How much tilt back for Vandersteen 2ce's?

Couldn't find my manual...but in checking out Vandersteen's website, it appears that they are VERY fast at answering questions posed in their technical section.

http://vandersteen.com/pages/Techpage1.html

I think that when I set my Dad's up for him we just eyeballed it and adjusted the spikes under the sound anchor stands. Your seating position (ear height) may possibly also play a role in how much tilt you want.

You're going to want to experiment a little. I followed the instructions and after a while reduced the tilt dramatically to get the sound right. I noticed the speakers sounded so much better when I stood up. It made sense to reduce the tilt for the seated position. Good luck, and enjoy the Vandy's.

The Vandy speakers come with adjustable stands so you can tilt them back to get the tweeter's output to align with your ears. The further away from the speakers you sit, the less back-tilt that is required.

As you are adjusting the tilt-back, tape a string with a small weight to the rear of the top end-cap. With the weighted string hanging down the rear of the speaker, measure the distance between the string and the body of the speaker at a specific point. When you set up the second speaker, repeat the procedure, but adjust the tilt so the string-to-speaker distance is identical to speaker #1 (at the same relative point on speaker #2).

You may find that experimenting a bit with the tilt-back is necessary, to get the speaker's dispersion pattern to "lock in" for the best sonic balance and soundstaging.

If you would like more detail on this process, drop me a personal E-mail and I'll copy the pertinent part of the user's manual and send it to you. You can also buy a complete replacement manual for about $5 buy calling or writing Vandersteen's office in Hanford, CA. If you call, you will probably talk with Richard's daughter, who acts as the receptionist and chief phone-answerer (she's very nice).

I should have commented in my post that the purpose for tilting the speakers back is to ensure the best phase alignment. If you are listening to the speakers from a near-field position, the output from the tweeter may arrive before the mid-range and bass output. However, if you are sitting 10' feet or more from the speaker, the output from the various drivers arrive almost simultaneously at your ears, so there is very little tilt-back required. FWIW, my Vandy 3A Sig's are about 10 feet from my listening spot, and my speakers are fully upright (no tilt-back).