Vandersteen Quatro

The standard version of the Quatro sells for $6995 not including the required high-pass filters, which are $595 (for RCA version) or $795 (for XLR version). The Wood Quatros are $10,700 not including the filters.

They are sonically the same. The Wood model is just a more attractive looking speaker.

Richard Vandersteen's response from last year describes most of the improvements to the Quatro Wood over the standard Quatro. Here are all of the improvments:

- Improved tweeter based on the 5A tweeter/plate (the standard Quatro tweeter is based on the standard Model 5)

- Improved midrange driver based on the 5A (the standard Quatro midrange is based on the standard Model 5)

- Crossover has been redesigned for the above mentioned drivers

- Superior Epoxy composite plinth/base

- Improved cabinet bracing

- Last but not least, the improved aesthetics of the wood cabinet.

I am a Vandersteen dealer.

Mrjstark,

Putting aside which I would personally get, you raise the age old question of where the law of diminishing returns kicks in for each individual. That question really applies to everything in the audio world and beyond.

Is the Quatro Wood enough better sounding and looking to justify an extra $3K over the standard version? That answer will be different for each person.

Here is another example: I sell a Parasound Halo amplifier for $850 that is ridiculously good sounding and can drive the heck out of most modern high-end speakers. I also sell an Audio Research amp that I love at $10,000 that is actually rated for slightly less power. Is the ARC worth more than 10 times the price of the Halo? For me personally, the answer is yes. Is it going to be worth it for you? Who knows. Only you can decide that based upon your sensitivity to the differences in sound quality and your financial position.

I would argue that the difference in price for what you get with the Quatro Wood seems like an incredible bargain compared with the amplifier example I just mentioned.

Non-audio example: Is the Porsche 911 Twin Turbo worth nearly $100,000 more than the a Volkswagon Passat Turbo? What about a Ferrari F50 or a Bugatti Veyron at $1,000,000?

Is the Japanese Kobe Beef Filet worth $80 vs. the American Black Angus at $29? For me, not every night, but maybe once in a while.

Bottles of wine, single malt scotch, wrist watches, etc....

Mrjstark,

You are correct, and Richard has said himself, that his original experimental attempt at creating a Quatro Wood did not sound as good as the standard Quatro due to all of the diffraction from the surfaces surrounding the drivers. He expected that this would be the case. Richard then redesigned the entire front baffle/cabinet interface to minimize this interaction. He then upgraded the tweeter and midrange drivers to more closely resemble the performance of the 5A rather than the standard Model 5 that the regular Quatro is based upon. Finally, he made some of the other plinth and cabinet improvements mentioned earlier. The end result is a speaker that sounds noticeably better than the standard Quatro. How much better? Each individual can make that determination for themself. For many, the cosmetic differences may alone justify the difference in price. For others, the sonic improvements will make it a worthwhile upgrade.

Richard was obsessed with making the Wood Quatro a good value in the same way that everything else he makes has to be a good value. There are a few things you can always count on with Vandersteen: One is that each speaker's retail price will be directly tied to the specific costs of building that model- I wish that were true of every high-end manufacturer. Two, a more expensive model will not only sound better, but measure better than anything below it. Three, if you catch Richard on the phone on a busy day and ask him a stupid question that is already detailed in your owners manual, he will yell at you, but his bark is always worse than his bite. Deep down, he's a softy!