Quad L22 or Castle Cornway to replace B&W N805

Francois

What about changing the Nautilus 805 to the new 805s ?? New 805s has the same features as the 805 Signature except for the nice finish and retails for $1000 less ( I think ).Perhaps less bright as they employ the Signature tweeter.

Do you want to change from a Two-way to a Three-way ?I am biased towards Two-ways.

Another option is to look at the Merlin range - TSM-MM/MX or VSM-MM/MX Again biased ,since I own the VSM-MM speakers .....can make a strong recommendation on them.

Good Luck
Chris

Bcgator,

I know you are comparing the 22L to the B&W Signature 805, when you made those comments about the 22L sounding like "sandpaper"...."grainy".

But for the life of me I have no idea what you're talking about.

The 22L is so very smooth.

Anyone who takes the time to match appropriate components upstream and work on placement with the 22L; will be rewarded with silky, smooth highs and midrange......and of course a nice tight lower end.

I don't know what the circumstances involved in your comparison, nor do I know of the room acoustics. But I have to believe what you heard was not the 22L at it's best.

I own the 22L, and myself and some friends have done quite a bit of comparing, and to a man ( and women) they all love the 22L. No harshness, no grain, certainly no sandpaper....when set up properly.

The 22L can be very revealing and unforgiving of bad recordings and bright components.

I feel there's a huge misconception regarding the 22L and it seems to be rooted in some review, where the reviewer claimed the 22L was the worst of the L-Series line.

I've heard or owned all the L-Series speakers in the last 2 years, and I disagree. So do a lot of other people who have taken the time to listen to them all.

The 22L is also VERY VERY sensitive to positioning. If you take that into consideration for the B&W Signature 805, in fairness, you should have taken that into consideration with the 22L.

I don't care what people say about the difference in the crossover points of the 22L, compared to the rest of the line. The bottome line, when they are set up and matched correctly, they sound better than any of the other L-Series models.

Simply looking at crossover points, is not the same as listening and living with them; and I have done that with all of the L-Series models. The 22L stood head and shoulders above the rest.

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=speakers&n=191927 Here is a thread with an individual who was weighing the 21L vs the 22L, my comments are in the thread, but of special note is "duckman's" as he owns both the 21L and the 22L and has for some time.

No doubt about room setup on the 22 as that is the same thing I have encountered on the 21. I have not spent enough time with the 22 and can simply relay discussion and points made by others, and I have been careful to clarify them as such. I'd be curious to hear the 22Ls in my home system vs the 21s and I suspect the debate won't be resolved until I do that :) That being said, I'm very happy with my 21s.

You know, everyone has their own personal preferences and tastes. People have their own opinions, and that's the way it should be.

But when people make comments like "the 22L are the worst of the L-Series" , that's talking in absolutes. And I think that's wrong and misleading.

I could have kept the 21L or the 12 L, no problem. But like many of the friends who have been here and listened, I felt the 22L offered more of what I wanted from a speaker and was an all around better sounding speaker.

I think you have to take some time and set the 22L up properly and mate them properly, before really hearing what they can do. And living with them every day, is a very pleasant and telling experience.

Take a listen to them, but take the time to do it right.

I've read DUCKMAN's posts and have even taken part in some of the discussions. I respect his opinion, but that doesn't make the 22L the worst in the series.

Also, the B & W model mentioned in the comparison is double the price of the 22L. That's not exactly comparing apples to apples.

I've followed several of these threads with great interest. Vaystream, have you heard the 22L? I seem to recall an older post on AA where you stated you hadn't.