benita

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
2.54 of 5, 13.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
If possible, and if time permits, I'd like to thread 4 yellow rubberrings around my husbands erect manhood and walk naked through the streets of an high-income neighbourhood. In summer of course, or else the rubberrings might fall off.

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Discriminator

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.60 of 5, 10.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1850.00 from Tailored Technology

Summary:
Purchased Vandersteen 2Ce Signatures new in 2005 to replace a pair of aging Snell Type E/III’s from 1988. The Vandersteens are in an entirely different and better league than the Snells, which were not bad at time of purchase (made Stereophile Class B, for instance). The appearance is not flashy but in the end they are easy enough to ignore as one’s attention is commanded by the music.

The 2Ce Signatures take a little fussing over and getting used to. I spent hours shuffling them around to get the best imaging. Even moving them a couple of inches can have a profound effect given the lack of a speaker cabinet. Then there’s loading the stands and leaning them back just right. In the end they can sound open, spacious, and very honest. Adding lead shot to the utilitarian speaker stands helped to tighten up and stabilize the image. The bass goes deep but tends to lack a little punch in my opinion compared to a standard enclosed bass reflex speaker system. In the end the thing that’s designed more like a drum tends to sound a little more like a drum. This perception could be due to shortcomings of my source (HHb Pro CD Burner c. 1998). The flipside of that is that ears accustomed to Vandersteen sound will readily perceive that after Vandersteen, virtually everything but electrostatics sounds like it’s coming out of a box – because it is! The Vandersteen sound is tonally balanced, inviting and lifelike. Female vocals, piano, upright bass and other standard references sound convincing. The sound is relaxed but detailed, precise (time and phase aligned), and well-paced enough to be exciting. My wife commented that the sound or performance just seems to be in the room rather than coming out of cabinets.

I repeat previous warnings – these speakers are likely to significantly exceed your expectations at the price point and may cause you to spend thousands upgrading everything else in your system. I had been happy with my previous system for over a decade but in the 10 months since purchasing the Vandersteens I’ve replaced my amp and preamp twice, upgraded all of my interconnects and cables, and added a Vandersteen subwoofer for good measure. Every change I’ve made has unveiled new glory from the 2Ce Signatures and I have every reason to believe that they could sound even better. I’ll have a new CD player on order by the end of the year, perhaps an Underwood HiFi mod.

Since I’ve tried a few amps with these speakers I can comment that the BEL 1001 MkV sounds excellent with a PSE HL-1 hybrid line stage. It seems to take control and bring out the bass and micro-dynamics without anything seeming exaggerated. I tried Odyssey gear and did not feel that was a good combination – sounded thin to my ear, as did an Acurus DIA-100 passive preamp integrated. If you end up with the BEL amp by all means get the BEL P-1 interconnects and S-24 speaker cables. They are reasonably affordable and the speaker cables work very well with the BEL amp. The BEL P-1 interconnects are better than LAT and others I’ve tried. I notice the biggest improvement in the bass.

Ah, the bass. I don’t want to seem obsessed but in my experience bass is one thing that few systems do very well. So despite the 2Ce Signatures’ valiant attempt at being a full range speaker I found a good deal on a used Vandersteen 2Wq subwoofer and hooked it in with BEL S-24 cables and custom crossover filters. Now I have deeper, punchier bass and perhaps even sweeter midrange. I fancy that my 50-Watt BEL amp is working a little less hard. Most importantly I no longer feel like something is missing (except perhaps another 2Wq for stereo subwoofers - oh, and maybe a nice turntable setup).

Strengths:
Sound quality
Build quality
Value
Lack of nasal cabinet distortion
Honest, open imaging

Weaknesses:
Tasteful but unremarkable appearance (fine by me)
Bass somewhat compressed

Similar Products Used:
Snell Type E/III, Sonus Faber, Avid, Advent, Genesis, Cambridge Soundworks, etc.

Ed Huber4339

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.75 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Esoteric Audio

Summary:
I Upgraded from the 2 to the latest 2ce Signature. These speakers are better than most electronics. They reveal the solid-as-a-rock, deep& wide soundstage of 24/96 audio. Instruments have a lot of space and air around them. The midrange is the biggest improvement--or is it the treble over my old 2s. anyway the improvement goes further than using the midrange and treble drivers from the 3A a new crossover is used to match the drivers. The treble is the smoothest, most extended yet with dynamic transients. Of course the bass is very low in distortion and even deeper.

Strengths:
Reference grade reproduction, complete with bass. A STEAL at $1500. Phase accurate-They will reproduce a sine wave

Weaknesses:
Not enough bass for "Home theatre". These are too good at music

Similar Products Used:
Toshiba 9200 Proceed PCP,P.S. audio Electronics Sunfire True Subwoofer

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I AUDITIOINED these 2ce Signatures at two different shops, under different acoustic situations and with GREATLY varied equipment, but all gear was HIGH END including the top notch cables. All CD recordings were very good items that I was very familiar with in terms of their sound capture to make sense of the auditioning. I took analog and digital recordeings of instrumental, voice, harpsichord, ROCK, country and symphonic materiel to audition.

