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.

The Quatro Woods are not sonically the same. They are, in fact, built differently inside. The Quatro Wood has a different base enclosure and the 5A tweeter housing. They also have the 5A crossover. Richard Vandersteen says that they are more sonically clear from top to bottom than the Quatros. The differences were nessessary due to the fact that a rigid cabinet, if left uncorrected or compensated for, can cause "smearing". Therefore, these speakers resemble 5A Sig. in many more ways that the Quatros do alone.

From the Vandersteen Web Site:
Bill (5/2/06): Richard, I have heard rumors that the wood Quatro's do not sound as good as the normal grille wrap version. Could you elaborate on this? I find them very elegant and am considering them but its a lot money for less performance.

Answer: HELLO BILL, WHEN WE FIRST COVERED THE QUATRO'S WITH VENEER WITH ALL OTHER COMPONENTS THE SAME THEY WERE SLIGHTLY INFERIOR TO THE CLOTH VERSION. THIS IS BECAUSE THERE ARE LARGE REFLECTIVE SURFACES SURROUNDING THE DRIVERS. THIS WAS THE INFORMATION LEAKED TO THE DEALERS EARLY ON AND PROBABLY THE SOURCE OF THE RUMOR. WE REDESIGNED THE GRILL/DRIVER INTERFACE, INSTALLED A PLINTH OF THE SAME MATERIAL (EPOXY COMPOSITE) LIKE THE 5A ON THE BOTTOM, AND THE ALLOY FACE PLATE OF THE 5A ON THE QUATRO TWEETER. ALL OF THIS EXPENSIVE WORK ALLOWED THE QUATRO WOOD A SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT AT ALL FREQUENCIES OVER ITS LOWER COST CLOTH VERSION. THE COST OF ALL THIS $10.700 BUT THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL.

The improvement's made the wood version slightly better than what it was initialy or is it slightly better than the current cloth version?

My understanding is that they're roughly equivalent with the benefit of the wood version primarily being in its appearance.