Amazing upgrade to 2Ce towers? Subwoofer

[Mr645]

Started off in 1999 with a pair of model 2Ce speakers that had been upgraded to Signatures by a previous owner. Something else  interesting is Richard was visiting Audio Center in Deerfield Beach Florida and the owner of these speakers wanted the model 3 but the dealer was not offering an acceptable value in trade. After a little discussion in the parking lot I purchased the 2Ce set and the seller bought the Model 3, everyone was happy. 

  Anyway, years later as things started moving to home theater, I found some LFE content could over drive the woofers in the Vandersteens. So I added a subwoofer that was used only for movies, for music the 2Ce's did better on their own. Now more than 20 years later, same speakers, same amp, but much larger TV and a lot more use for home theater than 20 years ago, I got the idea for a new subwoofer, a real one thing time.  With plenty of time on my hands due to COVID-19 I ordered some wood, an 18" driver and 1200 watt RMS amplifier, some glue, paint, finishing materials and began my project,  3 weeks later it was done.  Not only did I have the satisfaction of building it myself but the total cost was only around $1200, which included 4 bar clamps and all the hardware to finish a working subwoofer. 

This subwoofer sounded a lot better than the old one, far more powerful, smooth down to below 20 hz but at the same time did not overpower the Vandersteens or the room. By using a well proven sealed design I had a speaker that was fast, accurate, articulate and also capable of extreme output.  After using the DSP in the subwoofer amplifier and crossover controls on the processor, I ended up cutting of f the Vandersteens at 60hz and passing the lower end to the subwoofer.  The result is that the 2Ce towers, alleviated from dealing with the lower notes, really opened up. Dynamics, soundstage, detail all seems significantly improved. The subwoofer blends beautifully into the bottom end and works great for music and  provides amazing impact for movies and special effects. The improvements are not subtle, the 20+ yr old Models 2 towers really opened up, stepped up to a new level.  

[MNSki]

Wow, that’s impressive. Nice work!

[andrewtgt]

Always great to see quality DIY work, good job. 

[ctsooner]

Looks good.  Thanks for sharing.  I have heard the 2's with two of Richard's older subs.  Taking the load off the 2's lower end sure seemed to open things up from 100hz up.