CT here. Yes, I own and LOVE my Treo's. I have the ceramic tweeter and not even the CT version (much smoother and detailed).
First off, I use Johnny Rutan and ONLY Johnny Rutan when making decisions. I drive 3 hours to his place to get my gear. I've bought few items used from close friends whom I trust or from the internet. Johnny StiLL takes the time to help me out in decisions and I feel guilty not purchasing from him, lmao....He's THAT good and I've dealt with the top dealers in the world since 1969. That's for the OP who doesn't know me from Adam.
As for the Treo's...please come back and post what your system is and the set up as Johnny has asked. He is offering you his FREE advise, because he gives a darn. BTW, he sells Proacs, B&W's and many other speakers so he gets it.
My room can be a bit hot and the bass can be flabby if not set up properly. I have the Ayre AX 5 Twenty, but ran the Treo's originally with the Ayre AX7e. I have a Basis TT set up with a Benz MC cart and Rhea phono stage. I use the Empirical Audio OSDE/SE fully loaded for digital and it's served through a Mac Mini with a separate linear power supply that was hot rodded from the owner of Empirical Audio for his shows. I run it all through a Synergistic Research Power Cell 10 MK II Tesla power cord.
The room is a 15X20 loft with a 43" wall behind my system. I'm more sensitive to grating highs than most are. I don't like most speakers that get great marks or are very expensive. I also hear extension and need that in a system. I also need deep and tuneful bass. I hate flabby bass and will trade quantity for quality any day of the week. I also need them to disappear.
I was a Proac guy for years and dealt with a tilted top end but they disappeared and had tight and low bass. The Treo's are in a different league from any speaker I've heard under 10k. I only have the ceramic tweeters and fed decent material they are natural. Listen to piano properly recorded and you hear it in your room. I don't hear the speakers and most others who listen say the same thing. Bass is fairly deep (bass is the most expensive part of things and I have a system that delivers it in spades). Once I upgrade the amp, my speakers just went along for the ride. They just keep rising to the occasion. I personally don't like digital. I have a ton and play high rez only for now, but when you put on the Basis TT, the system just relaxes and you get to fall in love with it all over again.
I no way have I ever heard the Treo's or any of the Vandy speakers sound like you say. The 3a Sigs bass is deeper than the Treo's, but I doubt you even heard music that was recorded that low unless they had you listen to pipe organ music. The Treo's bass is much better quality and that's why they cost so much more (remember I said bass is where the cost of most systems is). The Treo's go pretty darn low though. I've heard pipe organ music that probably is going around 30 Hz possibly and the sound was there. Furniture was vibrating due to the bass but you heard every note separately. They also play complex music extremely well. When you are listening to voices and tricky guitar along with thumping bass, it's clear. There isn't any congestion due to the design of the speaker. There are no extra waves of music smearing what you hear. Most folks need to listen to these speakers a few times to fully understand the emotion they are conveying, because they are used to listening to hi fi speakers that are often tipped up a db or two. Heck it's a known fact that many of the major name speaker designers do this. I even read this in a review of a well known high end speaker when browsing yesterday.
Since you took the time to post, please let use all know the answers to Johnny's questions so that you can get some professional help and be happy with your purchase. Heck, even Johnny's system gets moved a bit without him knowing. Some demo's aren't perfect and he'll figure it out and fix it. Always simple fixes too, but even not set up perfectly, they sound great and I've never heard them hot, but I've also never fed them digital that often times is searing hot. JMHO...feel free to PM me if you want to talk about this on the phone. Always open. Let's get you set up and happy.
