Quad 12L

Hey all,

I posted here last week on my problems with the harsh treble of the B&W 602S3. I have a Rotel RA-01 amp and although I have experimented with all sorts of speaker cable I still wasn't happy with the harsh sound of the B&W's.

So I've now decided to sell them and buy new speakers. I just came back from the Hifistore and listened to the Quad 12L's.

DAMN they sound good!! I have to admit, the bass isn't as quick as with the B&W's but the treble and the overall sound is sooooo sweet!

Would selling the B&W's and buying the Quad's be the right choice?
I'm kinda miffed that I will be selling them so soon and losing money on it. :-(

 

What is harsh treble? It may mean different to what I understood it to be.

I would suggest you read the thread which is still going on Room and speaker interaction type thread.

I believe you have experiment with speakers positioning. Do it again! I change the whole of my living room furniture arrangement 3 times before I found the best solution. I would also advise you read articles on this subject. Listen out for echos in the room. It could be that your room are too bright which happens when my room are quite empty of furnitures and the walls are blank.

If you are still keen to change your speakers bring then back into your room so that you could compair it directly with your present speakers. Good shops should let you do this say for a weekend. It could sound great in the shop but not in your own living room. Be firm that you want home trial before parting with your money and trading in your speakers.

Speakers do sound more different then cables changes so hope you find these comparison more interesting. I am still learning about this too.

 

Gerben, I've had first hand experience of 602's (and CDM2SE's and CDM7NT's ...blah, blah, blah) all running off Rotel gear.
All I can say is that B&W take time to settle and running them with Rotel gear (Both low and higher end : RA-921 integrated and RSP985/RB-991/993) created no treble problems.

Break-in time is a heated subject but for me it's a combination of both the equipment getting settled and the listener becoming accustomed to it.

The Quad's are nice (a good friend of mine runs a pair of them) but maybe that is their Achilles Heel. You may find they become toooooo nice and end being lethargic and boring/fatiguing.

Keep your money and wait a 4/8 weeks or so. You can spend an absolute fortune and a huge amount of time 'tuning' with cable improvements and just end up in a bigger mess.

I now live in Luxembourg and the style of apartments/housing in Europe is completely different from that in the UK (I stayed with a friend in Utrecht for a while too ) so I'd go with what Wolfgang says regarding furnishings.

Some good, solid stands, a heavy rug and plenty of room for the speakers to 'breathe' will help no end. For me, mains electricity quality is not so bad in mainland Europe but a decent power strip may clean up the sound a little.

There's lots of cheap and effective 'tweaks' you can try and you'll save yourself money in the process .

Hey, it's half the fun !

 

my xp with the band w's suggests they are pretty good, esp as they have metal dome,
however, I would zero in on that, I dislike metal domes, and am officiall not getting anything else with a metal dome.