We got an HE2 pair over the weekend. We went to the Sears outlet to look at the Electrolux-made 3.5 cu ft machines and, while the price was right, they just seemed a little chintzy. We were going to walk around the mall and think about it when we saw the HE2 pair in the display window. They were the only HE2s there and they seemed so much more sturdy than the Electrolux-made machines, we bought them on the spot. The washer had a scratch on the door, so it was $628 instead of $899, and the dryer is also flawed cosmetically, but I haven't found a mark on it. It was 450 instead of $799. They're stacked in a closet, so it doesn't really matter!
I'd love to be doing my wash in vintage machines, but the house in question only has room for a stack. The older maytag stack was at least vintage tech, but it was SMALL. After we house/dog sat at a friend's recently who has the biggest KM toploader, and I did what would have been 8 loads of wash in 4, I really got a wild hair for a big new machine. The HE2 seemed to be the answer, as the HE3/HE4/duet size machines are really too big for the closet.
Don't have too much experience with them yet, but the washer is exceptionally quiet. The noisiest thing it does is fill, second noisiest is drain. Spinning is third noisiest, and washing is very quiet--no motor noise, and a distant splashy plop sound as the clothes tumble.
Watching the clothes wash is better than cable!
T.