Budget 2CE Sig II HT Setup

[2CETweet]

Recently acquired within the past year, I’m enjoying my HT setup on a budget.  Love of Vandersteen started with past down original 1B’s that I still own and cherish.  I’m not an audiophile yet, but I’m getting addicted to the music, technology, and home theater experience.  Consists of Vandersteen 2CE Sig II 30th Anniversary, VCC-2 center, Denon AVR4700 (as PreAmp and rear), (3) Fosi V3 Mono’s w/sparkos op amps for L, C, R (I know class D and not true audiophile but sounds great for a budget/beginner), VSM-1s in the rear, and a pair of SVS Pro 1000 subs tucked and hidden away. TV is a Samsung 65” QN90B NeoQLED just to mention, along with the Wii, PS4, and XBox.  In the years to come, looking to expand my knowledge and hardware!  Any advice of what to update first is welcomed.

[GdnrBob]

Looking good! I'd say enjoy what you have, any upgrades will present themselves when you have gotten to know the system.

Bob

[stratocaster]

Making the most out of your equipment and making it work for every possible audio experience is remarkable and you have accomplished that.  I can see your taste in games and am sure the experience of playing Madden with the big speaker/dual sub configuration must be highly entertaining. As Bob mentioned, enjoy your system. There's never a shortage of stuff that can be upgraded but hopefully that's not a quest you embark on unnecessarily. You just gave me an idea of hooking my Xbox to the HT system and getting immersed in Call of Duty and Forza...

Guess something to do during the long weekend..😀

[Holmz]

5 hours ago, 2CETweet said:

Recently acquired within the past year, I’m enjoying my HT setup on a budget.  Love of Vandersteen started with past down original 1B’s that I still own and cherish.  I’m not an audiophile yet, but I’m getting addicted to the music, technology, and home theater experience.  Consists of Vandersteen 2CE Sig II 30th Anniversary, VCC-2 center, Denon AVR4700 (as PreAmp and rear), (3) Fosi V3 Mono’s w/sparkos op amps for L, C, R (I know class D and not true audiophile but sounds great for a budget/beginner

I am not sure I agree… I am running the AITYAMA on the surrounds and they actually sound pretty good… but will likely upgrade to the Fosi.
I see a picture of the back of the Denon AVR4700, showing RCA outputs.
My AVP does XLRs, so the AIYAMA is not great as I needed to convert XLR (Balanced) to RCAs. If both of our respective systems are not noise plagued, then they are fine.

I did have some VTL (Vacuum Tube Logic) Mono-blocks, and the AIYAMA was pretty close. The Fosi(s) should be no worse.
And I just got back a PrimaLuna Thursday, being redone to rune on 240v, from 120v.
The Aiyama also sounds pretty close to the PrimaLuna. Not enough to really worry about (IMO).

 

5 hours ago, 2CETweet said:

…
Any advice of what to update first is welcomed.

It looks good… How does it all sound?

Personally I would try moving the front speakers into the room. And there are some instruction on the Vandy site to show starting places.
But it usually takes some inch by inch futzing around.
You will likely get the most bang for the buck starting there.
I would start by moving em out a foot, just by the visual look of it… for me, when/if they hit a sweet spot, then they disappear and the sound stage gets very deep. To the point it often sounds like the music us behind the wall. Every room is different, and WAF comes into play but finding out where they work best only takes time.

I have a mixed 2-channel/HT set up.
The Fosi would be good (for me) because they are XLR, and it makes it easier to use 2-channel amps with a pass-through function, so that the AVR /AVP just passes through a preamp.

i am not sure what is behind the sofa. We are in a tight room, so there is a wall behind us.
That is suboptimal, but I’ll likely be putting in some sound treatment on that back wall.

Botton line is that if it sound good, then worrying about “making it better” can be somewhat counter productive to enjoying it.
Your equipment seems fine enough, and some light room treatment can be enough of a rabbit hole.
Does that Denon AVR4700 have a microphone and doing some EQ to quell the room modes?

