You have a tough choice on your hands. I wanted to chime in here with experience with Vandersteen's, and also the Legacy Signatures/Legacy speakers another member mentioned and loves.
I was with @patrickdowns and actually found the speakers he now has (yea I'm not letting you live that down!). For the money, they truly are incredibly resolving detailed and dynamic speakers. They DO NOT need to be "bi-wired", but RIchard Vandersteen was an early major proponent for bi-wiring for sonic benefits, as well as later on bi-AMPING. So just be reassured that you lose NOTHING by simple wire. Others had mentioned not being impressed with Treo's, or found them lean, lackluster, or maybe too analytical in nature. I can see why some felt that way about those: they are very very "accurate", there is no 'coloration' or 'voicing/character' to them....and that, plus the room, CAN sound as if they are lean, or analytical and lacking personality. There are a lot of owners who find tube gear and/or vinyl happens to marry great with Treos: they can help bring a bit of 'life' to them. I consider things like Patrick mentioned being able to place near front wall, smaller room friendly and very nice looking as major benefit, as well as easy to drive with anything, efficient enough, and are 7ohm nominal, lowest is 4ohm (bass frequencies). That last point is important and I'll come back to that.
The Legacy Signatures are wonder as well, also made to be closer to front walls, sealed, efficient, and have incredible detail and sound staging. Of the two choices here, the Legacy would give you more 'body', more 'life' and impact. Their form factor and size tend to be a little easier to place in smaller rooms, but I don't think any different than the Treo. I own the Legacy Studio HDs, and my step father owns the Legacy Focus SE: they are INSANELY good, detailed, life like, and handle complex music very easily. What I found difficult though is "timbrė": or that quality that makes a wooden acoustic guitar sound and feel wooden, micro-harmonic, almost wooly but has a concussive quality when you pluck or ride the string. The Treo, I found did this very easily but might lack that body feel, but the audible quality was there for certain. With the Legacy, what I think is the trick to them is the AMPLIFIER. This can be critical because though they are 'efficient', they still present a very tough load for the amplifier because they are 4ohm nominal with the bottom end being 2ohm for bass. I've had to experiment with several amps until I found what works best for my Studio HDs. It made a world of difference, and the amp I have now is far more stable and handles 2ohm well. So just be aware of that when you 1) listen to both if you have the chance, 2) understand the room and it's impact on the speakers chosen, 3) get a good understanding of the amplification you are using and it's strengths and weaknesses. My original amp was electrically not well suited to drive 4-2ohm speakers, but excelled at 6-8hm, so again, just be aware. It's not about wattage output or size of the amp, just know that: it's how well they handle low ohm. You can slam the Legacy with just 25watts, if the amp is stable to 2ohm for extended passages.
I think both are very attractive choices. The wood on the Vandee I really like a great deal : it's very modest but clean and sharp and simple quality. The Legacy is also great with cabinets. Their wood and finishes are really pretty stunning, I would say more 'bold' and eye catching (the olive ash?! the curly maple?! the sapele is really stunning in person). Stay away from the Rosewood option, in my opinion. I have that on my Studio HDs, and personally......it is VERY vibrant red and just looks fake like an incredible vinyl wrap. I am sure I am wrong it's just....not very 'wood' look and feeling at all.
Great luck to you and I hope this novel helps you somehow!
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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I get it. My old cables for my 2CEs were true biwires with 4 separate terminated spade ends on the speaker end, and on the amp end they were merged 2 into 1, so I only had one pair of spades (pos/neg) for each channel at the amp binding post.
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@amtprod - Hoser.
I am glad I don't have to build a new system from scratch. Too many choices (given a generous budget, which I don't have!) |
I remembered this review of the QLN 3, and it made me very curious about them. Reviewer Dave McNair is a pro music rescoring engineer, iirc, and really liked them. He knows his stuff. FWIW |
Many helpful and enjoyable to read perspectives. One of the few things I have learned is that equipment and room will change how we percieve a speaker. Tired various speakers in the house (over the years) and recently ended with Treo CT's. Initally heard these at an audio store and was not impressed. Then on another visit when they were connected to a differnet amp (well respected names and more expensive) they peaked my interest. Then another time when powered by Prima Luna EVO 400 tubes - I was sold (and my wife when she saw the natural cherry finish). Are they the best? No, however with difficult living room acoustics, close walls, limited size, and needing to blend with furniture - they are wonderful. |
- 63 posts total