How do VANDERSTEEN Signature 2ce's rate?

It always amazes me how much debate gets generated over Vandersteen speakers. I have owned Vandy speakers since 1988 (2Ci, 2Ce, 3A), and they have never failed to satisfy me. Maybe I'm an abnormal "audiophile" in that I love a wide variety of music - classical, jazz (all genres), blues, bluegrass, some country, some pop, older rock (mostly pre-1980), some new age, world music, even gospel. The various Vandersteen speakers have never failed to "play music". Do they reach out and grab you by the throat, or analytically present every little detail? No, they don't. What they do, at least to my ears, is present music the way I hear it when played live. Although I concede that the Vandy's may not be the best in all performance characteristics, I have never felt that the Vandy 2Ce's lack imaging specificity or transparency. My wife, infact, has often commented on the immediacy of the imaging. The Vandy 2Ce's may sound just a bit veiled compared to speakers costing 2-3 times as much, or even compared to good mini-monitors in their price range, but I can't think of another speaker that does as good a job from mid-bass to top end. I recently sold my 2Ce's and bought a pair of Vandy 3A's (soon to be upgraded to the Signature version). A friend of mine who has good ears (and owns Vandy 2Ci's)was listening to my Vandy 3A's last weekend, and said that he was so drawn into the music that the speakers seemed to "disapper". To respond directly to your question: I think Vandersteen speakers represent a superb choice at their respective price ranges. If you can afford the 2Ce Signatures, I think the extra $200 is well justified - in short, an excellent return for the small additional cost. I have been an audiophile for about 35 years, been a high-end audio salesman several times, belonged to the Pacific NW Audio Club, and consequently heard a hell of a lot of speakers over the years. The one speaker that is always on my list of recommendations to friends are Vandersteens. You can surely spend more, but you won't get more - maybe different, but NOT necessarily better.

Well stated post Sd-- I agree. Cheers. Craig.

Get the Vandersteens or the Magnapans in the same price range. Everything else is a waste of time,including any advice from joeblow. You can't go wrong!

"The Vandersteen 3A is a great speaker which affords a lot of flexibility". Found this post on AA under "Would like to leave feedback on ML" date August 15. The above post is by none other than Joe Coherent, I knew you were just "tricking" us Joe.

You don't read so good Tubgroover. You don't hear so good either. This thread is about the Vandersteen Signature 2CE. You are quoting my comments about the Vandersteen 3A. I stand by my statements on both. If I did not have the Silverline Sonatas and was as financially challenged as you appear to be I would have strongly considered purchasing the Vandersteen 3A. My job at Chase Manhattan bank affords me many luxuries in life that you can not possibly appreciate as an employee of McDonalds.