Vandersteen Quatro CT

The one thing I can say with confidence...I have NEVER heard a properly set up pair of Vandersteens sound anything other than musical.  If you are into this endeavor for the music, pick the Vandys you can afford, set them up with care and enjoy the music.

Congrats. on finally scoring the Quatros!  That dark brown metallic finish sounds real rich.  Can't wait to hear your reaction to them once broken in and ready to ride.

@nycjlee   I got my Treo CT on June 30.  They take quite a while to break-in, especially the carbon tweeter.  I used well recorded jazz cymbals to assess the tweeter break-in. Once they are ready to go, you can just sit back and enjoy!  Just finished listening to the SACD of Ray Brown's Soular Energy remastered by Analogue Productions. Those high piano notes played with vigor by Gene Harris have a bell like clarity...just gorgeous to listen to.

Congratulations on your Treo CTs!  Lots of smiles to come.

@nycjlee   Rather than listing numerous discs, the one that will get the job done in every way of appreciating break-in and is just great, fun jazz is Clark Terry's "Portraits" on Chesky.  It may be the best overall recording I own as the music is revelatory and the recording flawless.  Images occupy a huge soundstage.  Clark's trumpet images to the right of the right speaker on some cuts.  He engages in fun scatting on some songs.  The cymbals....you can hear Lewis Nash work his way around the kit and detect the different diameters of the various cymbals.  The smaller the cymbal the more numerous are the higher frequency overtones and vice versa. The big deal is the "brassiness" of the cymbals.  It sounds as close to hearing live as I've experienced in a  recording. The dynamic swell of the music breathes life into it.  You will not lose on this disc.  I will promise that.  You will notice that it's almost impossible not to react physically to the sway of the music as it grows from cut to cut.

Warning - A couple of times Terry taps the mike and you'll hear(feel) a thump.  Your system is fine you are just hearing what's on the disc. Leaving artifacts like that in the final production enhances the sense of being in the room live with the performers.

I have had the CD for some time and it is great.  If you want all this extraordinary recording can offer, get the SACD.  It Will be your demo. disc as well as something you pop in the player when you don't know what you want to listen to ... a true treasure!

Uh oh!  Forget buying the SACD from Chesky or Amazon.  Import CDs has it on eBay for $17.59 shipping included.

@ctsooner  Don't know about the high rez.  I am a silver disc and licorice pizza user.

oh the humanity!  oh the anticipation!

+1 rcprince    The only time I turn off my SS amps is when I'm changing gear in the system or doing semi-annual connector cleaning.  Some may argue that SS amps should be left on all the time to promote thermal stability.  The side benefit is that the sound is always first rate.

@mr_m You are in a real good place. Stay the course!

I've owned various Vandys for the last 30 or so years.  Every pair reproduced music rather than "hifi".  RV has always gotten it, it's just that over the years he has refined his basic transducer concept to make his newer offerings all the more musically satisfying.

I've heard other speaker brands produce fine sounding "hifi" and enjoyed listening through them.  When I get home, it's just the music again. Kudos to Richard for understanding from the beginning but also for never resting on the laurels of his latest offerings.  Imagine what new Vandys might sound like in a decade!

@stringreen I bought my Treo CTs from John Rutan at Audio Connection as well. He can really talk audio and knows all about Vandersteen's line.  He correctly predicted that I would likely be unhappy with the speaker cables I had been using with my 3A Signatures.  It took me a while to come around to it but he was right. After upgrading to the silver Clear Day's I'm finally realizing all that the Treo CTs are capable of.

Tim,

I have no experience with any of the Rocket series cables. So I just don’t know. The Earth series cables i had been using (Volcano for Mid/Treble and Caldera for Bass) served me well for a long time. The mid bass once I got the Treo CTs was too thick and heavy thus obscuring details in the mid/treble that I wanted to hear. The Clear Days solved that problem for me.