Vandersteen addresses the issue of varied recording mix standards over the decades.
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Vandersteen addresses the issue of varied recording mix standards over the decades.
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Vandersteen’s room at AXPONA wasn’t about flash. It was about delivering a coherent musical experience, driven by engineering that serves the music above all else. Both the L5-ACC and Quatro CT Evo embody this philosophy—relentlessly focused on the integrity of the signal and the emotional impact of the performance.
See Full ReviewI played the Quatros for my partner (female) last night and she was basically blown away. She doesn’t care about anything technical for audio, but she sure liked the sound. She said there weren't many new layers of music from my decent prior setup. However, the overall upgrade was like night and day, she found.
Paraphrasing spontaneous reactions… she said the speakers sounded like they weren’t there. The music was so much “bigger” without being louder. The music didn’t have any parts; it just sounded balanced and even. Bass was deeper and stronger but was just part of the coherent picture, not a separate feature. ‘It just sounds beautiful, quiet and so very clear.” Words from a non-audiophile speak volumes!
Review references Quatro Cloths.
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"Rather, it sneaks up on you in the listening session when you recognize a previously unheard musical gesture, a newfound contribution by a player in the back of the mix, the realistic inner detail of an instrument or voice, and other musically communicative aspects of the sound that make listening to music involving. The Model Seven XTRM is a relative bargain in the world of top-echelon loudspeakers and an easy choice for a Golden Ear Award. (348)"
See Full Review'I purchased Vandersteen Quatro Wood CT speakers after auditioning dozens of others, including Wilson, Magico, Focal, Harbeth, Klipsch, Sonos Faber, etc.,--the Vandersteen's didn't stun me, they didn't knock me over the head, or attempt to color my world with a particular 'brand sound,' they simply captivated me and sucked me into the profundity of great music if well recorded regardless of genre. They activate my imagination and produce the experience of what it might have been like to be there in the studio, arena, theater, etc. I couldn't be happier with my choice. And thanks to John Rutan and the gang at Audio Connection for being such helpful audio sherpas.'
Regarding Audio Connection--I'm so lucky and grateful to have that great gang of misfits living nearby in Verona, New Jersey. Big thanks in particular to Nick and Samir for providing set up expertise.
I'm only one month in with this new system but already I can tell you the music flowing out of the Quatros has brought so much joy and pleasure to me and my family.
I also think it's super cool how directly involved Richard Vandersteen is with his customers and fans, not only on this forum, but via email, telephone, in person, etc. I have a sense this isn't common among other high profile speaker designers.
Sanjay A.
Equipment:
Belles Aria Monos, Belles Aria Preamp, Clearaudio Performance DC, (90% of listening is via analog front end) Clearaudio Tracer tone arm, Hana SL, Musical Surrounding phono stage, Auralic streamer, Rotel CD player, Audioquest cables.
See Full ReviewI had two pairs of 2CEs for a total of 25 years, and I'm so happy with the Treos I just got. I think they are both exceptional values, and that floats my boat. Even better—the superb sound quality. Thank you! 
Richard,
Purchased a pair of Treo CT from Barry in SF. Set them up last night and was completely shook.Being an executive in construction, owning the largest music school in Northern California, and being a pro-level (endorsed) drummer for 4 decades, my ears are developed. My musical proficiency and listening habits are full spectrum...music is a very serious passion to me.
Every track I played last night was as if I had never heard the song before. The details in the mix that were never present to me before had me in a child-like state. I was a 2 year old and the world was brand new. Your speakers pulled an Allen Iverson crossover on me that I wasn't prepared for and still have me baffled and bewildered. I can't listen to more than 2-3 tracks at a time right now as I need time to come down from the full on heroin sonic high, and try to wrap my brain around what I have heard.
Coming from the other side (musician), I can't truly put into words the level of thanks and admiration I have for you and your products, You have opened a door on my passion that I didn't know existed...somehow, Thank You isn't sufficient.
Respectfully,
David F.
Follow up:
Having the Treo CT's for several weeks, it is important for me to follow up with you. There are three specific items of importance that have floored me and it continues on a daily basis.
1. Clarity: so many speakers have substantial issues when one driver is replicating two different tones. Normally, there is a third note produced. Add in multiple drivers/speakers and the problem becomes exponential. The first thing I told my wife "it's like there was a vacuum cleaner that sucked out all of the clutter and detritus that wasn't supposed to be there" I heard exactly what was recorded and no other false elements.
2. Soundstage: this factor is multilayered to me. Having the speakers disappear is not only fantastic, it now makes me review who engineered and mixed a track or album. I can fully appreciate how important engineering and mixing really is and getting to hear their genius, love, and attention to detail. it's breathtaking.
