Vandersteen Treo CT vs Mag 3.7i speakers

call me a fanboy
but i actually own one of the best ribbon tweeters ever built - apogee stage and the vandersteen 7 which while not identical has the CT as in carbon tweeter in the Treo



typical dealer running competing product down as polarizing vs selling..well what they sell...and peddling a myth

what is cool is your dealer has the maggie and the steen it seems ( there are more than a few in the country who do) so leap in

but yes the home demo is easy and you should go that route if at all possible

Both great choices.  I have owned older Maggies and Apogee's as well.  I owned the Treo's while I waited to save the money to upgrade last year. I went with the Quatro's as they took the Treo to another level with the tunable bass. I auditioned nearly all the speakers from 45k down and for my ears, system and house the Vandersteen's just gave me everything I wanted.  I think tonality it so great with them and they were very easy to fit into the room as they go right in the corners of the room.  My wife loves where they are positioned, but I do also.  It's nice not having the speakers out into the room too much.  I don't get suck out in the middle of the sound stage or anything like that.  I'm running all Ayre gear on them.

As for Maggies, their mids can be glorious.  There is something special to be said bout properly set up panels like Maggies.  They just won't have the lower octave in the way the Treo or Quatro will have.  

What are you going to run the system with?  If you can't get them into your house (I"m sure you can), just bring in your amp and pre to your store and listen for a few hours with your favorite pieces.  Rather than listening so critically this time, just listen and see which one make your body move. Which one will make you want to hum along or tap your toes or....Both are always considered top value speakers that punch well beyond their price ranges.  As you can see, Maggie and VAndy's name keep coming up by those of us who own them as we do love them. 

I personally got the Treo and now the Quatro's as I wanted a true full range speaker that would easily fit into my room as well as the system that I already had put together.  You can't go wrong with either as long as your equipment will work with them and I'm sure your dealer and you have already gone over that.  Congrats on two great finalists.  You can't go wrong with either.

thanks for all your comments.

As the buyer of ctsooner's Treo's, and a Vandy fanboy, I feel ct's post spot on. If I had more room Maggie's would be a speaker I would consider, but you would still need the services of a good sub-like the Vandy 2w/q, to get the full measure of sound reproduction.

So much of this is dependent upon your hearing/needs/desires, so take all our comments with a grain of salt.
Bob

There are many Vandy/Maggie fans who switch back & forth.

I switched from Vandy to Maggie in about 1995.  I had them both in the room and switched back and forth for 2 months.

It was close.

Since then Maggie has the x.7 series which is large upgrade, while Dick V. continues his refinement process as well.

You will need to do a very careful comparison.  AND the choice might depend on the type of music.

There is no perfect speaker - all of the top ones have to give up on some factors to achieve other factors.