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Does anyone out there in Asylumland have experience directly comparing the Vandersteen 2ce sigs with the 3a sigs? I love my 2ce sigs, but am wondering whether or not the 3's would be better for me. I have an ear condition known as hyperacusis, which basically means that, in my case, my ears are overly sensitive to high pitches, and I need a speaker as non-bright as possible. My Vandys pretty much meet the bill, but I was wondering if the larger ones are more mellow in the highs and upper midrange.
I have 100 tube watts, a tube cd player and a nicely accousticized 14'X19' room... All responses would be MUCH appreciated.. thanks.
Follow Ups:
Have you looked into a good equalizer. It might be a more effective and less costly alternative to trading speakers.
I do not have that condition but am very sensitive to the "distortion" in the midrange, lower treble. I believe that you problem is not in high pitches per se but "distortion" in that region (break up, box resonances...)Try tubes and electrostatics or LFT-VIII.
I can't stand cone type (midrange) speakers any more for LONGER listening sessions (nor most of the transistors amps)
Thanks to everyone for their kind and informative responses. Yes, it is very frustrating to have to deal with my hyperacusis all the time, when audiophile heaven is such an important thing to me. I still achieve it lots of times though! The funny thing is that I hate to tone down the treble with the adjustments on the back of the speakers, hate losing that extension! I will try some of the suggestions given, and hope to hear some more.. thanks again. Lesley
It is the distortion you get with most speakers at 3KHz+. It is most noticable with cone speakers, and the various difractions add to this effect. Vandies seem to work well for you because they have lover distortion in that range than most. The 3A Sigs will sound smoother to you with more extension, but you would be blown away with the natural ease and extension of a planar (especially an ESL) because they will have a lot less of the irritating distortion in your hyper sensitive range. Also you may want to save your dough and get 2wqs for your 2ces they will clear up the mid to upper midrange on your existing speakers.
Especially the Classic series. I am also irritated by brightness, though probably to a lesser extent than you. Spendor (Classic and newer Se series) are voiced similarly smooth and slightly laid back. I own the S8e and love them.
The 3A Sigs are more refined sounding, with more texture and detail, seemingly less distortion and are even easier to listen to than the 2Ce Sigs after they have a weeks worth of time on them.
the digital fatigue in your systems. Go back to vinyl, unless you're willing to spend some serious money on cdp and/or sacdp.
A few suggestions as an owner of model 2 and now 3A sigs. One thing you can do to reduce your "heard" level of treble is to angle the speakers backwards a bit more. Also, you can move your listening seat CLOSER to the speakers so the tweeter is firing over the level of your ears and you are just subjected to the dispersed treble response. The use of "warmer" cables will contribute to your success. One other thing to try...tune the resonance response of your system to reduce the level of treble relative to lower midrange and upper bass. Black Diamond Racing Mk III cones under some of your equipment might help as well as Ultimate Triplepoints from Mapleshade Audio.I truly wish you the best with this. It must be trying to have such a condition with the heart of an audiophile. I'll give this further thought and reply if any other options come to mind.
I compared the 2sig to the 3sig in the same system. The 3sig is much more refined, clearer and detailed. At least it was to me. I would not say they are "mellower". I too suffer from the same condition and cannot listen at loud volumes or for very long at one sitting. The best thing i have done that helped recently was start listening to vinyl again. Definitly a smoother sound with less irritants.
Hope that helps.....
Lesley,You've probably already thought of this or tried it, but have you tried adjusting the tweeter level of the speakers on the back? This may take just enough high freq energy off that it might be more comfortable. IMHO I haven't found the 3A Sigs to be any more laid back on the top end than the 2CE Sigs. I own a pair of 2CE Sigs.
Another idea would be to try different interconnects to try to "tune" things a bit. Some of the Cardas interconnects or something along that line may help out.
Regards,
This would be a great question to ask Richard on vandersteen.com. Just go to the technical area type in your question. He usually posts the response on the site in a couple days.I wonder if there's a good enough equalizer out there that wouldn't distort muc hbut give you the ability to turn down the treble a bit.
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