3. Levels: there have been countless tracks stored in my memory that have given me issues. Some elements coming in too hot in the mix or unsettled sections in the mix. I had chalked that up to the mixing engineer not referencing the track on different systems while performing critical listening sessions...taking notes and revising the mix. The same errors are noted on good headphones, every Lexus (w/ Mark Levinson) I've owned, good studio monitors and home stereo speakers. Oh, how I was wrong...crow tastes good now that I am forced to eat it every day I listen to the Treo CT's. The issue has been accurate level delivery.
Each one of the preceding items are monumental challenges on their own to conquer and you have been able to figure them out and provide the truth at this price point...you are a god amongst insects. The high level of attention to detail has not been lost on me. This brings up something that has been bugging me.
I know musicians...we use our ears first and foremost...while it appears that in the world of audiophiles, ears are subjective and NASA and other engineering devices know better on how a speaker will perform. I don't envy you being subjected to those soul stifling conversations. I can give you Vegas house odds on the response musicians will give you when they get a chance to listen to your speakers...exactly the same response I had and still have. It is too late this year for you to set up a booth at NAMM (don't know if you are aware of this yearly event in Anaheim)...I want others to have the "Holy Shit" moments that I have as they are soul moving and glorious...if this is something on your radar, I will work free of charge at your booth and wrangle in persons of interest to have listening sessions.
Whatever I can do to help further the cause,
Respectfully,
David F.
The Vandersteen Audio Model Seven XTRM is technically innovative, reflecting original thinking rather than following a “me-to” cones-in-a-box approach. It is the culmination of 47 years of continuous development that can trace its fundamental design principles to Vandersteen’s Model Two from 1977.
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Vandersteen M5-HPA amp: If you haven’t heard it and your Vandersteen speakers, you haven’t heard your speakers…
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Richard Vandersteen's KÄ’NTO Carbon speakers are wonderful. They lay out a palpable soundstage, reaching deep and wide. The music moves! You feel that you are there. Dynamic without exaggeration. Realistic timbres and accurate portrayal of the musicians and voices. The KÄ’NTOs capture the musical rhythms in ways that are seductive. I lived with the Quatros for years and did not expect to hear music on this much higher plane.
Richard Vandersteen and Robert Harley, Senior Editor at the Absolute Sound, discuss the Model Seven XTRM.
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“Today’s version {of the Model 2} is a very pure, very transparent, very clear, very precise-sounding speaker. “
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"That's primarily what I want from a pair of loudspeakers—not deep bass (which these Vandersteens do have); not wide dynamics (at which the Wood CTs excel); not clean, uncolored mids and highs (something the Vandersteens readily offer); but a stereo virtual reality engine to connect me with the music I want [to] listen to. On that ground, a pair of Vandersteen's Quatro CTs scores big-time."
The famed John Atkinson reviews the Quatro Wood CT together with the M5-HPA high-pass amplifiers.
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In this review, James Longman discovers the virtues of an American made center channel and compares a bit to other center channels, noting that it is significant especially when using Vandersteen elswhere in the theater.
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"Next up was another great-sounding room (it felt so good to be back!)."
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"The Vandersteen KÄ“nto is the English gentleman who is sincere, polite, and refined. Highly respected, impeccable, and well regarded, but you’re not getting a hug. "
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The Vandersteen Kento Carbon is no exception; as you will read, it synchronized with the room in imaging and soundstaging pretty quickly, establishing itself in the top tier of loudspeakers I’ve reviewed.
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In fact, the Model 2 is the best-selling audiophile loudspeaker of the modern era, with more than 100,000 pairs sold—all of them made in the U.S. That the Model 2 is still enjoying robust sales more than 40 years after its introduction is a testament to the speaker’s fundamental rightness of design and sound quality. The Model 2 is one of the defining classics of American high-end audio.
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"If you are an audio connoisseur, aka audiophile, you will likely have heard of Vandersteen Audio. .Founded by Richard Vandersteen around 40 odd years ago, Vandersteen Audio is on the forefront of ultra-high-end consumer audio products. Vandersteen Audio push the bounds of what’s possible to produce speakers the way they SHOULD sound – as if you are sitting in the recording studio listening to each element being recorded. The company has produced several patented audio technologies which form the signature sound of Vandersteen Audio."
See Full ReviewIt may have been the first room I visited but as good as many other systems sounded, they didn't match what Vandersteen refers as System NINE for its effortless sweep of sound, precise, palpable imaging, and smooth yet detailed high frequencies. On the title cut from a test pressing of Dave Brubeck's Take Five, the reverb surrounding Joe Morello's drums in his solo was more audible than I hear from my own system and the textures of his cymbals were superbly well differentiated.
