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Vandersteen-like "In-between" speakers

I have a pair of Vandersteen 3A signature speakers that came on loan from my brother and I have to give them up in about a month. I am using them with a McCormack DNA-225 and they sound great. I have heard from others that Vandersteen works well with McCormack.

I don't want to spend more money than I have to, but I have about $6K set aside to buy my own speakers. This amount is much more than the 3A signatures. There is no way that I can stretch to buy the Vandersteen 5 or 5A's. A friend of mine has them and they are fantastic.

Can anyone suggest a speaker in my price range, which falls between 3A and 5A, that will give me the same "flavor" as the Vandersteens and will mate well with McCormack? I listen to all kinds of music except very little classical - mostly rock, jazz, bluegrass, vocals.
motdathird
vedric
46 posts
 
It's actually two powered 8" drivers Bigtee. I honestly hope this thing is a model5 from the midbass up. Looking at the depth of the Quatro confirms more in common with the 5 than the 3. If you put it all together considering price point it makes sense too.

Model 5:
$11,400

Quatro:
smaller midbass driver
less expensive subwoofer driver arrangement
smaller amplifier
less expensive cabinet construction
no wood veneer (sock)
$6500

The Quatro in my opinion must offer something more than compact size and room correction over the 3Asig+2WQ combo. It wont be in ultimate bass output and extension as you pointed out Bigtee. So logic (or is it my wishful thinking?) dictates this new speaker will have much in common with the model 5 from the midbass up.

If this speaker equals the model 5 with slightly less bass extension/definition and it's simple sock finish, I predict it will FLY out the door.
dawgbyte's avatar
dawgbyte
325 posts
 
If I may be so bold. On the used market you can hook yourself up with an amazing pair Hales Design T-8's for around $5K+/-. I think you'll find them to be a significant improvement on the Vandy 3c's. When I bought my T-5's I auditioned the Vandy 2's, 3's and 5's and in my opinion the Hales were better than all but the Vandy 5's.

There may even be a pair for sale on Audiogon. I know there was a few weeks ago.
bigtee
803 posts
 
Vedric, according to Soundstage, the driver compliment is a 1" tweeter, 4 1/2" midrange, a 6 1/2" woofer and a 8" sub. If this is incorrect, then I stand corrected.
I spoke to a friend that was at the CES show who had talked to Richard about the system. I am repeating what he said. My friend also uses the 3A Sigs and 2wq subs as I do.
According to Richard, this speaker was just to satisfy wives who didn't like the "Sock" approach. The cost is due to the "Cabinet" approach. Even being smaller, it is more costly to produce than the 3A design. That was the beauty of the 3A Sig.---an $8000 speaker in a plain wrapper.
I suppose at some point we will find the truth. I would be very excited also if the top portion was the higher grade drivers (cherry picked). However, since the 3A signature uses the exact same tweeter and basically the same midrange out of the Model 5, I honestly don't think it will be different. The difference in the Model 5's tweeter and midrange is that the 5's drivers are "Cherry picked" from the best of the lot. The others go into the 3A Sig.
jbm
58 posts
 
For $4800 retail, you could opt for a pair of Cabasse Egea II's. They produce a true and beautiful tonal quality and an awesome sound stage. They are 93 db efficient which is an easy load to drive. Check them out. You won't be disappointed.
vedric
46 posts
 
Bigtee the information sheet from CES said two 8" drivers driven by a 350w amp. Themadmilkman mentioned this already in this thread. I confirmed this with a dealer so it looks legit. Ya never know though these speaker people like to make last minute changes!

The Quatro also uses an outer "sock" and two end caps. It just isn't shaped like a rectangle. Judging from the overall shape, the cabinet itself looks to be more like a 5 in contruction (hopefully with all the advantages as well).

The difference in transparency between the 3Asig and 5 is not subtle. Cabinet construction, crossovers which are different and as you pointed out the hand selected drivers all contribute to this. It will be interesting to see how much of an improvement it is, if at all. Gotta love CES!
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