Quad S-1 - demo impressions

[insider9]

In my quest for perfect speakers with my favourite ribbon tweeters I've decided to listen to Quad S-2. Sadly they're not available locally so I settled on the smaller S-1. I don't intend it as a review as only spent about an hour with them and listened using amplification and source I'm not familiar with.

Initially I've noticed just how small they were. At just over 10 litre cabinet volume and with a 4 inch driver I wasn't expecting much at all. I wanted for the amp + source not to be a limiting factor. Dealer asked me if I wanted to bring along my amp which I kindly declined and settled on Quad Artera Play + Stereo. Likely an overkill using £3k worth of equipment to run £500 tiny bookshelves but hey ho. I was rather impressed with ease of use and the remote of Artera Play but at £1,500 I ought to be.

The listening room was about 6m x 3m with a comfy-ish three seater sofa and speakers spread about 2.5m with only a few inches to the wall.

The first 10 minutes of listening I was looking in disbelief. I was thinking at first I'm being conned by the dealer and the sound is coming from somewhere else. Once I've established at close inspection it was indeed the Quads playing, I started wondering how Quad achieved so much bass from such small cabinets. Granted the bass wasn't deep but certainly wasn't lacking. The texture wasn't bad either.

Another immediate impression was of a good wide soundstage not necessarily deep but wide. The speakers would project into the room far better than their size would imply.

The setup overall felt on a slightly warm side. Personal preference for neutral or slightly bright side of neutral. I believe the warmth had more to do with source+amplification than speakers though.

The amount of detail was good. Speakers wouldn't emphasise any particular frequencies. Midrange was open as was treble. Most instruments sounded fine (apart from sounding on the warm side). I was hoping for more from horns that didn't do it for me.

Vocals felt disconnected from the rest of music in a weird way. Don't think it's tweeter integration with crossover at 3.2kHz but it didn't sound quite right to me. With the driver this small I'd personally crossover lower making for more use of this ribbon (2.8kHz perhaps). Equally so the precision wasn't there and they would take up too much space in an image, sounding a bit overblown in size.

Treble wasn't particularly impressive or just not what I hoped for. Cymbals decay was fine yet felt like there was some kind of an artifact. I only heard that with ESS Sabre dacs so it might be that. It just didn't sound as a ribbon.

Dynamics were decent considering the size of speakers. And system felt musical with not very precise presentation.

Overall I felt let down in areas I was expecting to be wowed. Equally so I was really impressed in areas I was expecting to be disappointed. If I had a do over I'd definitely plump for better amplification. Artera Play + Stereo just didn't sound worth £3k to me. I'd take my source and amp at less than 3rd the cost over the above two, any day.

For the money and where size is important Quad S-1 are really remarkable speakers. Fact they work well close to a wall also a major plus.

Dealer offered to do his best to get his hands on S-2 which by virtue of size should offer more.

P.S.
I'm glad it's not a full size review 😉

 

[drummerman]

Interesting. Thanks.

Definitely try the S2 and do it at home in the context of your own system/room/cables.

I love the look of the QUAD's. To they come in high gloss?

 

[insider9]

I love the look of the QUAD's. To they come in high gloss?

Yes, 2 gloss finishes black and white at extra cost and 3 wood finishes including black I've listened to.

I must add that the black non gloss wood finished looked really nice. That would probably be my choice as high gloss finish is rather high maintenance.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Have you tried PMC DB1? Another speaker that belies its diminutive dimensions.

 

[insider9]

Have you tried PMC DB1? Another speaker that belies its diminutive dimensions.

No, I have not. It was rather by coincidence than design that it wasn't the S-2. Looking at specs DB1 have a 5.5", S-2 5" just like my Roksans but S-1 are just 4". You can see how big of a difference this could make, however good DB1's may be.

That must be the smallest 2-way design I've heard and if not certainly the one that I will remember.

 

[drummerman]

Harbeth P3ESR.

I would almost kill for a pair 🙂

 

[insider9]

Harbeth P3ESR.

I would almost kill for a pair 🙂

Drummerman you've made a very good point in another thread. It led me to look into it.

Quad Artera Stereo frequency response is up to 70kHz. Primare A30.1 I'm using up to 100kHz. I know both values are beyond human hearing range but this could go so way to explain why I was disappointed with ribbon tweeters on S-1.

 

[mond]

Artera Play + Stereo just didn't sound worth £3k to me. I'd take my source and amp at less than 3rd the cost over the above two, any day.

How do you know that the "lesser" speakers were not holding the electronics back and not showing what they were capable of...... I don't know how you can make judgements on the electronics if you have only heard them with speakers that are "beneath" them so to speak.......

 

[Al ears]

Artera Play + Stereo just didn't sound worth £3k to me. I'd take my source and amp at less than 3rd the cost over the above two, any day.

How do you know that the "lesser" speakers were not holding the electronics back and not showing what they were capable of...... I don't know how you can make judgements on the electronics if you have only heard them with speakers that are "beneath" them so to speak.......

