Vandersteen Quatro CT

Thanks for the post. Are you of the Atlanta variety?  I agree with you about Richard. I only met Jim Thiel a couple of times, but he was a special cat that's for sure.  You nailed the Vandy's to a tee.  Some on the boards are tied into their speakers and won't give a serious listen to others and that's cool.  I still audition every speaker I have a chance to and that includes those I don't usually like.  I wasn't a Vandersteen fan until Rutan forced me to give them a listen. I went to his shop all the way from CT to buy new Proacs as Richard from Proac told me to go there. once there I was captivated that Vandersteen's could sound so awesome.  Blown away for sure.  Thanks.

Jim Thiel was the best.  I met him once and knew he was a perfectionist.  I do wish he would have passed on his knowledge to someone who could have carried on his legacy.  However, as hifiguys stated, that wasn't Jim.  Vandersteen is excellent as is ProAc, as are my Tannoys.  Yes, Senor Rutan is one of the best as well.  When/if I can afford a second system, it will consist of Vandies.  I really want the Vandy 1ci with a tube integrated, i.e. Line Magnetic.  Regards........

The more I read this thread, the more motivated I am in selling my Treo's.  First decent offer that comes, the Treo's will go to a good home and the Quatro's are on order! lol.  Glad Richard is getting the second generation ready to take over the business.  He's already branched out into amps a bit and let's see where that takes him.  I don't feel he will ever try and compete with the electronic companies, but he does have his vision of powered speakers being the best as you pair them with the speakers so you take out the variables.  the problem with American's is that for some reason we don't like powered speakers.  Too many want to play, trade and upgrade.  Personally, if Richard were to make a powered Quatro, I'd get that and sell off my Ayre AX-5/Twenty, lol.  In a NY minute I'd do that as the amp would be the perfect match for the speaker.  To me that makes sense, to the market, not so much I guess.  

Karl, I've got the ceramic Quatro Woods in black, also.  They sound magical to me.  I had a pair of the original Quatro cloth speakers, and found the Woods to be much more articulate, but still retaining the Vandersteen phase coherence and midrange sweetness.  I haven't heard the Quatro CT's but I would guess they are better for some listeners. (I have heard the 7's in Santa Monica - best speakers I've ever heard...) The ugly truth, however, is that I'm 61 and the ceramic tweeters may be a better match for my gradual hearing roll-off above 6K Hz.  (Sad but inevitable issue for all us baby-boomer audiophiles).

I have found a way to get better bass than even the larger Vandersteen speakers (5CT and 7) can manage, with a just pair of Quatros.  Get the Audiokinesis SWARM distributed subwoofer system ($2800.00) and you can leave the Quatro EQ system flat OR drop the response at 80 Hz down by 3dB per octave.  You'll need to drive the SWARM 950W amp separately with your preamp (use a splitter) and adjust the subwoofer levels and HF roll-off at 50-80 Hz with the SWARM amp.  Flat, non-resonant bass in any room down to below 20 Hz.  In addition, as you point out, speakers bigger than the Quatros are visually intrusive, even in a fairly large room.  The SWARM subwoofers are comparatively small - just one foot square by two feet tall.  

You can't get truly flat bass in any typical listening room with just two woofer locations - even with great, equalized woofers and a lot of room treatment.  The SWARM / Quatro combination gives you six locations which can be arranged to eliminate all the nodes and anti-nodes formed by standing waves in your room.  Simply the most realistic bass reproduction I've ever heard.

The one thing I can say with confidence...I have NEVER heard a properly set up pair of Vandersteens sound anything other than musical.  If you are into this endeavor for the music, pick the Vandys you can afford, set them up with care and enjoy the music.