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Trying to extract more from my Vandersteen

I've come to the realization that my ideal system is always 2 steps ahead of whatever my current system is. I am only satisfied with whatever updgrade for a few months, before I convince myself that I need to upgrade again. This is as exciting as it is unsettling.

My current system is as follows:
Vandersteen 2CE sig
McCormack DNA-1 deluxe
TAD-150 sig tube preamp
Eastern Electric Minimax tube CDP
Blue circle Power cords
MIT IC's and speaker cables

I had spent the past two years building this current system, and I had been fairly happy with it. I thank this system for introducing me to the world of jazz. Switching to tubes really helped my Vandersteens "sing". I had entertained the thought of replacing the McCormack with a tube amp, such as TAD-60 or other equivalent, but I never did. I was happy with my system and figured it would remain intact for awhile.

Then something had to rain on my happiness or complaceny. Due to a busy work schedule, I was forced to do most of my music listening either in my office through my old NHT and all rotel setup or at home through my Sennheiser headphones. After a couple months of this, I finally had time to do some listening through my main system. It had never been apparent to me before, but all the music coming out of the Vandersteens sounded "veiled". Before, I purchased my vandies, I read and heard all the criticisms regarding this "veiled" or "shrouded" sound. I never felt this was true about my vandersteen's until now.

So instead of making generalizations, I figure this is a good opportunity to "improve" my system. I am still more than happy with the soundstage, midrange clarity, and bass dynamics. Perhaps what I want to improve is higher frequency extension.

All this being said, I welcome all recommendations and comments that need not be limited to the following topics:

tube-rolling...

Pre-amp...
Any recommendations on pre-amps (tube or SS)?
How about a passive unit (Sonic Euphoria, Placette, Mccormack TLC)?

cables...
anyone recommend Purist?

Amp...
Any good integrated's out there?
What do you think about the Eastern Electric Integrated?
How about Krell KAV 400xi? For that matter, how does Krell match with Vandersteens?

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to reading your comments.

Drew
drewyou
davemitchell
253 posts
 
I also agree that you should consider changing out the MIT cables. I am a Vandersteen dealer and used to sell MIT cables. They are a nice band-aid for bright systems but aren't helping your system. Go with something that is simple, uses good high purity copper or silver and doesn't have network boxes like MIT or Transparent.

I also used to sell McCormack gear and while that is a nice amp, it is somewhat dark sounding- especially when not left on continuously. The McCormack amps of that era seemed to need more warm up to sound good than most other amplifiers, so turn it on and leave it on permanently.

The signature version of the 2Ce is a very neutral and revealing speaker. They are not veiled, but they will reveal things about the rest of your system. Many people who haven't heard Vandersteens lately don't realize just how open and transparent the latest generation has become.

I would also take the time to insure that your 2Ce's are set up properly according to the manual.

Good Luck.
eagleman6722
217 posts
 
Dave,

I have a pair of 2CE sugnatures that were sold to me by Audio Concepts in Houston. I currently have Tara labs usc Prime wires that were sold to me with the speakers. Can I do better at a reasonable price point? I am using a Tubeaudio design Amp and pre.(made in chicago see the reviews) They reveal some wonderful qualities on the Vandy's but, I may be short on highs a bit. I have a set of Aural Thrill siver ICs coming to brightten thngs up also...
drewyou OP
24 posts
 
Thanks for all your input guys. I'm gonna first try testing various speaker positions, toe-in/out, vertical angle and such, and see what improvements I can get for free.

What do you think would have more impact? Switching IC's or speaker cables?
unsound
7,311 posts
 
My guess is that switching speaker cables would have more impact, but, switching both would help.
sean
6,231 posts
 
One can't say what would be a more drastic change i.e. swapping the speaker cables or the interconnects, as it would matter what make / model for each that you intended to go with. Even then, some of that would be guesswork, especially with IC's, due to system synergy and the impedance related issues. As such, speaker cables would be the easier route to go, but even then, there are still quite a few variables involved depending on the choices that you make.

I think that Richard uses and recommends Audioquest cabling. Whether or not you go this route is obviously up to you. Most of this will boil down to your personal preferences, system goals and system synergy. Unless one has an identical system with very similar sonic preferences, the only thing that you'll get here is recommendations based on one's own personal preferences within the confines of their system.

There may be some technical issues involved in why some speaker cables work better / more uniformly than others in most SS installations, but all of that has been covered in the archives. Whether or not one likes the sonics that the technical advantages that these speaker cables bring with them boils down to personal preference. In most cases, people "band aid" their systems using cables as a tone and transient control, making such changes and recommendations a crapshoot at best. Sean
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