Most refined and best balanced speaker I have ever owned.

They are a bit inefficient.

The more you listen to these speakers, the more you grow to like them. They are very refined and produce accurate sound. They are not harsh in the slightest, but the cymbals do sizzle; they do not shake the floor, yet they reach below 30hz with no boominess and have true bass presence; they do not overpower or sound loud, but with increased volume they get larger; they don't do everything some extremely expensive speakers do, but what they do, they do so well. All that I have auditioned up to $2300 a pair do not have the overall musicality and accuracy as do these speakers. Good job Mr. Vandersteen, I am quite satisfied.

Similar Products Used:

Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers, Wharfedale Sapphire 87's, Jantzen Z Zeros and others

Realistic clairity, Detailed, Sonic Purity

Size, deep bass extention (yet very acceptable!)

I've had many speakers over the years. Listening, listing..... I stopped at a shop, not knowing what they offered, and found speakers from NHT SuperZero's to those selling in the five lefthand digits. I listened to a wide range, with the Vandersteen 2Ce's catching my ear. I though my Mag's were sweet! I returned listening again and.... Taking with a friend visiting from across the country about the 2Ce's, wanted to hear them. Well, that day we both walked out with a pair!!!! Which included a three pin anchor brace filled with 20+ lbs of lead each! Three years later we both talk about the incredible preformace!!!

bang for the buck

pushed in midrange, lowest lows, highest highs

for the money, these are awesome speakers. i do not own them (i own merlin vsm-ms) but if i were in the market for sub $2k speakers, this is one of only a few to consider (along w. maggie 1.6s and paradigm 100s).

lots of speakers for >$2k don't sound this good. worth an audition.
rhyno

(auditioned with arcam cdp & integrated amp---forget model #s but each was @$2k retail)

Excellent imagining, clarity, and phase correctness.

Require over 100 watts of clean power

This is a wonderful, balanced sounding speaker. It does everything so well and reveals details that one may never have heard. It is essential to have good components to maximize their sound quality, but these are definitely audiophile level transducers. They are very accurate and musical. One can listen to them for extended periods and be thrilled. There is no harshness, and a general lack of coloration to the sound. Whatever your taste, audition these if you are spending less than $1500 new on speakers. The proof is in their wonderful sound and lack of excessive brightness. You will not easily tire of their remarkable smooth detail and accuracy.

Similar Products Used:

Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers, Jantzen Z-Zeroes, Warfedale Sapphire 87's, Infinity Reference 4's

It's as if there is a concert in my home every day! The treble and midrange adjustments on the back of the speaker is a perfect bonus.

Could have a little stronger sub-base umph

I have diverse and eclectic taste in music (Dance/House, Classical, New Age, Jazz) and my Vandersteens perform magically! My antiquated HK equipment bit the dust and I just acquired new stuff and am rediscovering my music allover! I'm even more amazed! I like the audio brightness, clean vocals and exacting base reproduction that my Parasound P/HP 850 preamp facilitates. I am using dual Marantz MA 500 mono block amps to push my (very power hungry) Vandersteen 2C Speakers. All I can say is "Oh My God"!

Bass, musicality, ability to seperate layers of sound within a dense mix

A little boring lookng, but who really cares?

These are without a doubt the best speakers I have ever owned, and they are probably the last pair I will buy for a long time. As already mentioned by many other reviewers, the owner's manual is very detailed regarding setup and my experience is that the suggestions therein should be followed closely. The 2Ce's are quite sensitive to how they are set up, as I discovered after about three months of saying "these sound good, but a little flat." Fortunately I have some flexibility as to where I can place the speakers in my room, so before going out and spending money on new electronics, I simply moved them out a bit further from the wall. Never again will I doubt the importance of the interactions between speakers and rooms. The difference was immense, even jaw dropping.
An added bonus is the treble and midrange adjustments on the back of the speaker. I generally keep these flat, but it is nice to have the flexibility if it is needed. I am also surprised to find a number of recent reviews complaining of the "bananas only" connectors. My pair has factory 5-way binding posts which are quite adequate.
Overall an excellent speaker, given that one utilises electronics which are up to par. This is another lession I learned when my amp was in for service and I ran the 2Ce's with an Onkyo(?) mass market integrated for a week. OUCH all power in the lower registers was gone, everything sounded congested and muddy at the same time. Likewise, the Vandersteens have revealed clear differences to me between one type of speaker cable and another.
I for one am very happy with these speakers and would not hesitate to buy another pair. I suppose no product is ever perfect (or so we are told so that this often grotesque cycle of purchace and replace might continue ad infinitum) but at the same time I heard a pair of Revel Salons (at over ten times the price of the Vandertsteens) and didn't really take to them at all. A clear five star product for me.