Possibly a correct assumption but not always. The fact these don't appear to do too well together is not that they can't do justice to cheap speakers but it's only a personal consideration. Perhaps if he'd heard them with some Z3's he would have decided differently because these are what I feel they were meant to drive.

However his good review is ultimately about the S1's and nothing else, what was driving them is therefore irrelevant.

 

[seemorebtts]

In my quest for perfect speakers with my favourite ribbon tweeters I've decided to listen to Quad S-2. Sadly they're not available locally so I settled on the smaller S-1. I don't intend it as a review as only spent about an hour with them and listened using amplification and source I'm not familiar with.

Initially I've noticed just how small they were. At just over 10 litre cabinet volume and with a 4 inch driver I wasn't expecting much at all. I wanted for the amp + source not to be a limiting factor. Dealer asked me if I wanted to bring along my amp which I kindly declined and settled on Quad Artera Play + Stereo. Likely an overkill using £3k worth of equipment to run £500 tiny bookshelves but hey ho. I was rather impressed with ease of use and the remote of Artera Play but at £1,500 I ought to be.

The listening room was about 6m x 3m with a comfy-ish three seater sofa and speakers spread about 2.5m with only a few inches to the wall.

The first 10 minutes of listening I was looking in disbelief. I was thinking at first I'm being conned by the dealer and the sound is coming from somewhere else. Once I've established at close inspection it was indeed the Quads playing, I started wondering how Quad achieved so much bass from such small cabinets. Granted the bass wasn't deep but certainly wasn't lacking. The texture wasn't bad either.

Another immediate impression was of a good wide soundstage not necessarily deep but wide. The speakers would project into the room far better than their size would imply.

The setup overall felt on a slightly warm side. Personal preference for neutral or slightly bright side of neutral. I believe the warmth had more to do with source+amplification than speakers though.

The amount of detail was good. Speakers wouldn't emphasise any particular frequencies. Midrange was open as was treble. Most instruments sounded fine (apart from sounding on the warm side). I was hoping for more from horns that didn't do it for me.

Vocals felt disconnected from the rest of music in a weird way. Don't think it's tweeter integration with crossover at 3.2kHz but it didn't sound quite right to me. With the driver this small I'd personally crossover lower making for more use of this ribbon (2.8kHz perhaps). Equally so the precision wasn't there and they would take up too much space in an image, sounding a bit overblown in size.

Treble wasn't particularly impressive or just not what I hoped for. Cymbals decay was fine yet felt like there was some kind of an artifact. I only heard that with ESS Sabre dacs so it might be that. It just didn't sound as a ribbon.

Dynamics were decent considering the size of speakers. And system felt musical with not very precise presentation.

Overall I felt let down in areas I was expecting to be wowed. Equally so I was really impressed in areas I was expecting to be disappointed. If I had a do over I'd definitely plump for better amplification. Artera Play + Stereo just didn't sound worth £3k to me. I'd take my source and amp at less than 3rd the cost over the above two, any day.

For the money and where size is important Quad S-1 are really remarkable speakers. Fact they work well close to a wall also a major plus.

Dealer offered to do his best to get his hands on S-2 which by virtue of size should offer more.

P.S.
I'm glad it's not a full size review 😉

excellent review well not a review if you say so

 

[ISAC69]

With good amplification cheap shelf speakers have some charm in demo sessions I was surprised once I heard some of them like Monitor Audio Bronz BX1 or B&W 686 with very good bass ,details and clarity
and how easy they can "disappear" at the listening room, However they lack the punch attack, dynamics and low end of floor standing speakers.Unless you have very small room I wouldn't buy them.

 

[insider9]

How do you know that the "lesser" speakers were not holding the electronics back and not showing what they were capable of...... I don't know how you can make judgements on the electronics if you have only heard them with speakers that are "beneath" them so to speak.......

I can't be certain. I'm expressing nothing more than an opinion about my taste and how I'd spend my money. I am confident though that I value my amp + source more than the Artera combo.

 

[insider9]

excellent review well not a review if you say so

Thanks 🙂

It wasn't meant to be since I've not spent that much time listening and in fact haven't even managed to get through all my CDs. A lot to be learned from experience. Home demo would be ideal and taking my own amp + source to the store close second.

We both knew with the dealer that I wasn't going to buy the speakers since initially asking for S-2. So I'm really glad he managed to squeeze me in on a busy Saturday.

 

[seemorebtts]

excellent review well not a review if you say so

Thanks 🙂

It wasn't meant to be since I've not spent that much time listening and in fact haven't even managed to get through all my CDs. A lot to be learned from experience. Home demo would be ideal and taking my own amp + source to the store close second.

We both knew with the dealer that I wasn't going to buy the speakers since initially asking for S-2. So I'm really glad he managed to squeeze me in on a busy Saturday.

my local dealer will let me take anything from the shop home because they know that's the best way to audition.