Vandersteen 2ce Signature II/III impressions

JaideepGiridhar

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I'm looking at getting a pair of interim speakers before I graduate to the Sabrina X. I'm quite intrigued by the idea of a limited baffle speaker. Does anyone here have experience with the Vandersteens?
 
I'm looking at getting a pair of interim speakers before I graduate to the Sabrina X. I'm quite intrigued by the idea of a limited baffle speaker. Does anyone here have experience with the Vandersteens?
I have not heard the Vandersteens, but many years back I have heard the Infinity IRS and some years back its baby version Infinity RS II. Both are similar with mids and tweeters running open baffle.
Though I have had the opportunity to listen to only limited number of high priced speakers, the IRS and RSII are simply the best that I have ever heard.
Vandersteens I am sure will not disappoint in that regard as well.
 
What will you drive them with ? there was a FM murali in cochin who drove it with an Ayre setup until he upgraded to the higher end model with built in subwoofers.
 
What will you drive them with ? there was a FM murali in cochin who drove it with an Ayre setup until he upgraded to the higher end model with built in subwoofers.
PS Audio BHK Signature preamp-PS Audio BHK Signature amp. My source is pure-digital, processed through a Denafrips Terminator.
 
I have not heard the Vandersteens, but many years back I have heard the Infinity IRS and some years back its baby version Infinity RS II. Both are similar with mids and tweeters running open baffle.
Though I have had the opportunity to listen to only limited number of high priced speakers, the IRS and RSII are simply the best that I have ever heard.
Vandersteens I am sure will not disappoint in that regard as well.
Thanks. I'll post my listening impressions if I do end up getting a pair.
 
After I completed a recent ( in audio progression terms) hifi upgrade of my electronics, I tried to audition the Vandersteens since I was intrigued about their phase correct designs and wanted speakers to match my newly upgraded electronics. I chose to compare them against the Revel line since that seemed to have a great audio following.

I compared the Vandersteen Treo ( I think) against a Revel f208. The vandersteens was much smoother and more realistic and less bright.

The dealer was using a McIntosh gear as I remember. Everyone present agreed.

I am hoping the 2ce will be just as good but with lesser bass maybe? Hope someone can clarify

To continue what I wrote above, my lasting impression was that it sounded well balanced and rounded out however, it was definitely not a hifi sort of sound(aka with boomy bass and artificial highs) and hence might not sound very impressive at first try.
 
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Vandersteen take a lot of effort into making their speakers phase and time coherent. They tend to sound less like typical hifi. Music takes centre stage with good timing and coherency. Sometimes this can be underwhelming for people who expect to blown away by the speakers. Over time, this sound will grow on you. Less processing for the brain to do so it is more relaxing and like real music.
 
Vandersteen take a lot of effort into making their speakers phase and time coherent. They tend to sound less like typical hifi. Music takes centre stage with good timing and coherency. Sometimes this can be underwhelming for people who expect to blown away by the speakers. Over time, this sound will grow on you. Less processing for the brain to do so it is more relaxing and like real music.
This description is spot on. I went from a pair of B&W 804 D3s to the Vandersteens, which I've played pretty much all day for the past week, and it's like walking out of a production studio into a jam room. They recall what real music, stripped of all the tinsel it gathers in hifi speakers, sounds like. You're hearing the result of musicians conversing, and not engineers calibrating (ironic, considering how engineered these speakers are). I have at least a month to go before I break them in (plus the T-stands are on their way), but I can say with certainty that I haven't been this moved by music since I first heard an early pressing of Exile on Main Street, over two decades ago.
 
Great to see some Vandersteen fans here. I have been using Vandersteen 2CE for 12-13 years now and I am quite happy. One thing for sure Vandersteens don't wow you in the initial listening but is fairly good when you start paying attention to the music. The best part of Vandersteen is the mid range. Female vocals sound amazing. I use sub-woofer for the low end as 2CE is good for may be upto 45-50 Hz.
One thing to be noted is that they are super sensitive to room placement. I will suggest to follow the room placement guidelines in the speaker manual. I have actually spend time with laser distance tracker and levels to make sure everything is aligned properly for get a sweet spot. I use the speakers in a small listening room(my office), so it takes little bit of trial and error to get everything working.
I have found significant improvement with room correction. I use Martin Logan unison for Anthem room correction and it has made the bass tight for one speaker which is near wall corner and also solved the fall off above 10KHz due to reflections.
 
Great to see some Vandersteen fans here. I have been using Vandersteen 2CE for 12-13 years now and I am quite happy. One thing for sure Vandersteens don't wow you in the initial listening but is fairly good when you start paying attention to the music. The best part of Vandersteen is the mid range. Female vocals sound amazing. I use sub-woofer for the low end as 2CE is good for may be upto 45-50 Hz.
One thing to be noted is that they are super sensitive to room placement. I will suggest to follow the room placement guidelines in the speaker manual. I have actually spend time with laser distance tracker and levels to make sure everything is aligned properly for get a sweet spot. I use the speakers in a small listening room(my office), so it takes little bit of trial and error to get everything working.
I have found significant improvement with room correction. I use Martin Logan unison for Anthem room correction and it has made the bass tight for one speaker which is near wall corner and also solved the fall off above 10KHz due to reflections.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
May I ask ( OP: sorry for being off topic), which laser distance tracker that you are using? There are so many in the market while our need is for very short distances.
 
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