I'll ask around as many of we Vandy owners are in touch on other forums. Seattle is nice this time of the year as is LA, lol. You have great speakers, but I do hope you get to hear the 7 mk 2's. They are one of the most special speakers I've heard and I get out a lot and hear many of the 100k speakers. The Vandy manufacturer plant is not far from you. email me: ctsooner@alumni.ou.edu |
They used to have one in Walnut Creek. They probably will in the future though as they are starting to grow again. Randy at Optimal in Santa Monica has the 7's on the floor I believe. I know that Bruce in San Diego has the 7's as well as it's matching amp on display right now. That amp is sick with it, lol. That's my dream. |
Tom, yes you have what I consider the best speakers I've ever heard as I"ve heard them so many times in so many room and with so many different amps, but they always shine. I hope OP get's a chance to get down to Socal this weekend. Please call first and let us all know how it goes.
Tom, I'm heading up to Seattle on Xmas week as a get away with my wife. Can't wait. I used to live in Bremerton with the Navy in the early 80's. Love Seattle area. |
Thanks Johnny. Many of us feel the same way about the 7 mk2's. They are just so special IMHO and outperform the Wilson XLF's and the top Radiho's (spelling) that I've heard. It's just special speaker and Johnny is as good a dealer as you will find in the country. Give him a call if you don't have a local Vandy dealer. There are MANY on this as well as other boards who drive many miles to work with him as he's an honest guy who also knows his stuff. |
Tom, I never got a PM. I don't even see a place to look for it. email me at ctsooner@alumni.ou.edu thanks. Also, anyone who wants a pretty set of Treo's that I got from Johnny, let me know as I'm moving on up to the Quatro's. lol |
Yes there is a difference in the mids and highs. Just a bit more refined, spacious and airy. Even less distortion. I hear the difference, but like anything in this range, it's incremental and not WOW. Just want to make sure you know that you have to be the original owner in order to get the upgrades. Some folks don't realize that until after they have purchased a used piece on here and then want to upgrade, only to realize they can't. Are you working with a dealer? If so, no problem. |
Also the size and height of the sound stage will be larger with the 2's. Everything is just better. Incremental, but in this price range that's important and when you look at 10k in the big scheme of putting a large system like this together, yes it's a big difference you will hear. JMHO
So did you get to Randy's? If so, how did it go? |
V, I"m soo happy for you. Yes the mk 2 are so good and I'm glad you appreciated them. I know some who have run them on the AX5 Twenty for a spell and they worked great. Remember that from 100hz down, they are run off their special amp. You AR is one of three amps that they are most often demo'd with. It's an awesome amp to use. If you can ever get Richard's amp, THAT is the amp to use. Nothing I've heard has come close to that. I love it with the Ayre KX-R for speed, clarity and timbre. You can't go wrong as you are using well engineered gear and they pair so nicely together. Remember that Richard LOVES AR gear and often does rooms with them at shows.
As for color, go for it. I love the Audi Havanna Black also as it has metal flecks of copper in it, but you can't really see it unless you are close. I'm about to get a pair of Quatro's and was thinking about asking if I can get mine painted too.....on the ropes there, lol. |
Bigkidz, go listen to the Quatro's. They are actually much better than the original 5's. Won't move quite as much air, but much more refined speaker overall. You won't be disappointed. Or if you are the original owner, just upgrade to the 5CT's....;) |
Wow, how cool. Veer, please email me at ctsooner@alumni.ou.edu...I may need to look at that color for my Quatro's. I"m starting to lean towards doing a metallic auto paint. So excited for you man!!!! |
I"m about to finally order my Quatro's (as soon as my Treo buyer comes up with the rest of the money and takes them to his home). I vacillate between wood or paint and I'm really starting to consider paint even though it's a substantial upgrade. I will keep them forever and there are some really beautiful colors out there. Audi Havana Black (copper flex in the black) is another beautiful color. I will also use a ceramic nano coating on the final rubdown in order to get a deeper polish and strengthen the coating from a 4 or 5H to a 9H. Much harder as painted surfaces can mar a bit easier than the veneer ones.
