2. speakers
  3. 138440-118236

Room placement for Vandersteen Treo CT

I  am considering Vandersteen Treo CT's for purchase. In doing some research on them I read they are very sensitive to room placement in order to achieve their best performance.  I've some limitations on where I could place them in my listening room. My listening room is approximately 13'x22' with a cathedral ceiling roughly 16' high from the floor in the center of the room. eight foot high where it meets the front and rear walls.. The speakers will be located on the front long wall equally spaced from the center of that wall. There are a fair amount of furnishings in the room, furniture, built in bookshelves, a library table etc. 

My first questions is, what is the closest I could place the Treo's from the wall, I think "Johnny from AudioConnections" said, you might be able to place them as close as "seven to fourteen inches" from the wall, but I can't find the reference. Somebody else said wall placement was okay as it would reinforce the bass output, which the Treo would benefit from. I thought you were supposed to not put ported speakers near a wall, but these being bottom ported  maybe it doesn't matter.

The second question is, what would you guess to be the minimum distance they need to be from one another?  I have a four foot wide flat screen television centered on the front wall. I would love to be able to place the Treo's on either side of the flat screen, with the outside edges of the Treo's being seven feet apart, but am afraid this might be too close together.  I could place them another two feet or so apart, but the speaker on the right side would then partially block the view of a built-in in 120 gallon aquarium which would not be ideal, but doable.

What do you think?  I would appreciate your experience and guidance here. Thanks

Michael

skyscraper
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,410 posts
 
I have 16 ft ceilings in a large space for my Vandersteens.   Understand that speakers are designed with 8 ft ceilings in mind.  In the end, it worked out fine, with the speakers less than 3 ft from the back wall with a slight toe in.  Be mindful that the speakers are sensitive to having the tilt back  be exactly the same to take advantage of the time alignment.
jackd
1,054 posts
 
I strongly agree with Stringreen on his last post.  One of the things that is most prevalent with Vandersteen owners that are dissatisfied with the sound is that they fail to take the measurements required to get the speakers rake angle relative to their seating position correct.  Each Vandersteen speaker that I have owned tells you in the manual what that speakers tweeter center is if the speaker is placed level.  If your center of ear seating position is different then you have to adjust the tilt to account for it. 
gdnrbob
4,428 posts
 
You've gotten some good advice, so far.
I will second/third having Johnny's opinion regarding placement.

For me, my Treo's are in a rather unusual spot- at near the middle of two rooms (roughly 18x11, speakers at 9 feet in along the long wall and about 7 feet apart). Though not ideal (Hey, I have to live here), I get great sound reproduction, and they look great, too.
Lastly, I would say Vandersteen speakers aren't hard to position, but a good installer like John Rutan will make it work.
Bob
skyscraper OP
827 posts
 
stringreen, thanks for your advice. I've got to place whatever speaker I decide on close as possible to the wall behind it. Wish I had three feet to play with. 

jackd, thank you for the advice.

gdnrbob, your placement sounds similar to what I need to do along my 22' long wall. The closeness to that wall I need might well rule out the Vandersteens as a possible choice for me. They are fairly deep speakers compared to something like the shallower Magico A3's that I could place ten inches from the wall per Magico. 

Mike
audioconnection
1,270 posts
 
(((The closeness to that wall I need might well rule out the Vandersteens as a possible choice for me. )))
Mike
  We installed hundreds of speakers in many rooms and none have been as easy to place as the Vandersteen Treo CTs and Quatros CTs Yesterday in an elegant home we installed Treo Cts 6 inches out from the wall with great results. These speakers were designed for this.
As for placement as long as you perform the correct tilt back, reading the well-written manual you will get there.
 
(((They are fairly deep speakers compared to something like the shallower Magico A3's )))
M  44 H x 11 D  x 9.25 
V   43 H x 15 D x 10 
  FYI The 10Inch wide spec is at the bottom of the speaker and it' progressively narrows toward the top in order to allow unwanted baffle diffraction allowing the speakers to image and disappear better.
Live music was Vandersteen's reference.
 A Pulse with a microphone diaphragm  + / - a phase and time correct design has all its drivers going the same direction in sync.

Steep order designs have some drivers going forward while others backwards to that same pulse.

As mentioned above its important with a Vandersteen that tilt back alignment be correct this is easily performed by following the chart in the well-written owners manual for your ear height off the ground / distance to the front of the speakers.
Once done correctly it's obvious what takes place and why the love for the speaker continues.
  Best,
 JohnnyR
 
More to discover