IF having read manual ( available free at Vandersteen website ) you find this a bit daunting I can walk you thru it. You will need some tools that total less than $100. You will also need a Vandertones CD or free download.
Call Richard or Nathan at factory and they might know a SF area tech. I am in Carlsbad. |
Thanks following up with me!
I will wish you are here.
I did read manual, and ordered Laser Distance Measure, and sound meter, still waiting for them to arrive. |
i can walk you thru it on phone.Send me a PM with contact info
best to you
we will get them sounding fantastic
jim
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@zensview. Congratulations on the choice of fine speakers. Once you get them set up correctly you are in for some fine sounds. Good Luck!🎼 |
Great, really appreciated!
I will PM you once all tool arrive.
Best Regards
Zee |
Have the Quatro CT's myself and love them. Tomic is great at set ups...;). Let us know how it goes. |
@ctsooner Thanks, I will keep post........BTW: Which power cable you r using with your Quatro CT? any recommendations? |
RV says that power cords don’t make a difference with the amps used in the Quatros. Save your money or use it elsewhere. If you do spend money on power cords, make sure they’ll seat between the near sink fins. I bought the Pangea AC-9 v2 cables, but I can’t say they make much of a difference. However, they do look impressive.
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Good to know! Glad I haven't spend any on power cable yet, used 2 existing PS AC3 cable now. but I did spent few on another gear, Just plugged in a Vertex AQ
Jaya
Silver Plus with ps audio power plant, now Quatro sounds much faster and far more open and expressive:)
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I have a pair of Thunder cables on order. RV may have changed his feelings on that. Not sure, but I'll ask. Garth's new AQ cords need a special Furetch plug on the amp side as the other one is too big and won't fit. lol. Won't change the sound at all. It's also a TOP plug. I use Hurricane for my Niagara, The Memory Player server/DAC and Ayre AX5/20 that has the high pass filter built in. I"ll be selling that soon to someone who owns a Vandy and wants the crossover built right in (Ayre did this for me and worked with Richard V to do it right). |
The hyper benefit of Vandersteen powered bass is 11 bands of analog room tuning so you can fix most room nodes while optimizing placement for imaging ! And relieving your main amp of the massive requirements associated with low low bass.
for grins listen to your speakers with just the subs playing..... not much there...
it is no wonder the chicks never fall in love with the bass player....
a high quality molded connection will out perform a poorly assembled fancy connection that also probably has a stiff heavy inflexible cord, looks fancy audiophile but look closely at the IEC connection- bet it is drooping which may mean crappy connection.....
my buck firty....
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Put your outlets in upside down. That helps greatly with the leverage of the heavy plugs. I also use a piece of wood on the floor to the plug to hold it up, lol. :). CHEAP audiophile tweak. |
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As an aside...ballpark, what is a reasonable price for a dealer in home tuning of the QW CT's? The dealer is 1 hr from my location.
I would set the speakers up and burn them in, in advance of the dealer arriving. |
I hear dealer charged 150 for QW set up while ago, not sure about now. |
Perfect. Thank you Zen.
I was quoted $175 p/hr. & $135 p/hr thereafter. They said it should take less than that to dial them in. They're due to arrive later next week!!! |
All dealers are different. I paid Johnny $500 to come 2.25 hours with one helper to unbox, set up and tune my system. They were here for at least 5 hours as they were meticulous in setting up the bass in a tough tough room.
I'll have a buddy come over to install my 3" granite plinths next week when they are done, lol.
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My fee is always free, except for the wine....
no seriously the above quoted rates seem fair for travel and the Johnny R get it done right mentality !!!!!
i recently moved my 7 and revalidated the setup and tweaked a few of the frequencies...... outstanding and as you get the tools and familiarity with process, this is IMO a very rewarding part of owning Vandersteen speakers with bass EQ
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I wish I was better at set up. Good ears, but I've always been a poor set up person, lol. Jim, do you have yours in the corner of the room? |
I am using Vandersteen 5A's which are quite similar. While you're waiting for the setup person, if you have all the controls in their central position, you will have achieved 92.7% of your setup. The one critical adjustment is to the high pass filters....they should be adjusted for your amp. Let me know if you need a deeper understanding of it.
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@ctsooner ,
Do you think raising the speakers 3 inches might result in the need to readjust the tilt? I'm thinking of doing something with maple, myself.
