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Stereophile Review of Quatro Wood

Anyone read the review of the Vandy Quatro Wood in the latest Stereophile? With this effort, Wes Phillips has moved the bar a full notch lower, further diminishing the relevance of the major audiophile rags.

After a (too) lengthy treatment of the design specifics, he touches on a fairly narrow range of performance characteristics and then spends the rest of the review on a useless (and superficial) comparison of the Quatro Wood and the Wilson WATT/Puppy 8--which is way more than double the price. What was he thinking? Why not compare the Quatro to several other similarly priced floorstanding models? How about a comparison with the sock version Quatro or the 5A? At least the consumer could get some sense of where the Quatro Wood falls within the Vandersteen line and whether the wood or the larger 5A is worth the extra bucks.

It's not that I am disappointed--the only reason I keep my subscription to these mags is because they are dirt cheap (a consequence of the inflated subscription figures that the low rate provides) and the record reviews are somewhat helpful. It's just that this particular review has demonstrated just how useless these reviews have become.
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jiannone
2 posts
 
Has anyone checked the Hi-Fi+ reviews lately? They've been doing a lot of comparisons. It's pretty cool to see, for instance in the latest issue, an affordable CD+Integrated amp comparison across three different brands, or several reviewers writing about different bookshelves, etc.

I'm sure the highest dollar stuff won't get compared to other highest dollar stuff because, well, that would just be bad for business, but it's still good to see some legitimate comparisons.
prcinka
366 posts
 
I do not read these anymore....after you had some gear at home you get pretty good idea, what to look for and what to expect. The only serious question is the budget.
chadnliz's avatar
chadnliz
3,737 posts
 
Why not stack it up against a much more expensive model? I see no reason to not compare what a lower dollar amount can get you compared to a much more expensive model. I did think when reading it that Wilson may write a letter of displeasure about the direct comparison...especially when it appears to outperform the Wilson on a few direct comparisons. My father owns the Wood Quatro and it is an amazing speaker, with the trickle down technology I would say it betters the sock Quatro by upwards of 10% but a majority of the upgrde cost is cosmetic.
dodgealum's avatar
dodgealum OP
1,406 posts
 
I think the comparison with the sock version would have been useful since the Quatro underwent some significant reengineering in order to provide a fully wood veneered cabinet. The wood version looks much better and will blend into the room more easily--the question then becomes--do you give anything up soundwise to get a more attractive speaker AND is it worth paying the $4K premium. As far as comparing with another speaker as a reference point, this makes no sense. I thought live music was the reference, not another pair of transducers--no matter how "good". All in all a useless review of what is a well designed speaker.
mrjstark
1,112 posts
 
Reviews purpose was to explain Richard's risky design decision (in my opinion) plus to find justification in almost 4G price increase over "cloth" Quatro. Not easy task. It would make sense if direct comparison was performed. Instead different approach was chosen, a silly one to. Wilson Watt Puppy 8.
No word about sound resemblance or differences between "Wood", "Cloth" and 5A. Interesting ?????
Another thing - why Wes Phillips not Fremer him self. It would be a lot more logical to have Fremer conduct follow up review of "Woodys" but I just don't think he would sign the article with his name for the obvious reasons. So patsy was chosen.
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