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For the Vandersteen 5 and Quatro owner’s owners:What size room do you find best suited for the 5 series vs. the Quatro.
My room is 12.5' x 19' with 9' ceilings that rise to a peak in the center of the long dimension.
I have used Vandersteen 2ce, 3A's and 3A Signatures with good results in the same room. I am trying to decide between the 5 series and the Quatro. I fear that the 5 series may over power the room (it is a dedicated room so speaker placement is not an issue)
Follow Ups:
Thank you all for the responses.I will be listening to the Quatros and the 5A's at my local dealer tomorrow. He has been in the business along time and I bought my first pair of Vandersteens (2ci's) from the then Vandersteen dealer at the store he worked for at that time. He will give me some solid and honest advice.
I am leaning towards the Quatros, as the 5A's are out of my range unless I find a used pair...hard to do as I would want to look at them prior to purchase.
I concur that an investment in some room treatments will optimize the Quatros sound and may come close to the 5A's performance for less money in a non-treated room.
Have you called Vandersteen? I've always found Richard to be a straight shooter and not inclined to BS. He should know better than anyone about optimizing performance of his speakers.
I have talked to Richard several times (not on this specific issue). He was in my area on his fall tour of certain Vandersteen dealers. He has some strong opinions and is a pleasure to listen to.I think in this case Richard would defer my question to the local Vandersteen dealer...and in my case he will be helpful.
I am interested in the opinions of 5 and Quatro owners also
If you've got the $ get the 5A. It's worth it and will outperform the Quatro in your room.
I use 5As along the longer wall in a 18' x 23' x 8' dedicated room with the ceiling sloping up from behind the speakers. Sounds very good for most medium to small scale performances (with room treatments and the properly adjusted woofer controls). However, keep in mind the necessity to establish a suitable distance from the speakers to the listening position to permit a seamless integration of each driver's signal. My next room will be larger to enhance the soundstaging for orchestral performances.Perhaps the Quatros are more suitable for smaller rooms.
Ian
It's hard to believe that anything could sound better than this speaker. $7,000 for the Quatro vs almost $17,000 for the 5A. What is the best alternative use of the almost $10,000 difference?
"Overpower the room" is one of those expressions that may sound good but has very little meaning. It certainly is quite meaningless for a room of the size you propose. Vandy 5s are not monster speakers like many. Don't take my word for it, wait until you get info from owners since you are of the school of St-Thomas...
Let me try to "clarify overpower"I was not speaking of the speakers from a visual sense; placement is not an issue in the room. Over time and with many different speakers I have found the general spot in the room for a pair of speakers and the corresponding listening location.
My concern regarding the 5's is if the extended bass response (as compared to the Quatro's) will be too much for the room size.
The Wilson Sophia's (and to a lesser extent Vandersteen 3A Sigs) excite a standing wave that is around 45htz in my room. Due to the 5's bass extension I am concerned if this may be an issue. I would assume that the bass adjustment capabilities of the 5 will help, but I am looking for others actual experience with 5's and Quatros's and their listen impressions.
Thx
If you're spending that kind of money and you have a dedicated room, it would only make sense to use room treatments to get the best sound. I bet that Quattros + room treatment would sound better then 5A's and no room treatment. You don't even have to do it yourself, you could get someone to come in and measure your room and install everything for you.-Aaron.
My room is similar to yours in size (lower ceiling) and I have a similar dose of room boom between 40 and 50Hz.I borrowed my dealer's Quatros for an eval. With the bass contours set flat the major room mode was a good 12db higher than the adjacent frequencies. With a bit of tweaking of the crossover controls I was able to get the delta between frequency centers down to about 3db without any trouble at all. Keep in mind that Vandersteen recommends against using the controls to create a perfectly flat response. Rather the goal is to reduce the size of the peaks and troughs by an equal percentage (75%).
The bass out of the Quatros is impressive, but they still lack the ability to pressurize this room and provide "impact" with deep bass notes. The additional bottom end of the 5As should solve that issue... so that's what I have on order.
Since both speakers provide solid bass well below the 45Hz hump that you have in your room both will have equal ability to excite it. The bass contouring controls will allow you to effectively flatten that hump and hear/feel bass like you've never experienced.
Can you share the reasons that you have chosen the 5A's over the Quatros?One significant advantage of the 5A's is the appearance...I would love a pair of 5’s or 5A’s in Birdseye Maple. The Quatros are to me the most visually attractive of the lesser Vandersteens...narrow and deep ass opposed to wide and shallow.
I went with the 5As for three reasons....1) More bass weight in the 5As
2) The 5As have a quality in the midrange that I just can't describe. Every time I've heard them I've been amazed at the fact that I'm too busy listening to the music to bother with any of the audiophile analysis. The quatros do this too, but to a lesser extent..... and the MOST important reason ....
3) WAF --- My wife HATES floor standing speakers and doesn't hesitate to comment on how ugly they are. When the Quatros landed in our living room there were no comments at all. Eventually, I got a "not bad," and "they aren't as gaudy as the Wilsons." I took her to the home of a local 5A owner and she nearly caused the end of the Universe with, "Wow!! Those are beautiful!" Go figure....
It's exposing her to the Wilsons that did it.Not just the question of physical appearance either, expose anyone to the sound of Wilsons and they will marvel once they hear 5As!
It was actually kind of funny. She came along to look at the 5As... literally... she just wanted to see what they looked like in person.Since we were in one car she got to sit through a 1 hr listening session with me. Definitely had an audiophile experience with constant comments like:
"I heard things that I've never heard before!"
"Look, I've got goosebumps!"
and the all-important....
"Now I get it!"
,
I thought the 5 and 5As had some bass equalization to take care of the main room resonance. I may be wrong. I always believed that the deepest bass note was a function of room size, but read on AA that this is a misconception. At any rate, I think that your room can handle the deepest bass and that if the most severe resonance can be notched out the strong bass will not muddy up the mids. Only one man's opinion, still waiting for that elusive pair of 5As that are well priced and well located.
hi, i just bought a pair of quatros on my dealers reccomendation for my room which is 14.5 x 19.5. single has a tray which is 9ft and in the middle goes to 12ft i believe. the dealer thinks the bass response can be tailored to the room and placement with the on board xo. he felt the same could be achieved with the 5a's as well bc of the xo. either speaker will work but to my ears i could not justfiy the cost difference. i am sure the 5 resolves a bit better but for the extra $ i could not justify it. the 2ce and 3a resolve very nicely and the quatro is a step up from the 3a. that is my take. hope this helps, gsb
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