Initial impressions of my new Vandersteen Quatro's in Audi Havana Black


I will post pics when I get more time on them.  I had them delivered and set up by Johnny Rutan of Audio Connections.  He moved them out to the corners of the room and close up against the back wall. I love the look as does my wife.  I also LOVE the HUGE soundstage these things can now throw.  NO SUCK OUT either.  I was shocked at that aspect. I was scared to death when he started them in the corner of the room. I have a very difficult room for bass as it's an open floor plan. I lose a lot of bass on the right channel as it's by a stair case.  I'm putting up a temp wall by the railing.  I am using a screen right now, but I need treatment of some sort still. 

That said, it only has about 30 hours or so and it's already starting to sweeten up.  I'm hearing so many things that I haven't heard in the room before.  I'm hearing bass passages that hasn't been there before.  On one passage of a  Bela Fleck song, the room just moved.  The thing is that I've heard so many of these songs on Wilson's and Magico's and B&W"s and Focals, Paradigms, Legacy's and so many other speakers, but the tonality of the Vandersteen bass is just special.  It's so accurate. What so many don't know is that the way he designed the bass amp, you still have the same sound as YOUR main amp.  Not sure how he does it, but he does.  You don't hear the difference. 


I think that the reason some don't get the Vandersteen's at first listen is because it's not like other speakers.  We aren't used to hearing a speaker that isn't 'hifi' sounding.  Its very organic. To me, it's like analog vs digital.  Both can sound GREAT, but digital is still digital and that's why vinyl and reel to reel are still going strong after all of these years.  Kind of reminds me of a plasma TV vs the LCD TV's when I went to purchase mine.  I was originally taken by the brightest TV's in the showroom, but I keep going back and watching all the Plasma's in the darker room that Magnolia was showing them in.  I wanted the Pioneer, but could only afford the Panasonic's. I have two of them and love them.  People actually ask me why their TV doesn't look as good.  I first ask if they had it calibrated professionally.  The answer is always no and then tell them it's a plasma.  

Set up isn't fun for me, so Johnny does it for me.  I'm digging my new set up and will write more later, but i am Jonesing to go up to the loft to listen some more.  I'm really loving the organic sounds of my system right now.  All genres too which is just awesome.  Not taking any digs at others systems, just loving mine.  We all hear differently and I get that.
ctsooner

Showing 18 responses by tomic601

How fun and a great resurrection of a thread....
Johnny R is indeed a treasure:-)
CT
i might have a good home for the Basis, arm, cart....
send me a msg on FB messanger
Darth's Dad...
I had 3a Sig for a decade in a much larger room....you dont say how close to back wall you will be?
Do they come with the IMO essential big sound anchor stands ?
Do you have an amp that can control the formidable low end ?
I would much rather get the best current model II vs unknown used model 3 in a small room
Just my buck fifty....
Rosewood is stunning also, as my 5a were

CT - my first hit is free crack addict creating Audioquest dealer in Atlanta loaned me a set of WEL top of the line balanced from ARC pre to Ayre power amp when I had the 5a
i sent them back....
the detail was stunning but I thought they overemphasized pick and finger noise at the expense of musicality - having said that ignoring the $ on certain material they were crazy good...
like how can I send my dude $100 a month under the table so to speak.. good


CT check out just about anything 2L put out - the massed choral works are to die for as a coherancy and detail test. Oh death will destroy you and Himmelrand is amazing
many available as free teaser downloads and in a massive variety of formats for same recording...this helps to evaluate different high rez formats, resulutions including MQA

YES !!!!!! Heavy Fuel, I had that cranked up early in the day...something like low 40's on the ARC....

For those of you itching to try out your bass tuning give

The Wailing Jennys 
Bright Morning Stars
Storm Coming...


I should clarify the ARC75SE was a short term loaner ....
my VX-R is 300 ish wpc at 4 ohms...
i rarely tax it
Musicman - how cool that we get to enjoy a bunch of musical gear!!

i think with the powered bass and low pass filter the need to really big power might be somewhat overstated.... having it is good. I ran the 7's in my medium size room and at moderate volume levels ( which is most of my critical listening ) with an ARC 75 SE. 30 Watts of Pass power is different ! When my Ayre died and I was considering an upgrade to twenty I flirted seriously with picking up the 60 watt Psss monoblocks..

i do like Ike the idea of trying the MC275, just make sure you adjust the filter dip switches for the amp AND experiment with which output tap sounds best ! I ran my model 5a for many months with a 1961 MC240 in a massive room - glorious midrange...before I got the Ayre...




CT

iF I move to a crappy thin wall condo you  can juice yourself into mine....

all this talk talk has me thinking the Apogees need to go and put a set of Quattro Wood in the gun room...

You can imagine the VERY long pause when I told RV about hauling them out of storage for background music in my hunting and fishing room....

he grumbled  a bit and said well you should have just bought a pair of thirty year old Dynaco A-25

i always do listen to him, so I did...
they are crap - out in the garage as third string...

To be fair Treo  are like 3x the best model 2

but the basic Vandersteen design tenets are alive and consistent thru the line:

first order filters for time / phase accuracy
minimum baffle
easy load - no bizarre phase angle or impedence 
drivers are highly pistonic
no ringing in the audible range of the driver / filter
time aligned
cabinet resonance well controlled 

gets better as you go up the line


talking about staying up late..... listening to music.....
and enjoying fatigue free tunes !!!!

Patrick
he is like that...
the new 2 sig are pretty special... i have heard them properly setup in San Diego and well driven by VTL stereo amp and the sound stage was amazing....
He does answer the phone... but he expects you to have looked at the website first - he takes and answers hundreds of recurring questions there...
ugrades are not just driver and crossover swaps...IMO kind of amazing he does it at all.  The crowd he runs with do same: Aesthetix, ARC, Ayre..
CT he shares the DBS patent with Low.
i always look forward to his calls

Eagle Eye from Server to DAC
Niagara balanced DAC to Pre and pre to power amp
filters have sky pigtails 
speaker wire is LFD ( internal) biwire
 - will do for now - waiting to get the wire with RV's amp
Yep
i am pretty sure he never sleeps
he works harder than me that is for sure !!!


CT aka Carbon Tweeter Pete !!!
congrats..I wonder when we will get an easy FB style Audiogon interface so we can easy share photos - oh well
the run in is going to be what it will but With the 7 was never a strain.. 
glad to hear they are working in your room - 11 bands of analog bass EQ is a game changer...
about the fuses - I don't think a guy like Richard is dogmatic at all - otherwise carbon/ balsa drivers and a host of other innovations would not exist!
i do think he would listen and measure IF you sent him a set.
good example is his binding post - his reference is a laboratory buss bar with gas tight connection. What makes it into production must do well against the reference AND provide good value.