Vandersteen 2Ce Signature III

Improving a product that has existed since 1977 is no easy task.

When Vandersteen's design team considers revising any model loudspeaker, they must adhere to Richard's mandates that have made Vandersteen a household name amongst audio and music aficionados:

• Every speaker is time and phase-correct
• Every speaker features minimum-area baffles for driver mountings that eliminate most cabinet edge and grille diffraction anomalies
• Every speaker represents our best effort to offer sonically competitive speaker at its price
• Every speaker provides owners long term reliability Every speaker is 'Made in the USA.'

No speaker better introduces new aficionados to the Vandersteen mandates than the iconic Model 2. As the team thought about how to improve this design again, they knew they had already found a way to potentially enhance the sonic excellence and stay true to the mandates. The Model 3A Signature and Model 1Ci had a cleaner signal path. The external barrier strip connection now connects directly to a re-designed circuit board with upgraded components. By implementing this architecture, the result proved to be the best Model 2 to date.The results are improved clarity and better midrange-timbre-accuracy that now fully realize the advantages of the tri-woven composite midrange. 

They now officially had the 8th version of this iconic speaker. However, the revision could not be complete without looking at the cabinet and the drivers.

The cabinet, or lack of wood veneer or paint to be exact, remains in the new offering, as the cabinet is one of the critical elements of the high sonic value. - To touch this timeless cabinet design would result in a much higher price. Many other designers have wondered, "how does he do it at that price?" and the cabinet plays a large part of that value.

They revisited the drivers, and for the money, this driver combination exceeds expectations, even sharing the midrange of the Treo CT and Quatro CT. Driver design and calibration remain central to being the only time and phase-correct speaker company in the world. The alloy dome tweeter is a dual-chamber design improving range and linearity. It is carefully damped, eliminating the excessive ringing associated with metal dome tweeters. The alloy used for the dome offers superior strength and resistance to break-up. The midrange and woofer use costly cast-metal baskets rather than the more common stamped baskets. The cast-metal patented open baskets' inherent rigidity and superior vibration control, increase cone movement accuracy, and reduce sympathetic resonances for cleaner and more natural sound. The ultra-critical midrange region driver features a tri-woven composite with unique construction and advanced acoustical techniques, significantly reducing internal diffraction. The bass driver employs a filled poly-cone to ensure high stiffness, superior internal dampening, and greater neutrality than metal alloy, woven plastic, or treated paper cones when used in its range. The stiff, low-weight poly-cones resist flexing under all drive conditions allowing lower distortion and increased detail.

Vandersteen does not rely on listening alone to make claims of sonic excellence. Vandersteen Audio is the first loudspeaker manufacturer to use the Gen-Rad 2512 Fast Fourier Transform Computer Analyzer in research and development and remains a leader for interfacing complex loudspeaker parameters and performance computer analysis with practical design and engineering. The Model 2 series III continues Vandesteen's quest to couple proven technology with advanced materials, construction, and design for a speaker system that is always true to both science and music at a value price point.

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