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Energy Reference Series, Definite Technology BP-10's, Ohm Walsh 200's, Linn Index II's

Taut mid-bass and bass. Vocals both female and male sound palatable.Their reputation as a great overall budget speaker
stands as far as I'm concerened. Very listenable and smooth.

Rolled off highs. Treble does not sparkle like higher end products which distracts from overall imaging . I took me along time to break them in to where I got descent imaging.
Kinda ugly too.

Great speaker for the cash. I do think some other products
have closed the gap as far as price vs. performance.
The B&W 604's bested the Vandy 2ce in the tweeter and midrange department. But in Vandersteen's defense the 2ce
had a very rich, linear presentation. They do alot of things
right,just what they're known for. I would recommend them
to anybody getting into the hifi sport. However,I would also
give them a few others to compare with.

Similar Products Used:

Nad 218 amp, Nad cd player. Compared the Vandys to B&W 604's

Clear, clean, dynamic

Not enough Bass

I listen to everything from hip hop to show tunes..well my wife digs the show tunes. The 2C's handle santana, miles,
marley and the fu fighters as if they were performing in the same room. It was an amazing experience to quiet all my know it all friends who thought the invetsment to much.... once they heard the sound they were literally moved.
The 2's are great speakers..just beutiful sounding and in my mind very accurate.
Although people often say the vandersteens are vauge I don't agree..i actually think its subjective BS. They do lack some bass ummphh but you'd only realize it if you played dmx, nas, and other Rap/Dance stuff.

I do, and have already placed my order for the 3's with the
bass i deserve.

Smooth sound, very balanced, excellent detail

Could be a little tighter in mid-bass, a little crisper with very high notes

I am frankly amazed at the reviews that more or less think this speaker sucks.....if these folks auditioned this speaker and compared it to others...how did it manage to get in their front door if it sucked??.....I find the speaker simply the best I have heard at this price ($1400)....PERIOD. BUT...this speaker requires an amp that is powerful and controls bass, the speaker needs to be positioned properly in the room with the proper stands and is extremely musical if you do these things...the Vandy's will show each improvement in the system as you upgrade, unlike many speakers.....I use it for both music and video....If all I spun was video DVD's I would probably use the Vandersteen 3's....or some other speaker that slams...Vandy's slam with control....I think that is a good way to say it....If you want excellent audio playback + damn good video performance...get the 2CE's.

Similar Products Used:

Allison, Magneplaner, Rogers, Paradigm

My system consist of the following: Carver 705X amp 1,000.00
Rotel 960AX pre amp processor 300.00
Rotel 950 cd player 350.00
Vandersteen 2Ce's for mains 1,200.00
Vandersteen VCC-1 center channel 300.00
AR 208 Rear 200.00
PBJ interconnects(1m) 500.00
cheap video sources( VCR , LD)

The Vandersteens are a very good speaker. As you can see the system is designed for surround and home theater. The speakers are great. I give them 4 in home theater sound. I don't even use the subwoofer that much. ( Which is a Velodyne 1012II). However, in stereo some was missing. I had the 2Ce's bi - wired. The sound was okay. I pulled the instructions out and read them word for word and saw something that said Bi amping. I took 4 channels of the Carver 705x and did the bi amp thing plus moved the 2Ce's closer together. The sound improved significantly. I need another amp to run the rears. If the 2Ce's are setup properly you can't go wrong. I give them a 4.5 when setup properly.