the big day

[grue2cesig2]

i got my  custom sound anchors today!  i ordered them dec 10th. well two weeks ago i followed up and he apologized up and down that the order fell through the cracks. but he said 7 days and sure enough i got them! they are 8" tall not including the spikes.  as i mentioned in another post i also got to finally listen to the cambridge 851N.

i literally teared up. i felt like i was hearing my music like when i sold hi-end gear back in the 90's. 

richard - if you are reading - update your manuals to say: sitting with your ear 8" above the tweeter is a big no-no - buy new stands!

so it's two things that have changed - the 851N upgrade (from a dacmagic+ and laptop with mostly FLAC) and the proper ear listening height or stand height (depending on how you look at it).

i really really wanted thiel speakers back when i got the 2ce sig 2 but my old dealership didn't carry them anymore but did have vandersteens but i've been so disappointed for 6 years. sad. felt so blah. never listened to them. well now i am, well like i said i teared up a bit.

i remember crouching down on the floor and being blown away by the sound only to stick with the tilt-back instructions and figuring i was doing something wrong or the speakers are not what i thought they were. 

ok so i hear EVERYTHING now in a recording.  i fell like i'm back in the day where everything is as it should be. the 2ce sig 2 are well beyond what i thought they could be. noone and i mean noone ever reviews them and talks about ear listening height.  and man they should. unless they are average size people?  but YES they literally do everything well - well enough for me.

on some tracks, like a clair marlo song "till they take my heart away", she vocalizes with her back up singers "ooooo.. ooooo..." and that flows out into the room and goes out behind me, like a soft sweet wave of harmonics...  on might sam mclane's "who made you cry" his voice is as hard as a granite mountain cliff and so soft at other times and no distortion or overload or compression. i mean this guy has impact. 

the whole sound stage is up at head level and extends from floor well up above the speakers. it's wider too, but i do have a bit of a hearing loss in my right ear, but that's not as noticeable anymore.  the depth is incredible. and how many songs did i listen to tonight where the louder voices and instruments really pop out and stand out in a holographic projection.

for the first time i heard and saw every part of the stage on Jazz at the Pawnshop Highlife song. it was a cubists impressionists mess before. i can hear the woodwind guy moving on stage. and hear the reed.

i listened for 4 hours and now writing this i'm so excited.

you'd think having the speaker 8" up i'd lose bass. but on some songs i didn't, others it seemed like i did. but i rarely sat in front of them. so bass in other parts of the condo yeah, was boomy sometimes. but the bass is tight and deliberate. and my old test song "cocoon" from star tracks 2 telarc cd still has those couple of deep notes about mid-way through that i can still hear (but not feel) and those few notes are defined now. the old stands were spiked, like these new ones, maybe it's b/c there's more sand in bigger stands?

yep. in some ways i feel vindicated too - there's only a few purpose built speakers and now there's even fewer. and though i never had much experience with the vandys, i knew they were one of them that you couldn't go wrong with. i just never got to hear that until now 🙂 and i'm lovin it!  damn. now i want treos.. with custom stands! hahaha.  no, i'm going to enjoy these for a long time now.

[Steve Edwards]

Sig 2, really stoked you got your Vandys set up correctly.  I can feel your enthusiasm coming right through my computer monitor.  Calling it an epiphany would not be an exaggeration. 

I got my first pair (2Cs) back around '85.  I'm on my third pair now (Quatro fabric) and have to say, it's only been the last few years that I fully understood / realized the significance of proper set up with Richard's speakers.  It can take some time experimenting with toe-in, tilt and proximity to side and rear walls; but, once you find that sweet spot  ................. 

Enjoy your new found audio bliss!  

[ctsooner]

happy for you.  That's just great news.  

[grue2cesig2]

thanks!  i can't wait to get home and do some more listening!

you know, i've said phrases like "purpose built speakers" or similar and i think the best possible description is this: vandersteen's (and some others) are truly musical instruments.  and that's rare air!

[GdnrBob]

Sound Anchors does great work.

If I recall, the owner also has a place in Panama. So, sometimes things at the factory in Florida might get misplaced due to miscommunication.

Bob

[ctsooner]

Bob, you always have great nuggets of info.