Quad 21L vs. 22L2 Sonic differences?

I have never heard the 21L, but I have given the 22L2 several auditions and I prefered them over Focal 826 and B&W 683. The finish of the 22L2 is superb.
The 21L is a 2-way, the 22L2 is a 2-and-a-half way speaker, as you probably know from the specs. It not much of a fair fight between these two, because the 22L2 brings an additional driver to the contest. This brings a deeper low-end response and better mid-bass sound. I have read on the forums that the 22L2's tweeter is an all new design. The 22L2's benefit from a better plinth than the 21L series, giving is more stability. They are reviewed to have a much flatter frequency response in the mid-range than the 22Ls, so that means the 22L2's mids are likely to best the 21L's as well.
I know an awful lot about these speakers, auditioned oodles of monitors and more than a few floorstanders, and the 22L2s kept coming out on top. They have a very detailed sound, with a great stage and excellent imaging. The finish cannot be beat for the money on the used market, where the 22l2's routinely go for around $700-$950.
I wound up buying cheaper monitor audio BX5s though, because I am a broke architect and I just got tired of sitting around saving money. I wanted to get to the music.

Never heard the 22L2 but I have owned the 21L2 as well as the 12L2. I preferred the 12L2s.
Although I'm sure it had to do with room placement. The 21L2 is very short and IMO needs to be raised up on some sort of small stand to sound right. As the 22L2 is taller, this probably would not be the case. Good luck with the search.

Hello,
I have a pair of 22L2 speakers finished in Rosewood. Got them used here on Agon from a seller - Lanemart - who sells numerous QUAD speakers. I power them via Monarchy Audio SE-100 Delux amps and a VTL 2.5 tube preamp. Very happy with the combo but to be honest never compared them to anything else except for the older Mirage speakers they replaced. Very detailed and the bass is good but I also suppliment the bottom octave < 50 hrtz using a FR15 Velodynne Sub. The only complaint I have is that the spikes do not thread properly into the base inserts. The tolerance between the spike threads and the threaded inserts is not correct. I fabbed up some different spikes. Other than that I'm happy with them. Best wishes.

I have always been interested in these speakers but have been unable to hear them in person . Have read on several reviews that the 22L is rather bright and can therefore be fatiguing during extended listening.Have others found this to be true??

Rrm - in my listening tests I never found the 22L2's to be bright. Music was Monolake (electronic), Heartless Bastards (garage rock), Black Keys, Dire Straits and of course Bowie. Some Bowie tracks tend to ring on my home systems, but they both feature metal dome tweeters, the 22L2's have soft dome tweeters - this could have caused some slight reduction in harshness.
One of the testing rooms was at a dealer here in Denver. He had systems on three walls, and shelving on the fourth, but the 22L2's got the best electronics (high end Vincent and Parasound Halo seperates) and some acoustical foam treatment behind the gear and the listener. The other testing room was in a hotel at RMAF, the 22L2's were on a side wall in an alternate system. They still sounded great. They didn't come close to the electrostats on the other wall, tho!
Yeah I've read that 'tech radar' review myself, and I cannot understand how they can give the B&W 683 a 5 star rating, and give the quads only 4. That is NOT the case. And I am not saying that because I'm a B&W hater, My HT system is B&W 6 series and I love it. The Quads are just better. The only speakers that would beat them might be the Focal 836V, but I haven't auditioned those yet. KEF's new Q line is also on my list...
Lots of dealers run speakers costing less than $2000 with home theater receivers. This is NOT the best way to audition speakers for a 2-channel music system. I was lucky to hear the Quads on some really nice 2-channel gear.
Regarding bright speakers - this is why I bought a pre-amp with tone controls - if it gets harsh I tone it back a little. I'm not a purist. I'm into the music!