Vandersteen 3a Signatures compared to Treo’s

Glissando,
I will look into the kimber kable’s 
I do have the speakons with spades on other end with the benchmark cables.
Will let you know if I get cables and bi amp.
huge thanks for the help.
cheers
Z

Tomic601,
thanks for the input.
pretty sure I’m sticking w the 3’s at least till spring.
they definitely punch above their weight, at least in my opinion!
and if I get back out to Long Beach for work I’ll take you up on your offer.
cheers
z

glissando, I have, fleetingly, thought about bi amping but had no reference or experience with it to give it serious thought.
But... now it’s on my radar I’ll look into it.
It is so hard to find the “ right” upgrade that reveals the biggest improvement in a balance with expenditure!
Input from folks like you really help as you have experience with very similar setups/ equipment.
I am happy with my sound now and tend to settle into a setup for awhile... not much of a tweak chaser but did the switch to benchmark stuff last year the same time I did latest upgrades to 3a’s. All big gains for me and now I wonder if there is an obtainable step up that is pretty straightforward.
Bi amping could be good.
Question- I currently have the benchmark speaker wires as it was an easy way to go at the time. What wires do you use? Or recommend? It sounds like with your different amp that you are more of an experimenter than I am so might have some valued opinion.
The audioquest rocket 44/88 have been recommended to me by a Vandersteen dealer....
thank you for the input!
Z

Tomic601,
thanks for the input/ reinforcement!
z

Glissando,
I use a contact cleaner now. Got suggested it 20+ years ago for two way radio contacts and was astonished at the improvement so have used it on my audio gear but probably not often enough.
Z

@patrickdowns 
I have definitely put some recordings ( I agree on the 80’s engineering at times!) on the background/ car not list!
I fully missed pointing out a , to me , big plus of the benchmark stuff which is the totally quiet sound floor. Dead silence. One of those details that I don’t think you understand until you experience it. I really appreciate it with vocals with little to no backing and other music where the lack of sound is a crucial component.
The more I think about it the Treo’s almost always get recommended to have subs by everyone who is lucky enough to have them which pushes me towards the saving longer and just jumping to Quattros... 
But like you I rarely switch- tend to settle in and enjoy vs chasing tweaks.

@patrickdowns - my selection process was much less thought out than yours.
I had a Krell Preamp and an Adcom 5800 amp paired with my 3a’s for twenty plus years with really no changes. I was definitely satisfied but figured that over twenty years that , like in everything technical, the price to performance metric had shifted to the more for less.
I started looking and reading reviews and the Benchmark , especially the amp, jumped out of the pack to me as a value.
An amp that cost 3k was being lumped into “ one of the best” “ reference” level with other unlimited budget amps. The negative that people repeatedly bring up is that the amp and dac ( dac used as my dac and control unit) is that they are “ neutral”.
That sounded good to me as I like my listening to sound real and if that is a bit raw balanced with detail and life then that’s good to me.
Got the dac first as the amp was back ordered and it was a solid gain to me and the amp in unison made a huge leap in my system. Detail, soundstage, depth... and no harshness or too neutral/ dry sounds.
Yes, if the recording is crap then that is magnified, just like it should be in my opinion.
Probably have not answered your question but I am very happy with my benchmark stuff including their balanced cables and speaker wires.
As a slight aside I have a set of their balanced connectors, 25 feet and super inexpensive. I am prettying up my listening room and wanted to go a bit longer with the interconnects so did a ton of “ research” and bought some well thought of cables that cost many multiples of the benchmark ones. I have done a few A to B swaps and maybe, maybe I hear the tiniest soundstage difference with the lower register stuff. Maybe.
as a FYI my 3’s are latest spec, all new intervals per Richard.