Obviously "Tony from Georgia" and "O.Z. from Israel" have some sort of problem that has nothing to do with their Vandersteen speakers. The 2CI's are wonderful speakers especially in their price range. Just look at all the incredible reviews the speakers have received over the past 10 years. It's not uncommon for a manufacturer to refuse to sell their components (even to customers). A speaker is a precision instrument that should be serviced by the manufacturer. I know from personal experience that the Vandersteens are manufactured extremely well and the woofers don't just "fall apart" under any situation. As OZ stated, the Dunleavy is fine speaker, but in my opinion the Vandersteens are technologically and sonically quite superior.

I owned a pair of these speakers for about two months and traded them in for a pair of Mirage OM-6's. I know the OM-6's are more expensive, but the 2Ci's are a whole lot more inferior. The 2Ci's are very harsh in the midrange. My ears were stressed far too much for comfortable listening. The addition of the OM-6'swas and still is a great relief. I cannot recommend these speakers for anyone.

these speakers are a great choice for anyone wanting great muscical repro and good home theater. at first you think they may be lacking some umph then the more you listen and compare you relize they are missing nothing except for the noise that lot of loudspeakers have. I guess what I mean is they come from a darker or quieter background the sound you here is supose to be there nothing else. if you A B these with other speakers they may seem a little layed back but if you listen to them a while they really grow on you. i find myself wanting to listen to cds I havent listend for a while just to here the subtle details they bring out in the music.I think the new trend in speakers (the woofer tweeter woofer layout)just doesnt do justice to the music they may be good for theater but heck anything sounds okay when you are involved with the video.anyways for the price of these speakers they are a definant five stars.

I have auditioned this speaker twice in listening rooms in stores. I found it is not very musical (at least when playing classical, pops and vocal) and eventually I got headache after one hour). It can play enough bass and trible, but just did not synthesize them to give great music.

Having bought a pair of these to replace my Acoustat 2+2s (Very Low WAF)which I had had for 8 years, I was looking forward to a different kind of sound from the one I was used to. My Acoustats had always been clean and transparent albeit with a TINY sweet spot, however the Vandersteens seem to sound just as good in the two weeks that I have owned them. Most electrostatics are bass shy and therefore Acoustat's philosophy was to make a big ass panel in the 2+2 (actually 4 panels) so the bass was good and tight - the Vandys do kick equally as well. I have several CD 'cuts' that I listen to when auditioning speakers and I'm very familiar with. The one I use for the bass is 'Until You Loved Me' by Celine Dion (the wife's - honest). This track has significant info in the lower registers and the Vandys excel in reproducing it. The long sustained bass notes sound great. Starting to actually like Ms. Dion!
Not having the manual, I received much help from the internet community in setting them up. The stands are a must and I have them tilted back very slightly to suit my listening room size and listening position. I have them bi-wired although to me that did not do much.

I will give them a 4 although it really should be 4.5. My only complaint is that they start to crap out at high volumes earlier than I though they might and it's not my amps - no sir! (getting rid of the classical and jazz oriented Acoustats resurected my rock vinyl).

Highly recommended especially at the $680 I paid for mine. (Hi David)

?!? I'm suprised. I thought everybody loved these. I had a pair of 1b's (unbeatable under $800), and I didn't want to just be a lemming when I upgraded, so I shopped around. I shopped AROUND. After deciding to upgrade, it took me a year to satisfy myself that the 2ce was the only choice under $2K. I listened to B&W, Monitor, Tannoy, Thiel, Taralabs, Maggies (came in 2nd, definitely), DCM, Martin Logans, bunches of others and countless mass-market crappies.
You can't find anything in this range that delivers such a balance of performance. You can find speaks that will do any one thing better -- but you won't find a package like this at a better price.

Now I've just replaced my well-used Parasound HCA600 with a CJ MV50 and am rediscovering them all over again.

A full ranged speacker for it's price. With the proper equipment can outperform many speakers at nearly twice it's price.

The midrange and bass need a fast amp to control.

This speaker grows on you. My first session with this speaker was very dissapointing. I first heard them in an old house with a 16 ft. ceiling (plaster) with lots a slapback. I then heard this speaker in another room and I was very impressed. This speaker breathes music. It's what's behind it that counts. At first I was running this speaker through an Acurus A-150. When I upgraded to an Anthem Pre-1 and a McCormack DNA-0.5 deluxe the speackers took off. The bass became taught, the mids and highs were sweet with an extended soundstage. I realize the new 2Ce signature series is probably a better speaker, but for $1295 this speaker still is the best bang for the buck. When I hear the 2Ce's I hear music, and that's all that matters.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 604, NHT 2.5, B&W 603, Avalon, VR

Sweet, sweet midrange, wonderfully coherent imaging

Tricky to get enough bass; soundstage is just OK, but nothing special; you really need a lot of power

When I originally purchased these speakers, I was using an Anthem 1 tube amplifier from Sonic Frontiers. At 25 w/channel, I knew that I wasn't giving the Vandersteen 2Cs the care and feeding they needed, but I really wasn't planning to ask too much of them in the volume department.

They performed true to form. The Anthem is a wonderfully sweet tube amp, and with the Vandersteen 2Cs I got some of the sweetest small ensemble performances I've ever heard on a playback system. String quartets and baroque ensembles sound absolutely wonderful; as did the saxes of Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker and Cleanhead Vinson in small settings at moderate volumes. I can't emphasize what wonderful bloom this speaker/amp combination was able to produce.

