Vandersteen Treo vs 3A Sig as upgrade

What you are hearing is more bass with lesser quality through the 3's. Those are a great choice in the lower price range however the Treo,s do everything else much better. Just ask Richard and he'll tell you the same thing. The Treo's sound great on material that has true low information. I heard great low information yesterday playing some orchestral tracks in 192. The quality was outstanding. Do I want more?  Yes and that's why I want the Quatro. Bass is the most expensive part of audio. At these price ranges there have to be compromises. I do disagree about set up. The Treo's were really easy to set up. We just put them 8' apart and put them about 4' into the room. Roughly what every speaker in this room has been. Then we uses string and placed it to my ear and made sure my ears were equi distant from each tweeter. Then we put on the spikes and used a lazier pen to align each tweeter on the back wall. After that we took about 15 minutes to set the tilt. That part was easy. Afterwards we rechecked the tweeters on the back wall to makes sure they were properly aligned after tilt. It took two of us about 30 minutes. Maybe I could dial them in better but they wound as good as I've ever heard them in various places. The CT version is better by a fair amount but at a premium. Personally I take quality bass over quantity. These still go down into the low 30's and with the quality They  give you most are highly satisfied. That takes nothing away from the 3's which are also an amazing value. We are talking about two great values. If we were talking about the Quatro vs the 5 we'd have a similar conversation but all have to agree that we love our Vandersteens and feel we have a great speaker value. 

What I am hearing is better quality bass in the 3A Sig for rock music.  What I hear from the Treo is better mids but a small ported driver that fails miserably on rock music.  Not because it lacks low end.  It doesn't.  It thuds quite loudly.  Believe me, if the Treos had better quality bass than the Sig *on rock* I would own them.  They just don't keep the rock beat rollin'.  If the Treo lights your fire on orchestral, by all means enjoy.  

Thanks! for sharing- wlutke.
I feel that I was the only person here whom does discount the Treo and Quattro. Keep in mind the difference(s) in sound and presentation goes into that 1st order crossover. 

Interesting.  I honestly don't do much orchestral, but it does have very low bass.  I listen to much more rock and heavy metal and have found the bass to be satisfying overall, but i do want the Quatro to get better and more bass.  I heard the Quatro and 7 mk2's yesterday at Audio Connection as Richard was there visiting.  The 3's do go lower, but the Treo has better quality according the to designer of the speakers.  If you feel you are getting better quality and more bass in your 3A's, then you are as it's your ears.  jafant, that's fair that you discount both speakers, but there are so many folks who love them as I heard folks talking about switching to them yesterday.  That's why other's can sell their wares also.

The one thing I will say is that Vandersteen is about to come to market with a new sub that will only be sold in pairs and will ROCK.  As long as you have a speaker that goes down to the high 30's you can use it without losing coherency as the bass needs to overlap a full octave to achieve that.  That's why it's so difficult for anyone to properly mate a sub with a non full range type of speaker.  it is pretty interesting stuff how he mates the sub's amp with whatever amp you are using to keep the same sound signature.  Just thought I'd share and this thread is a good one to throw it out in.  

I just came upon this excellent thread today.  Love the passion for the hobby that I've been reading here.  I am 10 days into owning my new Treo CTs.  I have played music and the Purist Audio Design System Enhancer disc to break in the drivers and crossover components continuously.  Out of the box revealed the promise of fine sound...they just needed time to get there.  Well, they are pretty much there.  I am using mine with a pair of 2wq subwoofers.  The Treo CTs mate beautifully with the subs.(expected)  I have had to turn down the gain on the subs. from where they were set for use with my 3A Sigs.  Look... set up and system being equal, the Treo CTs are much more detailed but at the same time smoother....more refined than the 3s that I owned for 22 years!!  I would never go back, but I also have countless fond memories of enjoyable 3A Sig. listening sessions. Richard knows who he is what his design concept is about and he has simply?? refined that concept over time applying ever more sophisticated driver and crossover components into his designs.  The laudable comments about Johnny R at Audio Connection are spot on.  Just met him 10 days ago and enjoyed the couple hours we spent in his shop. He knows electronics and speaker design concepts and "gets" Vandersteens.  

One thing we all need to remember, Vandys will never be for everyone with passion for this hobby.  If they were, there wouldn't be gazillions of speaker designers out in stereo land!  I understand Richard's design goals and the meticulous nature in which he has met success throughout his career as a premier designer.  Appreciating the amazing attention to driver, cabinet and crossover details, the Treo CTs are to me yet another amazing offering of extreme value from Vandersteen Audio.