Vandersteen Treo vs 3A Sig as upgrade

Did you happen to look the speakers over and how they were set up? The 3A's have contour controls on the back of the xovers. Given your description of the sound, it sounds like someone fooled with them. I'm assuming that you heard both speakers in the exact same room with the exact same system, and the back tilt was properly set. Neither speaker should sound rolled off on top. If you're really serious about buying these speakers, this is something you definitely want to find out before you make a decision.

I have no idea that you already own them. Your post makes it sound like you had them side by side. Since you didn't, my first post applies anyway.

"I'm assuming that you heard both speakers in the exact same room with the exact same system, and the back tilt was properly set. Neither speaker should sound rolled off on top."

If you want an answer that you can use, anyone that sees this post will ask you to list your entire system and some general info on your listening room, as well as the dealers system and his room.

"No need to second guess or read between the lines or "fix my system" over the internet, like that's even possible without an audition in my room with my gear. Please tell me about the Treos, if you can. Thanks."

John from Audio Connection is considered to be the best Vandersteen person there is, aside from Vandersteen himself. He can give you better advice over the internet than most dealers can do in their stores. I won't tell you what to do, but I think you should at least listen to what he has to say.

"What is the character of the speakers?"

The simple answer is, I the speakers are neutral. Not hot or rolled off. What you can do with this information, I have no idea. I heard the Trios in a different room, with different electronics and different music than you. You also need to consider my personal taste in equipment, my level of listening experience and my definitions of subjective qualities. If you take all of those things into consideration, you should be OK.

"Lastly, it has been my experience that dealers do not set the speakers up properly for demo. If they don't measure your ear height and sitting distance, there is NO way they are set up correctly."

The exception being the dealer the OP just insulted that's not his local dealer, and won't be making any money off him. Pat him on the back and tell him what he wants to hear.

You could start by pissing off Shakey. His posts are really fun to read when he's mad.

"07-12-15: Wlutke
Ctsooner -

I hear you. I agree that set up and room are major players. HOWEVER, I prefer to keep this thread about the Treos, not my particular situation, and I have made that quite clear. I enjoy reading other's comments and experiences considering the Treos in THEIR situation - as do other readers, or at least I would hope so. I would list my system here but somebody would ,for sure, take the ball and run with it, insisting that my set up was in dire need of an overhaul. It is not. Look up my old posts if you're curious. It's listed there."

You're cutting your nose off to spite your face here. Can you tell someone how to judge a pair of speakers by themselves? Its impossible. You have no choice but to listen to a pair of speakers as part of a system, in a specific room. And because of that, you're turning away really good advice. This isn't Best Buy. If you want a crappy, simple answer, then by all means go there. They hand them out all day. The real simple answer is that you have a bunch of very revealing components that need to be deal with by someone other than a novice. Most people can figure this out, but for some reason, you can't. For what its worth, I looked at your system. Why you wouldn't reveal it is a complete mystery since its all high quality stuff that matches up well with Vandersteen. Instead of arguing with everyone, you could have made some progress. Good luck with your system.

"That would also go for the bass problems. I have a feeling that the speaker was knocked out of whack somehow."

There's a really good chance that the dealer wired the bass speaker cables out of phase with each other. They do it all the time.

"I do hope that the OP comes back to the thread as I didn't like how I answered him originally and I'm sorry for that. This thread is a good one and I tend to keep it that way. He taught me a great lesson about jumping to conclusions that most of us do about cables. I was taught a great lesson last night ;).

Even if you did misread the post, you still have nothing to apologize for. Your intent was to give good advice and you shouldn't be made to feel like you did something wrong. The OP will just have to get over it.

"07-19-15: Onhwy61
A two hour motorcycle ride can unbalance your hearing. I wouldn't do any serious listening after a ride."

Shouldn't be a problem if he has an audiophile helmet.

After reading your comments on the type of sound you're getting, I can't help but think that you may like the 3's better with a 2nd V-5, instead of a speaker upgrade.