Vandersteen 2Ce with Jolida 302B?


Stoppped into the local audio store last weekend and learned they are a Vandersteen dealer. I have been running Meadowlark Kestrel 2s with a Jolida 302B (tube swapped only)and have been relatively happy with this second system. But I heard the 2Ces for the first time, powered by a Rotel rig and was very impressed by the overall detail and presentation. I am considering home auditioning these in the system (OK with the dealer by the way, some won't let you take Vandys home apparently, Richard Vandersteen told me once that he didin't blame them).

Has anyone here had experience with this or similar amplifier powering these speakers? The literature claims a min of 40W, the Jolida claims 50W.
stevecham
Shoe, I'm quite interested in your $1700-more-than-Vandy 2ces...care to share their identity? So over thepat couple of hours, at the request of my wife (also into music listening and gear, I'm a lucky guy), I moved them into the other room and hooked them up to the 400cx with the Taras.

Now I'm depressed. The Vandy 2Ces are more satosfying than my CS6s in this setting. I think part of this has to do with the down sizing we made when we moved to this house in OR from CA in July. We simply don't have the vaulted ceiling and large living room where the Thiels used to shine. But even still, while listening to "Angelsea" from Cat Stevens' Catch Bull At Four on vinyl that I bought when I was in high school in the early 70s, there is more air and instrument definition with the 2Ces than the CS6s. So now I'm in a quandry and am wondering how I went "wrong" three years ago when I traded my Dynaudio 3.0s for the Thiels. I did "audition" the 3a signatures in San Francisco but the dealer wouldn't let me home audition and I just couldn't justify the costs without that ability to check them out in my system in my own space, afterall it is one the seven commandments of Agon is it not to do this before one purchases?

So now I'm thinking, sell the Thiels and the sub (SS2 with passive crossover) and get a pair of 3a sigs for the main room. All this to adjust to a new house. Maybe it's time for a new thread about what choices/adjustments people had to make when they moved to a new location. So, I'm happy and I'm a bit frustrated because these 2ces sound so damn good (they're back in the small room system now (playing Saint Saens piano concerto on CD just beautifully)

Sigh. But all in all happy that sooner or later I was bound to explore and find something better, I just wasn't preapred for the extent of it today. Perhaps all will seem different tomorrow. But Vandy's offer much value for the money, that's for darn sure.
Stevecham
According to Vandersteen website the suggested retail for 2ce sigs are $1549 maybe the website has not been updated?
Also I couldn't find any "updates" to the 2ce sigs.
By the way I lived in Eugene Or. for a year..beautiful city! Do you like rain???? Plenty of that. Trees, Spencers Butte, Skinners Butte and plenty of nice folks everywhere, nice College town with very cool activities all year round.
Sometimes I wish I'd stayed up there , I am now about 1 and a half hours east of S.F. not far from where you were. Urban sprawl..blaa!
Hi Stevecham
I was fortunate to pick up a pair of Revel Performa F 30's local. ( Had to drive 70 miles ) The pair were actually a review pair from an online audio magazine that had been sitting in his home collecting dust for awhile. He had replaced them with Revel Salons.
Had my heart set on some Vandersteen 3A sigs untill these came up.
I haven't kept up with Vandersteens for awhile and thought I had heard somewhere that Vandersteen had improved on the 2ce sigs...is that true?
What I want to know and I bet you too..are the 3A sigs much better that the 2ce sigs? Almost the same driver complement and same build only a different tweeter and the size of the bass cabinet is larger. Had a chance to listen to the 3A sigs but not for a long extended time.
By the way a good piano recording sounds extraordinary on a set of Vandersteens!
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the posts. Just what I was looking for! I have a pair of the 2Ce sigs on the way and have been wondering how they would perform with the tube integrated. Mines a Ming Da KT88 design @50wpc. You make me feel better :)
BTW, I haven't heard anything about upgrades for the sigs and I've been doing a lot of research lately.
Thanks again for the nice writeup ;)
Shoe: Eugene is a wonderful city and for me it is a return. I did my posdoc here at U of O back in the early 90s. I left in 97, went to Montreal for a couple of years and then to the Bay Area only to return with an excellent job offer here. Yeah the rain and fog this time of year, but I grew up in Boston so I actually like the coudy days when I get to justify being indoors and listen to music.

Piano sounds like "buttah" on the Vandys, a great thing!

Dragon: You will have no problem with the 50W KT88 amp you have. You are in for a real treat. PLease write to this thread and tell us your experience once you get set up and running. The 2Ce Sig has to one of the very best speaker values in audio.

I also know gthat while the driver complement is the same between the 2Ce Sig and the 3a Sig, the crossover is improved in the 3, with advertised improvement in the mids, and the tweeter is the same one as used in the 5a.

At some point I just may sell my CS6 Thiels and go with 3a Sigs or the new model Richard has released recently. I really dig these Vandys.