I auditioned a pair of 2ce's and absolutely did NOT like them at all for music other than acoustic or jazz. Classic rock, electric blues, Radiohead sounded weak IMO. I auditioned many speakers at $1K - $2K and struggled to find any which fulfilled my expectations for a broad range of music. They all sounded great for some styles, but poor for the others. Until I auditioned a pair of Von Schweikert VR-2's. IMO they were great for rock/electric, and though not as refined/airy for acoustic and jazz as the 2ce's, still very satisfying. Granted, I did not buy them, but only because I bumped up my budget to the next level of speakers where I found many more capable of playing all types of music. One mistake I did make was to purchase an integrated amp before my speakers. While I was satisfied with the quality of music it produced, the combination of my room size (large) and speaker insensitivity (87dB) eventually put me on a power upgrade path to satisfy my need for increased volume levels. I would put more emphasis on finding highly satisfying speakers and less on expensive electronics. Were I to do it all over again, I would select my speakers first, making sure they were at least 94dB efficient, then select an affordable power amp (like one from Parasound or Van Alstine) and an affordable preamp (like one from Mapletree or Transcendant). Then eventually tinker with different kinds of preamps and amps if the upgrade itch were to surface.
Vandersteen 2ce sigs? Beginner needs guidance.
I'm brand new to the Audiogon community, and am so grateful to have found such a fantastic source for thoughtful opinions and information for audiophiles. I am trying to decide on speakers in the 1-2k range for a system I am putting together. This is intended to be my first acquisition in what will become a long-term hi-fi system that I will use for mainly music (85%)and movies on the weekend (15%). After extensive research, I am leaning toward Vandersteen 2ce sigs, as they are by nearly all accounts an excellent audiophile entry point speaker, particulary at the used pricing I'm seeing here on Audiogon. My setup will go into a dedicated 16'x 20' media room, which will probably be oriented along the long wall (i.e., I will have 16' to work with). I listen mainly to alternative and classic rock (e.g., beatles, pink floyd, radiohead) but also to more subdued genres including folk, accoustic, bluegrass, ambient and jazz. I am also looking for a strong solid-state two channel amp in the $600-1000 range that I can use to drive these speakers, and which can also become a long-term part of my setup. I'll run the amp through my current Marantz sr7300 until I can afford a better preamp. I was nearly decided on a Rotel 1080, but am willing to hear what everyone thinks about this. Finally, I listened yesterday to the Thiel 1.6s, which I expected to like. I instead came away feeling they sounded incedibly clean and airy, but overly clinical and somewhat dry. Further, they had nowhere near the soundstage, or imaging capability of the new LSA speaker from DK Design group, which I A/B'ed them against. The Theils were on a full Macintosh setup. So my questions are: Given my tastes and reaction to the Thiels, should I still be considering the Vandersteens? What other speakers should I be considering? And am I off-base in pairing the Rotel amp with my mains? Are there other well-priced two channel solid state amps I should be considering? Thanks very much. -Jonathan