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!
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!