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"The Model Seven's bass EQ was a godsend. While higher frequenices were addressable with RPG Diffusor products at the first- and second-reflection points on the sidewalls and ceiling, without the low-frequency tuning adjustments of the Sevens' subwoofers the low-frequency readings at my listening position still looked like the Rocky Mountains - and the booms and suckouts those readings predicted were what I heard. After adjustment, except for one narrowband room mode, the bass fell within a flat (+2dB/3-dB) response all the way down to 20Hz."
This review is from the preceding Model 7 Mk II.
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"The M7-HPA amplifiers have joined my Vandersteen Model Sevens, now upgraded to Mk.II status, to form the backbone of my reference system. The quality of sound I’m hearing from them is beyond what I could have hoped for, let alone expected, even a year or two ago."
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" ... in my home there is a new speaker in town. The Treo CT’s ticked all the boxes and did so at an attainable price point. A sensible price and performance without compromise is the key .."
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" ... simply amazingly musically killer. We bought the review sample." -Dave Clarke, Positive Feedback
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" ... the evenness and weight of the bass-guitar lines in this classic recording were impressive. The Vandersteens' high frequencies seamlessly blended with their midrange ... the Vandersteen system threw a detailed, precisely positioned soundstage." -John Atkinson, Stereophile
This review is from the preceding Model 7 Mk II.
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"JA noted in particular that the amp "sounded sweet without any attenuation of the high frequencies," and concluded by wondering what a full-range M7-HPA might sound like." -Stereophile
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"Many loudspeakers have passed through my listening room in the past year, but the one I most missed after its return to its manufacturer was this expensive, full-range Vandersteen. Driven by its almost-as-expensive dedicated amplifiers, it produced sound that was consistently to die for." -John Atkinson, Stereophile
This review is from the preceding Model 7 Mk II.
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"Many loudspeakers have passed through my listening room in the past year, but the one I most missed after its return to its manufacturer was this expensive, full-range Vandersteen. Driven by its almost-as-expensive dedicated amplifiers, it produced sound that was consistently to die for." -John Atkinson, Stereophile
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" ... the Quatros fit the bill for musicality, extended frequency response, dynamically spot on, and being drop dead attractive to look at ... The CT is a real winner. A real keeper." -Dave Clark, Positive Feedback
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"The combination of true full-range sound, superb transparency and soundstaging, and a magically palpable way with recorded voices, is hard to beat ..."
This review is from the preceding Model 7 Mk II.
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"... you cannot get a more purely musical loudspeaker in this price range than the Treo CT. A true delight."
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"My basic impression was that the M7-HPA sounded sweet without any attenuation of the high frequencies. Whether it was Lorde's "Royals" or the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's 1998 Wigmore Hall recital (ALAC file ripped from CD, Wigmore Hall Live 0013), there was a compelling palpability to these ladies' aural images."
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"... you cannot get a more purely musical loudspeaker in this price range than the Treo CT. A true delight."
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"We can go on and on with esoteric prose, but these speakers handle the musical fundamentals better than many speakers, regardless of price. You’ll nd the VLR in our print annual next month as one of our Products of the Year in the small-speaker category. I can think of no small speaker more deserving." - Jeff Dorgay
"When it comes to re-creating the sense of that original musical event, the one captured by the recording, the Model Seven Mk IIs are nothing short of an expressive tour de force."
This review is from the preceding Model 7 Mk II.
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"The Vandersteen is a system for lovers of both music and movies ... Vandersteen loudspeakers may have been primarily designed for music, but when they're properly augmented, they won't leave you feeling shortchanged no matter what you play back through them."
(The Model 1Ci) ... offers a highly neutral tonal balance, wide dynamic range and a full frequency response- for $1,200 a pair! They nail the musical fundamentals better than some speakers I've heard that cost 20 times as much."
This review is about the preceeding Model 1Ci.
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"For not much more than twice the price of the current version of his Model 2, Richard Vandersteen has, in the Treo, designed a speaker that fully justifies the dollar differential. Highly recommended. "
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" ... they (Quatro Woods) simply do so much right, for me here with my music, that they are the right speaker for me. They made more of my music musically engaging than any other speaker I have heard here."
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"The Vandersteen 5A Carbon is one of the best speakers I have heard, as well as one of the most practical. I would definitely short-list it if you can afford it, and I’d make an upgrade a critical priority if I owned an earlier Model 5 or 5A ..."
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"Even in an era in which significant advances in dynamic-driver technology have produced greater transparency, higher resolution, and lower coloration, the Model 7 stands out for its complete lack of dynamic-driver “sound.” The 7 strips away a layer of coloration and artifacts, revealing an absolutely glorious purity of timbre that must be heard to be believed."
This review is about the original Model Seven.
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"...the best six-figure speaker you can buy is the $45,000/pair Vandersteen Model Seven."
This review is about the original Model Seven.
