Karl, I've got the ceramic Quatro Woods in black, also. They sound magical to me. I had a pair of the original Quatro cloth speakers, and found the Woods to be much more articulate, but still retaining the Vandersteen phase coherence and midrange sweetness. I haven't heard the Quatro CT's but I would guess they are better for some listeners. (I have heard the 7's in Santa Monica - best speakers I've ever heard...) The ugly truth, however, is that I'm 61 and the ceramic tweeters may be a better match for my gradual hearing roll-off above 6K Hz. (Sad but inevitable issue for all us baby-boomer audiophiles).
I have found a way to get better bass than even the larger Vandersteen speakers (5CT and 7) can manage, with a just pair of Quatros. Get the Audiokinesis SWARM distributed subwoofer system ($2800.00) and you can leave the Quatro EQ system flat OR drop the response at 80 Hz down by 3dB per octave. You'll need to drive the SWARM 950W amp separately with your preamp (use a splitter) and adjust the subwoofer levels and HF roll-off at 50-80 Hz with the SWARM amp. Flat, non-resonant bass in any room down to below 20 Hz. In addition, as you point out, speakers bigger than the Quatros are visually intrusive, even in a fairly large room. The SWARM subwoofers are comparatively small - just one foot square by two feet tall.
You can't get truly flat bass in any typical listening room with just two woofer locations - even with great, equalized woofers and a lot of room treatment. The SWARM / Quatro combination gives you six locations which can be arranged to eliminate all the nodes and anti-nodes formed by standing waves in your room. Simply the most realistic bass reproduction I've ever heard.
I have found a way to get better bass than even the larger Vandersteen speakers (5CT and 7) can manage, with a just pair of Quatros. Get the Audiokinesis SWARM distributed subwoofer system ($2800.00) and you can leave the Quatro EQ system flat OR drop the response at 80 Hz down by 3dB per octave. You'll need to drive the SWARM 950W amp separately with your preamp (use a splitter) and adjust the subwoofer levels and HF roll-off at 50-80 Hz with the SWARM amp. Flat, non-resonant bass in any room down to below 20 Hz. In addition, as you point out, speakers bigger than the Quatros are visually intrusive, even in a fairly large room. The SWARM subwoofers are comparatively small - just one foot square by two feet tall.
You can't get truly flat bass in any typical listening room with just two woofer locations - even with great, equalized woofers and a lot of room treatment. The SWARM / Quatro combination gives you six locations which can be arranged to eliminate all the nodes and anti-nodes formed by standing waves in your room. Simply the most realistic bass reproduction I've ever heard.