Aurum Cantus Leisure 2 vs Quad 12L

Versus the music every seems to fall in love with after they get into this hobby. Audiophile labels, high res, whatever you want to call it.

-Rob

Robr45 - I guess I need to buy a different set of speakers for each type of music I intend to play? I never did understand the point of view in which someone buys a set of speakers for the type of music they prefer. I believe speakers are either worth their salt or they aren't. If they sound good with Norah Jones, why wouldn't they sound good with classical or jazz or loud rock and roll music? The fact is, they do. They either reproduce bass, have good imaging and detail or they aren't good in those areas. In this case after owning the Quad 11L's, I traded them for 12L's because we moved the system into a bigger room. I loved the 11L's and thought (mistakenly) that the 12L's would provide more of the same great sound. But they didn't. Either the crossover design, bigger box or bigger woofer made the midrange in the 12L's muddier, less defined, almost lethargic compared to the 11L's. The bass was fine, but the dynamics were lost, their was loss in detail and everything sounded slower. We plugged in the Aurum Cantus Leisure 2SE's, which were used and fully broken in and the veil came off! The light and airy upper end response you described is exactly right. They sounded much faster, more open, sweeter, more detailed and imaged as well or better than the 12L's. The bass was more tuneful, less thumpy and for lack of a better word, more "bass-like". And we played them LOUD. And we mixed it up, we went way past female vocals: blues, jazz, country, the Dead, J. Buffet, heck we even played the radio! And, as my theory holds, good speakers sound good with everything thrown at them, not just with an artist or two. And of course, none of this really matters because we like what sounds best to each of us, individually. If you've found what you love, more power to you! Too many never get there, they just churn and churn and churn, spending thousands and never really enjoying the journey. You don't have to spend thousands in this hobby and you don't have own the latest and greatest, you need to find what you like, personally and just enjoy it! Cheers!

Were just posting our experiences right? I think your theory on speakers being good or bad is flawed to an extent.

The fact is that a Klipsch speaker is going to have different attributes than a Magnepan. Both can be good. That is a fact. Speakers sound different, yes? Could this difference cater better or worse to a specific genre? Apparently your answer is no. Mine is yes.

I found the Lesiure 2 became congested and the woofer and ribbon start sounding like individual speakers when the they were asked to play loud. The Quads dont do this IMO. That was the intent of my comment.

Obviosuly this was not an issue for you with the AC.

Two different experiences with the same speaker- not unusual.

-Rob