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"This relatively small, living-room–friendly package contains a dramatically graceful-looking, ultra-high-resolution speaker that continues the brand's sensational time- and phase-coherent soundstaging and unbeatable powered bass performance."
This review is from the preceding Model 7 Mk II.
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"...it’s arguable that no other individual has had a larger impact on the world of high-performance audio than Richard Vandersteen."
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"The Model 7’s sound was extraordinary: coherent, open, uncolored, dynamic, and with a purity of timbre that was striking. But the Model 7 really excelled in resolving very low-level details such as reverb decay and the sense of space around instruments. I’ve heard Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Couldn’t Stand the Weather on many systems over the years, but I’ve never heard the sense of presence to his guitar, the vivid impression of a guitar amplifier in the studio, and of the fine texture of the instrument’s decay that I heard from the Model 7."
This review is about the original Model Seven.
See Full Review"The Vandersteen 1C doesn't sound like a box speaker. It has the open quality of a panel speaker, and its center image is remarkably solid and focused."
This review is about the preceeding Model 1Ci.
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"They (Quatro Woods) delivered a huge, detailed, transparent soundstage that gave me all of the music without obscuring any of its details. And I found the speaker's representations of female voices, stringed instruments, and ambient detail about as good as those of any speaker I've ever heard ..."
See Full ReviewWSR Editor Gary Reber interviews Vandersteen Audio Founder and Chief Designer Richard Vandersteen in this exclusive On Screen Feature.
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"Today’s 2Ce Signature II is an unambiguouslyfine loudspeaker, and from what I recall of its forebears, the latest refinements have endowed it with even more openness and clarity ... every time I brought home a new record or remembered an old one, regardless of style, I played it without worry and loved it without measure."
" ... the Quatros' organizational talents, and their ability to project three-dimensional spaces and array precisely focused, solid images within those spaces, bested those of every other speaker I've reviewed, including my reference Wilson MAXX2s, which sound somewhat vague by comparison."
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Richard Vandersteen doesn't look like a typical loudspeaker designer. True, he wears glasses, but his presence suggests a longshoreman or somebody who'd be played by Gene Hackman. And sure enough, he tells you in a quasi-Dukes of Hazzard drawl that he's been a construction worker, plumber, truck driver, and electrician.
See Full Review" ... the ideal speaker for both the non-audiophile music lover who wants superior sound (without having to devote his or her living space, retirement fund, or life to The Quest), and the budding audiophile in search of an entry-level speaker."
This review is about the preceeding Model 1Ci.
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"If you are looking for a speaker that can get you off audiophile treadmill so you can finally stop cherishing the equipment and start cherishing the music, the Vandersteen 3A Signature may just be
your chariot to musical salvation."
"We start our interview with a question about first-order crossovers, one of the hallmarks of Vandersteen loudspeaker designs. You can’t help thinking that the additional effort needed to build successful first-order crossover loudspeakers wouldn’t be expended if there weren’t some awfully good reasons. Richard Vandersteen thinks he has some awfully good reasons for making speakers the way he does."
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"Hearing the Vandersteen System 1 with two different receivers makes me want to jump up and down and grab people by their ears to hear what can be accomplished in a $6000 home-theater system with a $1000 to $1700 receiver."
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"I could continue with additional superlatives but an audition would be better than another thousand words. I think this is the best speaker system available regardless of price. I put my money where my mouth is and bought a pair for myself. Although I’ve probably owned more speakers than most people, I suspect that this is my last pair."
" ... the Vandersteen 2CE Signature is my idea of hi-fi—it’s a high-performance speaker that might just be the best value in the industry."
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Hearing the Vandersteen System 1 with two different receivers makes me want to jump up and down and grab people by their ears to hear what can be accomplished in a $6000 home-theater system with a $1000 to $1700 receiver.
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" ... the Vandersteen 2WQ is the best subwoofer available for reproducing music regardless of price, and the price is a mere $1,250 each! If that’s not a bargain, I’m a bad shopper. I have four 2WQ subwoofers and they’re not on “long term loan;” I bought them."
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"The Vandersteen Model 5 is a landmark product not because it establishes some performance benchmark in specific areas, but because it adeptly combines strengths in every area to create an immensely musical experience."
"The 3A sounds terrific with a wide range of program material ... If you audition them and go home $2600 lighter in the wallet, don't come crying to me."
See Full Review"The Vandersteen "home theater" system demonstrates that music and movies can come together in a single sound system, and shine. It stands four square for the proposition that to do movies well, a system must be able to do music well."
"The 3As offer the transparency of planar or dipole speakers while yielding the dynamic range associated with cabinet speakers. The excellent design of drivers and crossover network allow for powerful, controlled, rich bass that many listeners demand. No matter your musical preference, these are speakers that deserve careful audition."