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Re: Quad 2805 & 22L - some comments on experiencing the two

Pre Scriptum: I have been googling the internet over and over for info on Quad ESL's, and thought the following info may be of interest to people in similar position.

I have just had the opportunity to try the 2805 ESL's for a week and have just put my 22L's back. I didn't do any AB switching, just replaced the speakers now and thought it might be interesting to write down some of my impressions.

First thought when lighting up the 22L's again was how much they have in common with the ESL's, the same tonal balance, very good high's, spaciousness is there - even feel bad about letting these go (probably) somewhere in january when the ESL's should have taken their place.
Somehow, this feels very much like a balanced system (with 909 amplifier and 99 CDP player). I am listening to some ECM records at the moment (a.o Gidon Kremer), beautiful on the 22's !

But there are big differences as well.

When listening to Miles Davis with Sketches of Spain on SACD, then the ESL's really make the music vibrant and spacious, with almost painful high's - incredible how the ESL's make the music come alive. Lows are beautiful (much more so then the 22's).
And, especially with close listening (about 5 feet from the speakers - avoiding room reflections) the spaciousness and presence are kind of eary.

But, IMHO, the ESL's did have one weak point, and that is with electric (Blues) bands like BB King and John Scofield. It's kind of strange to listen to powerful (distorted) electric music through such a clean system. By the way, this is not about being able to play loud - for me, the ESL's can give all the volume I wish (I did try) - but the music stayed kind of sterile. One reason could be that one hears every sound engineers approach to making the recording, but . . . ? It's not about base either, I did compare it with another set of speakers (from a small homebuild PA system which sound great with John Scofield). I did actually experiment with adding a (strongly dampened) tweeter from this PA system which seemed to help for this kind of music - probably because of the added distortion. This added just an edge, which may have been the thing I was missing (sorry for that ! to ESL afficionado's).
If somebody has suggestions to overcome this sterility, please let me know.
BTW, come to think about it, I didn't play any EL&P or Jimmy Hendriks.

And lastly, a big difference in terms of dynamics. Although I reckon the 22's are good speakers, dynamics of the ESL's are unbelievable. From the lowest volumes to the highest volumes, it's always there, and the differences in volume in recordings are so much bigger. It could be that the softest parts are already so present and complete - that when the volume goes up, without any sign of distortion, all these dynamic differences come into the room without any stress or other restraint.

But, summing up, it's amazing how both speakers share similar musical qualities ! Only one of them so much more of it.

Regards,

Marc



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  • Re: Quad 2805 & 22L - some comments on experiencing the two - inidea 07:17:59 12/21/06 (0)


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