Vandersteen and AR3a - sound familiar?

[Carlspeak]

Just ran across a review of Vandersteen's model 2Ce Signature II in the Jan.'07 issue of Sterophile ($2000/pair). Vandersteen has been generally recognized as one of the longest running, reasonably priced audiophile loudspeaker manufacturers.

You're probably wondering what this has to do with Acoustic Research speakers. The design is 4-way and includes a level adjustment for the midrange and another for the tweeter. Sound familiar? Additionally surprising is the crossover slopes are all 1st order and the points are 600 hz and 5 khz.

It's all about the music

Carl

Carl's Custom Loudspeakers

It's all about the music

Carl

Carl's Custom Loudspeakers

[Guest Americain]

Carl, is this review online anywhere? I own both speakers and am curious.

[soundminded]

Frankly Carl, I think this speaker system and anything produced by Acoustic Research are worlds apart. I've never heard this speaker so I can't comment based on direct experience but this does not sound to me like anything AR would have designed anytime before the mid 1980s and probably not after that either. It appears to be a slightly unconventional 8" 3 way system with a 10" "Acoustic Coupler" for the lowest frequencies. It has a baffle arranged for minimum diffraction, time aligned and angled positioning of its drivers, and plastic cones for the 8" woofer and midrange drivers, a paper? cone for the coupler, and a metal dome tweeter. Here is some data from the manufacturer's web site;

DRIVERS

ACTIVE ACOUSTIC COUPLER:

10" critically damped long-fiber cone

Heavy-duty 1 1/2" four-layer voice coil with ventilated aluminum former

40 oz focused-gap magnet structure

Range of operation: 26Hz - 35Hz

WOOFER:

8" die-cast basket and curvilinear polycone

1 1/2" two-layer voice coil with ventilated aluminum former

40 oz. focused-gap magnet structure

Range of operation: 35Hz - 600Hz

MIDRANGE:

4 1/2" die-cast basket with linear surround and curvilinear polycone

Ferrofluid voice coil cooling

Range of operation: 600Hz - 5kHz

TWEETER:

1" critically damped metal alloy dome (Mode 3A)

Dual-chamber design

Ferrofluid voice coil cooling

Range of operation: 5kHz - 30kHz

You can see a photo of it and read the rest of the ad copy at;

http://www.vandersteen.com/pages/2Celit2.html

Is the acoustic coupler just a rear firing 10" subwoofer?

Based on the description and the manufacturer's reputation, it appears to be manufactured to high quality standards.

I've checked Stereophile's web site and this review is not in its data base yet. It may appear within the next month, recent additions have run through December 2006. Personally, I don't put much stock in this magazine's reviews. I don' think they are nearly as complete or objective as any of the three popular audio hobbyist magazines of 25 years ago. I also freely admit that I don't like the editor.

If anyone has heard this speaker, I'd find it interesting to hear what you thought of it.

[Carlspeak]

Soundminded:

I've never heard this speakers either. I was simply trying to point out a couple of design similarities I noticed between two speakers designed many years apart. No claims were made regarding anything else.

It's all about the music

Carl

Carl's Custom Loudspeakers

[Pete B]

>Soundminded:

>

>I've never heard this speakers either. I was simply trying to

>point out a couple of design similarities I noticed between

>two speakers designed many years apart. No claims were made

>regarding anything else.

>

>

>It's all about the music

>

>Carl

>Carl's Custom Loudspeakers

See the post linked below. I've lived with Vandersteen 2 Ci's and I'd say that the bass is similar to the Large Advent, until the thermal cutout trips on the coupler which is not difficult at all to do:

http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/dc/dcbo...ype=search#9707