to be more like @bkeske and Gentleman Jim @tomic601 .

Best of luck with the effort.

 

Lets also take a moment to clear up some factual errors;

I’m unsure whether the OP cares about facts or factual errors.

Yes, Richard is extensively involved in designing elements of drivers, including many unique drivers partially fabricated in CA by Vandersteen Audio. He ( not Scanspeak, etc ) holds the Vandersteen unique patents. For fun have a look at the Vandy website, the 5A and 7 mk2 use a Vandersteen designed push pull titanium subwoofer driver, lots of tricks there… Vandy owns the tooling to produce it.

The OP was stating how easy it would be stuff his drivers in there, and end up with a better speaker

And as I recall RV told him it is a free country and if he wanted to make better speakers he was free to do so.

So I am doubting that the OP is overly enthusiastic about sticking to facts.

Every second 10,000 sine waves are arriving to your ear That is 29,979, 245, 800,000 nanometers in a vacuum.

I hate to be another bearer of facts, but light travels at ~3^8 meters/second.
Giving all the significant digits of resolution and precision is great… but let’s dumb it down to approximations.
- Light travels about 1 foot per nanosecond.

However sound is known to travel only at the speed of sound... which is not the same as the speed of light.

Sound travels about 1 foot per millisecond in air… so it is a million times slower than light, and sound also doesn’t travel well in a vacuum.

I believe that using the correct speed of sound may be an important concept for designing speakers, or improving upon your model 2 speakers.

(Maybe the 2C has the C part referring to the speed of light?)

Board Rules state “the only true rule is to not be an antagonist.”

Me glancing at mirror… 😅

@nrenter ​​​​@rpeluso let’s not jump the gun here.
we all share the hobby and love.
And I would not be surprised if Ralph gets unbanned.

It is not like he is spruicking his gear in an underhanded way there, and while most Vandy owners like more traditional topologies, I know at least a few are interested in Class-D.

Our community is becoming short on insights, experience, expertise and engagement. There are still a few trusted resources around, @audioconnection being one. @atmasphere being another. I like to hear their voices (before, like the names many of us can still recall, disengage, die, or become bored attempting to answer the same questions over and over). We kinda need to hear their voices.

Silence at your own peril. 

Well put. In an era of internet warriors and “experts” it is good to have the inputs of true experts in their fields.

Let’s let this play out and maintain some calm…
Ralph and Pete are both on the gentlemanly end of the spectrum, let’s give it some time.

If anyone is to blame, it is I. (-As Jane Hathaway would have said).😏

Nice one Jethro.

Season 6 episode 20 was with the Vanderponts?

gdnrbob +1  FWIW I didn't notice that the forum was for Vandersteen owners only!

Helping with personal invite from Bob, was sort of gentlemanly.
And Bob’s reaching out was in an honest spirit. 

There is a bit of bias against Class-D (if you see what I did there.)
So it is good for those interested in Class-D to hear other perspectives, and we do not have a lot of Class-D amps that one might consider worth investigating.

So in my mind you acted honourably.
And ​​​​@ctsooner is a fine fellow as well, so it was a bit perplexing to see.

It is 41C here today and 42C is scheduled for the morrow, Body temp is 37C.
So the extra heat from the tubes, is at least one reason, that I am thinking about Class-D.