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Awesome and congrats! I'm sure you will love them. Randy will help you dial them in I'm sure. It's so worth it. I agree with limniscate IRT other's flagships. I've heard a lot of other top speakers recently and am not impressed. Just so much texture and info with all the Vandersteens. Just no smearing. Only a fanboy because of what they do at their price points. :) Pleaes keep us informed |
Very well put Chargers....As I've posted, Bruce is a great dealer and I used him when I lived in SD in the early/mid 80's. Just a great guy who gets it. I never met Randy, but have heard great things about his ability to set up a system. All of Richard's dealers are masters of set up. Every dealer of his I've been to, many, are set up artists.
Love your system. I"ve heard it many times in other stores or homes and I'm jealous, lol.
I just ordered my Quatro's in Audi Havana Black. I will wait as long as it takes as they will take my system to the next level. Have to send my Ayre AX5/20 back to Ayre to have the crossover hard wired into the amp. It will sound much better this way, rather than go with the external crossover as I have no way to properly install it. It's a cheap and easy install and can be reversed if I ever want to sell the amp. I'd be able to have Ayre go over the amp too, if and when I sell it.
The best I've ever heard the 7 mk2's is with Richards own amp. I like Aesthetix better than AR amps/pre's. I have a newly reconditioned and upgrade Rhea that they guys there did for me. I will be putting it on the market soon as I never use phono anymore (I have MS and it's a bear to get up and change albums sides every 20minutes or so). I feel badly as it's such a great phono stage.
I think the reason the Ayre (and other reference gear) sounds so great with with the Vandersteen Quatro on up is because it's freed up having to power 100hz down. Folks don't realize what a major difference this is. You are not just getting possibly the best drivers on the market, you are getting an active speaker that is optimize in the bass. Bass is the most expensive and difficult part to reproduce for any product. Richard takes that guess work out and still allows us to go with the amps of our choice. I do wish he's just offered a fully active system with a great preamp. That would be a perfect world for me, lol. |
The 5's would have been fine in my room. I have plenty of friends who have small spaces and love their 5CT's. Personally, I feel the Quatro's are the sweet spot in the Vandersteen line and I'm not made of money. Iol.
I rarely second guess my audio purchases as I'm so anal, that I put a ton of time and auditioning in before any purchase. I know the Quatro's will sound outstanding with a built in crossover in my Ayre AX5/20. I've heard the 5ct with the AX5/20 on a few occasions and it sounds great, but personally, I like it better on the Quatro's. Again, I used my ears and not specs to figure that out, lol. Bob, I really think you will love the Treo's with the amps you have. :) pete |
Tom, thanks for sharing. Very cool. |
How cool is that!!! Happy for you. I'll be getting my Quatro's when I get back from Nepal in the middle of Feb!! What color did you go with? |
The 7000 is a great power tool (whatever we call them now) and works great. I'm still not sold on using one for amps though. I've heard of folks having the problem you talk about with their amps.
Are you able to borrow one from your dealer? If so, just try it and see. Nothing ventured nothing gained I guess. Garth was showing it off at Audio Connections when it was about to be released, but the 7's weren't plugged into it. I know a few guys with 7's and the Niagara. I"ll ask them their thoughts. I know that they loved it with them and said they didn't hear any choking at all, which is amazing for any power tool. |
NO. Honestly, I'd go straight into the wall for power amps of any sort. I'm redoing my whole digital and electrical. I'll be selling the SR Powercell 10 mk2 most probably. I like some of these devices for a preamp or source as they don't draw a lot of power for the most part. Everyone of these devices I've personally heard has limited correct a bit at times. I know I'm in the minority, but even companies don't often use one. Really good amps have their filters all built in anyways. I know that Ayre does this. I also think that Richard does this on his amp as I know that i've heard it sound it's best plugged directly into the wall. Ask Randy to see what he says as he's really good at set up. He may differ from what I'm saying. |
Congrats on getting the Vandys. Richard does Such a great job with his speakers. He really puts his passion into every speaker and we get to enjoy the fruits of his labor/passion |
Excellent thread. Thanks for keeping it going. I can't wait to get my new Quatro's also. I asked Richard to shoot Audi Havana black as my paint. I was going to get the zebrawood, but in the end decided to have them painted. As for cabling, I love the Castlerock audioquest cables bi wired. For more money you can get better cables however the return on investment for me is not so great as to warrant the extra expense. I'd rather put that money into other parts of my system or for new music. I've never spent much time auditioning power cables, however I do have one in my system made by the late AJ Conte that I use on my server. It seems to made a bit of difference there. I'm waiting for Garth Powell the designer now with audioquest, to release his new series of Niagara cables. I heard the proto types and the price points are going to be ridiculously low for what they do. I feel that they are going to set a new benchmark for power cables. I too like the upperline Nordost cables however I feel audioquest is more neutral. |
Charger, thanks for sharing and having my back on power conditioners. I know so many of you use them. Heck, I have the SR Powercell 10 mk2 Tesla cable, but I use it for the digital only right now as well as the TV, Apple TV and cable box. Jim is correct and I've spoken to engineers at Ayre, D'agastino, Vandersteen, Krell and others about conditioners and to a person they poo poo it.