I then went out and got a Krell KAV500i, which puts 10 times the average power into an 8 ohm load (250 watts per channel). And what can you say, its a Krell.

My head almost popped off when I played these speakers with this amplifier. Suddenly, there was this wonderfully kicking bass, superb transient response, amazing detail, and, not surprisingly, almost photographic imaging. Sounds that had been a little smeary before, highhats, a lot of digital transient sounds from the electronica that I love to listen to, have now become completely controlled and detailed. OK, there isn't as much detail in the upper midrange as with the B&Ws, but the overall sound (soundstage, imaging, clarity) is so much more to my liking. Yes, these speakers need power, but when they get it, they suddenly perform like $5000 speakers. Just listen to the vocal granularity on Terry Evan's "Thats the Way Love Turned Out for Me" or the acoustic guitar on Daevid Allen's "Garden Song." Wow. Open, beathing sound.

Does it make sense to marry speakers like the Vandersteen 2C's with an amp the likes of a Krell KAV500i? I say use what sounds best. To me, this does. Note: I do not attempt to listen to DVDs or video material through these speakers, for which I have a completely separate setup with a sub. While this speaker can produce a lot of volume, it isn't the first choice for the final set piece in Saving Private Ryan or other applications calling for visceral (and not necessarily musical) sub-bass.

Vandersteen 2C Floorstander ($1200)
Preliminaries

I heard these speakers at an audio shop that has just about every component ever made, so I had to choose realistically what I would drive 'em with. I chose two of my favorite components: the $600 McCormack Micro Line Drive(in passive mode) driven by the McCormack Micro Power Drive($900) all hooked up to a nice sounding CAL Icon mkII CD player($1500) with MIT Terminator 2 Biwire speaker cables($480). I don't remember which interconnects were used.

I must admit, I wasn't going to the store to test these speakers in particular, but I noticed them right off the bat as being excellent, so I'm posting a review.

Sound Quality

Nice highs. On my Braveheart Soundtrack, they were pretty sweet. If I had to give the treble of these speakers a rating in particular, it would be a four. The mids are where this speaker shines. They were pretty much impeccable; all you could ask for from a speaker of this price. Where this speaker does not particularly shine however, is in the deep bass; mid bass is good; bet the low bass just sounded a bit loose. Supposedly, they go down to 29 Hz, but I don't really think so. On George Clinton's 1996 version of his old hit "Flashlight," the bass was slightly boomy and excessive. Now, there is a possibility that it was in the recording or in some other component, but I doubt it. What confused me, though, is that in other songs, such as Bob Marley's "Jamming," the bass was fine. Well, anyway the bass deserves four stars and the midrange gets five. Soundstaging was excellent. Very deep; not very high, though; wide and 3-D. Imaging was first class. The vocals came from the precise center; very good. I'm serious, for a moment I forgot which speakers were playing; that's how well they disappeared.

Value

I say for $12 hundred these speakers are very hard to beat. I've listened to an uncountable number of speakers in this price range, and these stand out as one of the best.

Final Verdict

A-(due to the bass). This would translate into 4 and a half stars, but since I can't give it that, I will round it up to a five. Well done, Vandersteen.

I know that this is a repeat review, but I have to correct either a few typos or grammar mistakes. Ok, here it goes once again!!!
The current incarnation of this speaker is the second I've heard since it was introduced more than four-and-a-half years ago. The first being its predecessor, the model 2Ci, which I've heard for the first time back in the fall of 1990. The very thing I like about this speaker is that even though it doesn't excell in any one particular area, it's a very good speaker when it is taken as a whole. Yes, the top end slightly rolled off, but to these 34 year old ears, that's a good thing. Also, the midrange is open and transparent and the bass response is extended, but could be tighter. This may have something to do with the amplifiers, front-end components, and/or cables that they are connected to. Overall, these speakers take on a dark, warm, and rich sounding demeanor. Because of this, this is why that I have to disagree with past magazine reviews, reviewers, and area dealers in reference to what type of amplification that they should be mated with. Past magazine reviews, reviewers, and some dealers have actually mated the 2Ce's with tube amplification. I feel that tube amplifiers tend to sound rich and warm themselves, further tilting the already warm balance of the 2Ce's. I feel that in order to get the best from this speaker, that they should be mated with a bright and open sounding amplifier, a neutral and uncolored preamplifier and high quality sources and cables everywhere else in the system chain. If this is done, then you'll agree with my assessment. Surely, there are other speakers in this price class that are in one way or another, are better than the Vandersteen 2Ce's. They may exhibit a clearer and more open top end, a more uncolored midrange, a better soundstage, or more depth which allows you to hear further back into the stage, effectively drawing you into the music. But I have yet to hear one that does everything the Vandersteens does in this price range. The beauty of it all is that the Vandersteens don't do anything terribly wrong, and for the price, they're hard to beat. That's why they're going to be my next pair of speakers (they are going to replace a pair of KEF Reference 102's as I attempt to overhaul my current audio system). They are going to be the cornerstone of my $10K audio system (see dream system "$10,000.00 System Revised Once Again"). So if you're looking to reproduce the full audio spectrum from your system and don't want the hassle of trying to match a subwoofer to a pair of bookshelf satelites, then do yourself a favor and check out the Vandersteen 2Ce's. They're very good speakers for the money.

Suggested Retail Price: $1,295.00 + $125.00 for Vanderstands