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In Reply to: Re: Quad Speakers posted by hahax@verizon.net on April 26, 2007 at 20:49:18:
Just to throw in my two cents worth. I had a pair of ESL-57 for many years while I was living in a small apartment with an untreated living room. The Quads were perfect for such an environment, as dipole radiators have reduced side wall reflections, and I could place them a long way from the back wall. I changed all the panels to One Thing Audio panels, and upgraded the EHT units as well. The sound was very transparent and microdynamics (or what you might call musicality) were excellent.
I then moved into a bigger place, with a properly designed listening room. The room has no parallel walls, a sloping ceiling, a built-in tuneable bass trap and the walls are lined with acoustic wood and fibreform for absorption/diffusion. The reverberation time is <0.5s, and there is no standing wave. Here, the Quads actually do less well. I was not able to get the listening volume up to realistic levels ( and this is with just two-year-old panels and EHT). When placed further apart then before (now about 9 - 10 ft apart), the imaging suffers unless I am seated dead in the middle. The bass has also become deficient without the help of the room.
So is it possible to retain the lovely midrange of the Quads while gaining better extension and SPL ? It is indeed possible. I put together a 3-way horn system using EV T350 tweeters, JBL 2450 midrange with wood horns and Altec 515E bass in a reflex cab. The crossover is active, the amps used for the Quads are now driving the midrange. On AB comparison, the midrange is easily the equal of the Quads, but with more dynamics and a slightly more upfront presentation, but the treble and the bass is a huge step forward., and needless to say the macrodynamics is beyond comparison.
I used to believe that there is nothing better than the Quad midrange and "speed", but now I know that this is absolutely untrue. Given the right room and a tight budget, the Quads are still hard to beat though.
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Follow Ups
- Re: Quad Speakers - Adrian 22:20:09 04/26/07 (3)
- Re: Quad Speakers - JimL 07:32:12 04/27/07 (0)
- Re: Quad Speakers - theaudiohobby 03:15:19 04/27/07 (1)
- Re: Quad Speakers - Adrian 18:30:35 04/27/07 (0)
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