you seem to feel very passionate about the Treos
Considering Vandersteen Treo
My profile is out of date, but my current speakers are QLN 3's, which I very much enjoy. The soundstage is wonderful, and they play nice in my smallish room at 12.5x11. However, they seem to lack some fullness, and not just in the bass category, I can't quite put my finger on what is missing.
To date I have demo'ed Spendor D series, Wilson Sabrina, Audiovector R3 Arrete, Sonus Faber Olympica Nova II and the Vandersteen Treo. Each of them had their merits, but the Treo was the standout among these choices.
Along with good sound, my requirements, and concerns, surround:
- How well they play in smaller rooms without overpowering the room.
- How well they play at lower listening levels, 65-75 dB. I am not a believer that this is entirely a function of speaker sensitivity. Some speakers 'wake up' at certain levels, and can be quite dull at low volume.
- Soundstage, and the ability to disappear. I like a broad soundstage and phase aligned speakers. All of the speakers did pretty well in this category, but the Treo's were better, presumable due to their phase aligned design.
- One concern and actually an annoyance with the Treo's is the speaker connections. I have significant investment in time and money finding speaker cables and I would not be able to use them on the antiquated screw terminal connections forced on owners of these speakers. Anyway...
Just tossing this out there to solicit opinions from those who have heard or own Treo's or QLN's. Let me know your thoughts.
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- 63 posts total
parkergetdeanI am, but I am not a "fanboy". I put my money where my mouth is, and I don’t change components often. Unlike some here, even $5K was a big investment for me, but the deal was too good. I happen to know and love the Vandersteen sound, for years. If I had big bucks, there are many other brands I would consider as an alternative. I have been to audio shows and dealers and heard some outstanding speakers, including Magico, TAD, Joseph, Wilson, Acora (I’d love to hear his new "budget" stand mount monitor), MBL (❤️), Magnepan, and others. I would drive myself insane trying to choose a system if money was no object. System synergy is important too, and when I had a McCormack DNA-1 amp (the designer is brilliant), it played especially well with Vandersteens so that’s where I got hooked. We all hear differently and have our own biases. There is a respected brand I won’t name that is way too hot for me on the top end...like fingernails on a blackboard. Others love them. |
Capital Audio Fest room: Sossa presented the US debuts of the Merason DAC2 ($12,500) and Qln Prestige 3 G2 loudspeakers ($12,500/pair). Also in the system was an XACT S1 EVO Music Server ($18,600), an Audio Hungary Qualiton 300B Integrated Amplifier ($11,000), and a GigaWatt PC-4 power conditioner ($16,000). Cables from Kubala-Sosna and AB-Tech REN. A Finite Elemente Pagode Signature rack ($4750) and Nemesis acoustic panels ($799/ea.) rounded out the system. |
I suppose I might weigh in lightly since I’ve been discretely referenced twice… noted Strad owner n player has a pair of 7’s… she must have copied an ancient Dynaco ( the A-25 obliquely referred to above ) the design approach behind Vandersteen is well understood, if it’s not your cup of tea… all good. i did move on replacing Treo CT with TAD ME-1 / JL Sub. im a year into the TAD and still wringing more out of them… lot of what I call gear changers here… |
- 63 posts total