I just reached out to Richard to ask about dedicated lines. I remember someone told me that you want all your components on the same circuit for ground look reasons. I'm looking into doing dedicated lines if I keep the system on the same wall it's on. If I move it to the original wall, I have a six pack dedicated circuit I was using and loved it.
I think it was on this thread somewhere that someone spoke about hearing quality differences due to power during the day and night. Everyone assumes that it's cleaner power during the night when there is less usage etc.., but the kind of variation during the day and
night he is talking about may be more about how quite it is
in his sound room (or not). An extra 10 db of quiet (easy to
do) can expose the magic the Sevens (as well as his other speakers) are capable of doing, because the magic is not masked by as much noise in the room. This is a big deal and very few know about it, because they attribute it to the power being better at night
or weekends. This may be a small contributing factor, but
mostly it is pure old fashioned signal to noise magic. The
time and phase pistonic ability of the Seven especially the
Mk II version revel this, where most other high-end speakers
don't have the goods so it won't matter.
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Bob, I used to live out there and even with the fluctuations, but it's still such a small factor as it's not nearly as bad as some make it out to be. It's most probably a quieter room.
Not sure how long it will be. I told him to hold off a bit as I've been gone and will be gone again soon. I'd rather wait and get them when I'm fully ready. My Ayre gear isn't back yet either as I took my time sending it in. In time, lol.....lot's of time in the bedroom with the Linn system, lol...I really do miss the Vandersteen's. Heard Focals Sopra's and Paradigm's 9H's today. Paradigms were good, but not nearly anything close to the 5CT's and the Focals were just dead sounding. Boring and not fun. I was shocked. |
I agree with Randy. Also, if you go with the Vandersteen's over the Dali, I think you will be VERY happy! If you can get the Quatro's, get the. THEN use the other two subs to have an arrayed set up. I spoke with Richard about this and he agrees, but it's not realistic for most folks. You'd then have 4 subs and if set up properly, you'd get the best of all worlds and would approach the 5's in performance. You won't have the carbon midrange that is magic and makes the real difference, but you'd be really close and that bass would be approaching the bass of a 50k system.
Bob, no was going to go to AC on Friday, but didn't make it. Johnny was out on install. I will be keeping my internal bi wire run of Castle Rock per Richard. In the future, if I want to re terminate them and get a second matching 8' pair, I'll do that. It makes a difference, but I am bound by money and need to still set up my digital system as you know. |
How awesome. Guys, I have noticed a trend here. Richard is growing and growing properly. He can keep up with increased sales and keep quality, unlike others who have grown in the past. He's starting to open up more and more stores around the country and hopefully for us, he'll open up more. I know that the ones he's had, for the most part, have been OUTSTANDING IRT set up and helping customers.
Great to hear that he has Performance Audio. Very cool. Thanks for sharing. |
Dead on about Asian distribution.
Sad about Avalon. I used to love their speakers, but with the new company it's just changed a lot. They lost most of their US dealers because they won't support them with ads or anything. One former dealer told me that.
That's why I love Vandy's. He's trying to build an even bigger USA dealer network. I think that's cool.
veerapaneni, how are the 7's breaking in? How do you like them? Are you getting what you wanted out of them? Inquiring minds, lol......
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