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April 7, 2013 - 5:58am
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THE VANDERSTEEN TREO
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So I guess you like them? Haha I bet they sound great. The Stereophile review of these was pretty interesting.
I'm intigued by the Vandersteens, and other time coincident speakers I've heard, including KEF, TAD. While I've not heard the Treo, I was very impressed with the Vandersteen Quatro in the Audio Alternative room at the last RMAF, and the Model 7 of course. The Vandersteens always sound very clear to me in the upper range.
I sometimes wish I was in a situation that allowed me to choose speakers based only on sound, but my wife has alredy made comments about "looks like a college dorm room." The Vandersteen asthetics just wouldn't help much in that area, being a little boxy looking. Another concern in my spot, would be the Treo's relative insensitivity as I feel like I'm starting to run out of gain with my amp combination on some lower level recordings, using speakers in the 88 dB range. Not a problem for most I know, and I do plan on replacing the amps, but you know how that can go.
Good luck, and happy listening.
Well, the Treo is basically the same speaker as the Quattro minus the subwoofer module. I am using a NHT B12D sub with them, but actually I don't even turn it on for most music. It has a lot of bass by itself.
In switching from the 3A to the Treo, I did not notice any difference in the power required to drive them, but there is a 2 db difference according to Vandersteen.
I am using an Audio Research LS-26, which has a lot of gain to spare, and a Bryston 3BSST2 amplifier, which has tons of power, but I'm sure I'm not using 10% of the available power to drive them. They do not drop nearly as low in impedance as the 3A, so they are not that bad a load to drive.
Vandersteen says any amp over 40 watts is OK, but who knows. It's the huge peaks in some music that will test that.
The way the Treo slopes back and tapers at the top keeps it from looking "boxy" in my opinion, and my wife, who thought they were too big from the pictures, really likes their appearance. They are certainly much much smaller than the 3A, which I could not bring from the old house to the new, because they were 16 inches wide. Visually, they seem to be less than half as big, but the sound is sure a lot better in every way.
We got them in the dark mahogany finish with black grilles, and the finish is beautiful.
Someone will be getting a heck of a deal on my previous speakers, which are Gallo Classico CL-3s; less than a year old. They are very good speakers. I am going to ask $1000 for those, and they are beautiful but not nearly as tall. If anyone is interested, send a PM.
Bump. Just to get the spam post offthe top of this forum.
Nice guys! I,too, am a fan of the ARC preamp and a Bryston power amp.
Both the Treo & Quattro are on my short-list.
Thanks to the OP for the post. I loved these speakers when I demoed them and just got a new pair. I'm waiting to break them in before doing any critical listening or setup tweaking (based on recommendations and the manual), though they already sound pretty amazing.
I'm wondering if the OP / someone else familiar with the Treos can comment on the break-in period? The manual recommends 100 hrs. Is that enough? What about the sound do you think changed during this period (if anything)? I ask because I've leaned somewhat skeptical about the whole speaker break-in concept in the past. My PSB Image T6s changed only very slightly during the first few weeks of use and mostly sounded great right out of the box.
Also, can the OP / someone else comment on their listening position (ratio of speaker width to listening distance) and degree of toe-in? I know this will be very room specific, but it's helpful to have guides and know what people have found worked already.
I would say 200 hours, at the very least!