Best used speaker - Vand 2CE or Soliloque 6.3?

the vandy

As a former owner of Soliloquy, I second the recommendation of Vandersteens.

I owned Vandersteens for a long time -- the 2Ci, then the 2Ce, then the 2Ce Signature. Really enjoyed them. When I upgraded other components, the Vandys stayed in the system -- better amp and sources just made the speakers sing more sweetly. One note -- they need a decent sized room to sound their best. They need some space (in my experience, a few feet) between the speakers and the back and side walls. Now that I have a much smaller listening room, I don't have the Vandys, and while I enjoy the monitor speakers I now own, I sometimes miss the richness and impact of the big Vandys. They are big and heavy -- not easy to move, and a bit risky to ship. If you buy used, try to pick them up. Or pay a little extra for the seller to reinforce the boxes -- when a Vandy is damaged in shipping, it's not a pretty sight.

There are not too many speakers that give you the quality of sound at a price point than Vandersteens; and their appeal goes beyond being a fad or flavor of the month; they are timeless classics at their respective price points IMHO. Most easily drive with SS amps (not that there are not good tube amps out there that will drive them well, but for the 2Ce and 3A I would suggest at least 100 watts which can be expensive in tubes.

What components are you using? I ask because the Vandy's can sound a little dark at times. Currently, I own the Soliloquy 6.2s.

I also own Soliloquys and love them, but I've also heard the Vandys and they're very impressive too. I found the Vandy's tweeter to sound a bit more laid back, but that's an area of personal preference/system matching as much as anything. The 6.3s are large speakers and need a lot of room behind and around them to open up and to not overload a room, which may be a consideration.

If I were you I'd go listen to Vandys somewhere with your music, and if you really like what you hear that might be the way to go since Soliloquy is basically out of business. If you ever have touble with the speakers or need to replace a driver it could be a problem. Best of luck.

Amplification? Room size? Music preferences? Type of preferred sound?