Edited August 31 by Holmz

[2CETweet]

Thanks for all the words of encouragement.  It all sounds good both as HT and stereo for my music.  I hear many details I’ve never heard before.  I did a lot of research regarding the Denon AVR ( microphone and Audyssey) and Fosi V3 monos and they work pretty well together given technicals and my budget.  Audio Science Review (ASR) forum reviewed both with good reviews (Denon AVR 4700 updated review).  Definitely recommend the Sparkos op amps with the Fosi monos giving more detail and soundstage.  Wish I had preamp with XLR to get more out of the Fosi monos but at that point the budget almost triples to the next level of equipment such as the McIntosh MX200 AV processor.  The RCA outputs will just have to do for now.  I agree that I should try pulling the speakers out from the wall to get deeper soundstage.  Right now at 16” off.  Room is tough given shape of “P” with lots of windows, vaulted ceiling, and open concept to kitchen in rear.  Issue is pulling out too far into room is not a wife friendly thing considering the speakers are already viewed as big boxes.  Thought about used Treo’s to compromise but a bit more of an expense.

Edited August 31 by 2CETweet

[Holmz]

1 hour ago, 2CETweet said:

Thanks for all the words of encouragement.  It all sounds good both as HT and stereo for my music.  I hear many details I’ve never heard before.  I did a lot of research regarding the Denon AVR ( microphone and Audyssey) and Fosi V3 monos and they work pretty well together given technicals and my budget.  Audio Science Review (ASR) forum reviewed both with good reviews (Denon AVR 4700 updated review).  . ..

Those reviews seem to me to be better at telling what is bad, than what is good.
And for the speaker we use… they do not get binned into the “good” category by ARS, nor by others.
However they also discount phase, so it is most directivity and frequency response, and compression and distortion come in second.

If the AVR is doing the EQ, then that addresses FR.

 

1 hour ago, 2CETweet said:

...
…  Wish I had preamp with XLR to get more out of the Fosi monos but at that point the budget almost triples to the next level of equipment such as the McIntosh MX200 AV processor.
…

As to getting more out of the Fosis, I doubt it.
One might get less noise with the XLRs, maybe...

It is certainly possible to more than triple the budget… providing that one tries hard enough. 😎

  

1 hour ago, 2CETweet said:

…
The RCA outputs will just have to do for now.
…

Or you could pump the brakes and form a long term plan.
I stumbled into my preamp, and noted later the  bypass mode.
And I also sort of stumbled into things with the AVP having XLRs.
I probably should have planned it out more, but there were not Fosis when I got the AIYAMAs..

 

1 hour ago, 2CETweet said:

…
I agree that I should try pulling the speakers out from the wall to get deeper soundstage.  Right now at 16” off.  Room is tough given shape of “P” with lots of windows, vaulted ceiling, and open concept to kitchen in rear.  Issue is pulling out too far into room is not a wife friendly thing considering the speakers are already viewed as big boxes.  Thought about used Treo’s to compromise but a bit more of an expense.

I would still go through the process and put some small dots on the floor if there is a magic spot that is found.
Maybe with those orange dots people put on targets.
The WAF part makes sense though… 😇

I cannot see what is above the setup, but we have 11’ high ceilings and I am considering a “cloud” down from the ceiling.
It would likely be 3’ to 4’ square boxes maybe 8” thick.
I could shive some Atmos speakers in there, and have them surrounded with rockwool for ceiling bounce control.
But they would need to pass WAF.

Hanging them down a foot or so off the ceiling then would allow the bass to pass through them, during the bounces.
And maybe some LED lights to provide mood… 😎

 

If it sound good now, then just enjoy it.
It may get a bit better with some new amps, or a preamp, or something else…  but it is not likely to be night-n-day if it is sounding good now.

Are the subs also “in play”in two channel?
It is possible that using the vandy HPF (high Pass Filters) would be a place to get some gains… But it seems like it could take some chin scratching.