Speaker design and opinions about speakers (sound quality) vary greatly. To say the least. What you like or don't like about the used 2CE may be that you don't care for the sound, you didn't have them set up properly, they were damaged , they didn't have enough power driving them or so many other factors. The 2CE has a stellar reputation that goes back decades and Richard is a well respected speaker designer. Glad you like B&W but someone who replaced those same B&W speakers with Klipsch, Revel, Sonus Faber or another brand might say they are inferior??? To each his own...
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?