Shahinian Obelisk vs VandersteenTreo

((( I don’t believe in NAD being high-end equipment. Musical Fidelity is also a dark horse for me. I was looking at Meridian but the amp I was looking at was sold too quickly for me to get a grip on it.)))

Majoring on the minors lesson learned
Jazz
When I started working at Tech Hi-Fi I walked into the showroom much like all the folks believe here.
A young lady the sales manager Mary Ellen said what are you staring at
I replied all those electronics they must all have there own sound and personality.
She gave me a quick response and said the real differences we hear in sound is the Loudspeaker and it is mostly responsible for the sound we hear.
That statement is still to this day an important lesson learned
Most preamps and amps today have little coloration and we can all debate our faves ying yang neutral etc.
Most sources today are honest low coloration and semi-affordable.
As we go up the food chain better electronics seem to just get out of the way of the music nicely.
If the loudspeaker makes the single biggest contribution, add in a decent
normal living room with natural diffusion, bookcases chairs, plants area rugs, nik naks etc and electronics that get out of the way of the music and our goals are kind of met.

The Quatros hi passed and bi-amped tuned to your room with proper set up are such a speaker that even with a cheezbox dennon 80-watt receiver with preamp out main in let alone in your opinion lowly NAD
would still impress cause it s the Speaker that matters.
We recently did a pair of Quatro CTs with an Arcam receivers pre-out to a Nad power amp until he can afford the Ayre gear.
It still had us all pinned in our chairs not wanting to leave and
that’s what it’s all about.
JohnnyR

JohnnyR,
Many an audiophile will not concur with your statement on little importance of electronics (or, say,  WIRES - the marketing myth that never fails to amuse me).
I, however, will.

And in no way did I want to call NAD lowly )))
I just think that engineering-wise and component-wise one could expect more from a less "budget" brand. This translates into reliability, which is important for us cost-minding guys, who don’t like to buy new. Also, matching all those parameters (sensitivity, impedance, current, blablabla) sometimes really matters...
But. I do hear you about Quatros. If that pair (or another one) is still on sale in a month, when I am back from my US vacation, I will get them. 

@audioconnection 
Yes, I forgot that you need an amp in connection.
@ja_zz 
You did refer to NAD as:

 I don't believe in NAD being high-end equipment

Bob

I would try to avoid the Quatros woods with lower midrange suckout. It is disctracting. I believe it is the first version. There is a later, non-CT iteration that did not have that problem. The quatros mostly solve the bass issue of the treos.

Bob,
True, bit "lowly"?? A much stringere Word IMO.

Ohlala,
Thanks, nitty how do you distinguish them?