Bob |
Thanks SOOO much. My crossover is built into the Ayre AX5/20. I know they worked with Richard to figure out what they needed to do. Rutan came to set up and did a great job. Took a bit, but was fun to watch. He has them in the corners of the room and it gives a large soundstage. I don't feel there is suck out in the middle, but the depth of the soundstage isn't want I had with the Treo's that were a few feet from the back all and sides. I'm thinking of possibly trying that out but can't move things on my own so I can't just try one out and go back if I don't like it. I trust Johnny of course, so I'm probably going to just keep them where they are. |
Hi Pete - Merry Christmas eve day !!! I have not found the Rye yet, so hopefully my typing and answers make SOME sense...
YEs ! when you change the height of the speaker , you are changing the geometric relationship to ear height, so tilt should change. Follow Rv advice there, I believe he advised in your setup 1 less washer. Wish I lived closer, I would help you out in person.
My 7 moved closer to corners BUT are still about 4’ out of the corners. I have a bit more wall reflection to fix, attempt to fix. May need an acoustic curtain on the water side. I have the Treo even farther apart 9’6” and the center image rock solid. FUN
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Pete - another thought, get a Leica disto and measure the current Johnny R setup very carefully, write it down so you can return to it after making changes !!!!
tape on floor is OK until the vacuum cleaner eats it !!! ask me how I know. The Leica is $50, best money I ever spent for setup
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@tomic601,
That is a great suggestion, but I thought the Disto's were $200 or so?
Bob |
I just got one on Amazon, a D1 for about $80 bucks.
I should have gotten one years ago.
Bob |
no need to get a audiophile approved power cord for the Vandy’s......there will be no difference...even if you could connect it... just read that Johnny set them up....don't touch them they're perfect.
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i have the D1
freaking love it.....
The LiL Bosch is $30 and also not bad...both make a tape measure look like a flintlock after the first shot.....
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@tomic601 ,
Flintlock-Haha 😜
Bob |
I have a Bosch laser measure that I use. I assume that's what the D1 does? I'm thinking of keeping them in the corners as they are now. I had some more depth with the Treo set up that Bob saw, but Johnny does know what he's doing. I need to get the Hunter Douglas acoustic shade for the side window and the back wall smaller one. That will be a start. I think Richard said that with the 3" granite, so add the rest of the 4 washers to the rear spike. That sounds about right I would think. |
@ctsooner @tomic601,
Do you think putting speakers on a block of maple a good idea?
My floors are a bit uneven and I thought if I used some Herbie's isolation material to level the maple block and then put the speakers on top would be a possible better way to isolate them from the floor.
B |
That's a good question. Jim? |
probably...The 7 feet allow for leveling, all the other models use washers, which would be not fine enough adjustment.
I have yet to jump on the isolation bandwagon [ REO ] .... and I think it took Helmut Brinkman with his own personal model 7 w Brinkmann Gfanite isolation system to gain a concensus that it yielded better overall sound...in the Munich demo room... [ hope to attend next year ! ].....a matter of priority I guess, other things in my system I would like address first....
I know Mapleshade consider solid Maple superior to glued up laminate but I had some leftover almost 2” think laminate left from a kitchen remodel..I made them into amp stands w Model 5 cones, I did use a T nut from the top also. You could probably build a set of Maple w 7 cones and get a stand that you can level fairly inexpensively.....Remember parts thru your local dealer, service via factory. BTW for my MC240, sonics worth it. The MC250 didn’t care...ha
my amp stands in WA, TREO in CA, otherwise I would give it a listenten and let ya know...
have fun
cut some trail
tell us what you learn |
If you're concerned about leveling...use a penlight laser (very cheap on the internet), a couple of post-it stick-ums and a pencil. Place the penlight laser on the flat op of the speaker slowly move it left to right, until you can see the red laser dot behind your seated position. Put the post-it on the wall where the dot is and mark it with the pencil. Do the same thing to the other speaker...you will see the laser above/below the dot on the wall. Adjust one speaker so that the laser falls directly on top of the dot of the other speaker.. The speakers are perfectly aligned.
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Great info guys and thanks. I know I'm set up properly. Thi sis why I'm still scared to install the plinth's when they are done, lol. Richard said no cones, just put on the carpet.
My friend did a ton of testing with all isolation devices and different types of isolation work better than others with folded cabinets and others better with milled ones. He didn't do anything with speakers, but they are closer to a milled block of metal. Some companies want to charge a lot of money for special isolation platforms for speakers, but I've spoken with many who have auditioned them and felt they did no better than what we are all talking about. Many use maple blocks. I have a full woodshop and was thinking about asking my wood guy (we all have to have a guy) to cut me a rough set of slabs that would fit my components. I'd then have him dry in the kiln or possibly let em air dry to whatever % water I wanted and then mill them up and ..... not worth it right now, lol. |
