Quad gear arrives.... now for the speakers

[lordmortlock]

After taking back my Cambridge audio 840 kit and spending hours (and hours) auditioning I've plumped for a sexy Quad 909/99 cdp2 set up, which arrives on Monday.

I have auditioned it with various speakers and my favourite sound so far (within budget) is the atc scm 11s, although I wonder if there are a touch clinical.

The one speaker I haven't heard yet is the proac studio 110 as I'm nowhere near a dealer. I want front ported or sealed unit and sadly the spendor sound didn't do it for me in this price range. I'm lucky enough to be able to get a deal on the atc's but second hand 110's are available at £400.

So... are the proac's going to give me a little more musicality than the atcs whilst retaining that accuracy? I'd obviously listen to some if I could.

Any thoughts appreciated. Jake

 

[chebby]

I thought you were ordering ADM9.1's

Ah well. My failing memory.

Put ATC in the thread title and Frank and Rick will be along pretty soon to help you.

 

[plastic penguin]

Congrats - I'm envious. I looked, about 3-4 years ago at the Quad combo. At the time I decided to stick with current system (creature of habit, when it comes to hi-fi).

Anyway, the ideal speakers are the Quad 12L's, which WHFI tested a couple of years ago, the results were impeccable.

To throw another make into the ring, have a look at Monitor Audio GR10's - again they may lend themselves to the character of the Quads.

 

[Craig M.]

the proacs are nice speakers, it's been a while since i heard them but they were a little bass light and had quite a prominent treble, imo. i haven't heard the scm11's but if they are like my 19s then i reckon they will be more neutral and natural sounding. the only way to be sure is to demo, preferably in your own room. atc's are very unfussy regarding positioning as well.

 

[shooter]

Even though the Pro's are front ported they need plenty of room to breath, If your unsure about the ATC's then go with your toughts. One for the mix are the AVI Duo's. These front ported floorstanders and can be placed near to the wall and could be in your budget. All yours!!

 

[lordmortlock]

Half right chebby - I went back for another good listen to the Adms. Don't remember posting that I'd ordered though.

I decided to stick with separates - partly because I'd have wanted the sub as well and partly because I'd miss the tinkering around with upgrades, cables etc. I'm sure that makes sense to posters here.

Thanks all - I'd half dismissed the quads as they just seem too small to produce the bass I like. Maybe I should listen. Or maybe I'll take a punt on the proacs as the price seems reasonable. I guess they'd sell on well enough.

 

[Anonymous]

Quad, excellent choice.

As suggested the Quad speakers match very well. I've heard the 11Ls with this pairing and thought it was excellent. I suspect that the ATCs are better by a good margin.

See if you can find a pair of Dynaudio 52SE for a good price. These are pretty stunning, esp for the prices you can find them at. They have a massive bass for their size, probably dry in sound and are very involving for all types of music.

 

[Anonymous]

Here's one pair but a bit out of price range at £775 :-S

 

[lordmortlock]

Ok less of the tempting Igglebert - £775 is out of budget!

Lol thanks though - I did listen to some focus 110's but I can't find them ex demo and I really don't want to spend more than £500 on speakers.

I've taken a flyer and just agreed to buy the Proacs - got some stands and delivery tomorrow thrown in. I'll set everything up on Monday and report back... like I say if the Proacs don't work out I'll sell them. The Quad kit is new - I guess it'll need time to run in even though the speakers are a couple of months old?

I'm really excited about the 99cdp/909 combo!!

 

[Gwyndy]

If you are willing to go eBay shopping there are these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170337498928

or these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300318914906&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching

Which I was planning to buy, but I got some Revolver RW33s for £215 delivered.

 

[Anonymous]

The 12l's are not short on bass in the slightest! huge bass for the size of speaker tight too! a demo is a must imo

 

[lordmortlock]

Gwyndy:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300318914906&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching

Which I was planning to buy, but I got some Revolver RW33s for £215 delivered.

Ha thats exactly what I did buy! They arrived this morning... bought some from a very nice chap on pink fish who happened to be driving past my house on the way to his holiday so he kindly dropped them off. I've now got a weekend of listening with my old ca set up before the quad delivery on monday.

AND theres some mint 11Ls on ebay at the mo for £195.

Can't hurt to have back up speakers can it...?

 

[ear]

Heard today the 11L2.OH god they sound so gooooood!