Strengths:
High perceived value, good bass extension, good composure at high sound levels (but no better than that), love or leave it looks, relative freedom from boxy, nasal, smeary cabinet diffraction.

Weaknesses:
While agreeable speakers, they are too DEFICIENT in transparency, upper harmonic clarity, air and sparkle and the soundstage drifts around. I kept wanting to hear better results, but even with EXPENSIVE cables and interconnects, they failed to produce. I opted out of purchasing these VANDERSTEENS.

Similar Products Used:
Thiel, KEF - and the new Wharfedale Pacific Evoluition 30 and 40 model BLEW my mind while auditioning these VAndy's - the "Dales" were simply superb in terms of detail and tonal accuracy.

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Price Paid:  $1340.00 from John Fort Audio

Summary:
I am upgrading a previous review due to upgrading my amplification. The price includes Super Vanderstands and lead shot filling. Price does not include tax or Monster X-terminators which allow very tight speaker connection. X-terminators add $100 to price tag. I am still using Audioquest Type 4 speaker cable in bi-wire configuration. I see no reason to change the cable. What did make a difference was changing the amplification. I now have a Conrad-Johnson EV-1 phono amp, PV-14L linestage preamp, and MF-2250 power amplifier. It cost me a small bundle, but........ Whoa!!! I vegged out in front of the speakers for a couple of weeks listening to this setup. Front end is a VPI HW-19 Jr. and Audioquest PT-6 tonearm swinging a Grado MR8 cartridge. Also have an old Rotel RCD-855 spinning the CD's. It's true, when you upgrade the front end on Vandersteens the speakers will definitely let you hear it. The C-J amps have an easy, fluid, dynamic, detailed sound. Just like the C-J ads say, "It just sounds right". It is easier to hear inner details now, and while the old B&K amp setup lacked the listening fatigue common to value priced electronics, the C-J amps are much lower still in listening fatigue while increasing detail retrieval, and the Vandersteens let the difference show through clearly. These are the old 2Ci version, and I rate them a solid 4.5 for the price. The 2Ce Signature version must surely rate a 5 for the price. If you have the older versions like I do, I would investigate upgrading electronics before selling out and buying the Signature version. The C-J amps pack extremely high quality passive components, tubes, and premium matched FET's and are very low feedback designs with very wide bandwidths. The PV-14L uses a switched attenuator rather than conventional potentiometer for volume control. Music has incredible harmonic richness and tonal color that was not as apparent before the amp upgrade. I want one of Conrad-Johnson's DF-2 or DV-2b CD players to go with the amps. Maybe then CD's will sound close to analog. I am going to upgrade my cartridge to one of the better Grados in the near future. The Vandersteen Model 2 is perfectly happy mated with components beyond it's price class. I would strongly suggest getting an amplifier that costs at least as much as the speakers, and preferably solid state with a 4 ohm rating of at least 150 watts. The Vandies need at least 100 watts into an 8 ohm rating to really make them speak out in a dynamic manner. My results with tube amplification have not been as pleasing as the MF-2250, but I do not own a tube amp of equal quality.

Strengths:
Just an all around great loudspeaker. I think they sound best at a fairly loud level with rock music that contains strong drumming and bass guitar. But then again, I play bass guitar. If you are a drummer or bass guitarist and need a serious listening tool that is within reach of average working stiffs, consider any of the Vandersteen Model 2 series from the 2Ci and later. Earlier models are a bit laid back in the treble due to a different tweeter. You can pick up an excellent pair with stands for under $500 on the used market if you shop carefully. I have never heard better bass reproduction for the price IF an amp of fairly high current capability is used. The sound quality is consistent across the audio spectrum. Later models do not need X-terminators, so you save $100 there.

Weaknesses:
I haven't had a single solitary problem with mine in over 12 years of very heavy use. Not a single problem. There are NO real weaknesses. I wish all my gear was this dependable and wonderful sounding. This is NOT a loudspeaker for the detail freaks that like a jacked up high end. You need an amp similar to a Counterpoint SA-100 or B&K ST-202 at the least to hear what it can really do in the bass. OK, they are not the most beautiful loudspeakers you can get at this price, and are downright Plain Jane in appearance, but THIS Plain Jane cooks and boogies like no other. She also likes X-terminators (if she is a bit more mature), so you have to blow an extra $100 on gold jewelry to make her REALLY happy and willing to perform her best for you.

Similar Products Used:
I don't think there is really a whole lot similar at this price point and performance level. The JMLab Daline 3.1 came the closest, but I could not get them to perform as well in the low bass, and sin