Review: Quad U S A ESL-989 Speaker

"I have heard speakers that cost 30 times the price of the QUAD's, and they don't come close to matching the precise sound reproduction."

OK let's see 30 X $8000 = $240,000

What $240,000 speakers were blown away by the quads?? come on. You lose your credibility and it makes the whole review supsect.

Doesn't mark my credibility down: it makes one question the validity of spending more than 10k on a pair of speakers. What does that extra 200k do? Nothing that I can tell!

I have always liked the Quads...any Quads. I agree with you that the most expensive isn't necessarily the best. If you listen to classical and/or jazz, you probably go to a lot of live concerts and instinctively seek gear that doesn't sizzle your ears off, yet still has a lively and detailed midrange. I have owned $80,000 Dynaudio speakers (bought 'em used, thankfully, and sold 'em for just a tad more than I paid for 'em) that don't do any better than the Quads in anything close to a normal room, although they can fill a large warehouse
with loud music. On most of my software, my $6,000 Triangle Volantes sound closer to what I have heard in live concerts than the Dynaudios did, although the latter were more spectacular and did better in extremely large rooms. I agree with you: hyperbole is a valid rhetorical device, and your point is well made, even though there may not be any "stock" $250,000 speakers out there. Robm, don't be such a literalist -- it's the music that counts, and Quads are among the very few speakers that can recreate a good slice of the "live" experience in your living room. No system can make an auditorium out of your house, but Quads can give you the same goosebumps...and that's more than I can say for Wisdoms, Wilsons, Dynaudios, Nolas, JM Utopias, or other systems I HAVE heard that cost more than a new Porsche...and won't fill a room with anything any closer to "live" than the Quads will. Happy listening.
Clifton

Hi

I have a pair of Quad's 989 too and enjoy them a lot. I had many planars in the past (CLSII, Final, Quad's ESL63 USA, Sound Lab Auras,Apogee Mini-Grand's, Magnepan 3.6). The Quads are the most complete speakers that I had in terms of soundstage, coherence, overall natural sound reproduction and in a reasonable size package. The Sound Lab's were close to that quality too. All the other ones were lacking something or adding too much. I use Audio Research gear to drive them. Have anyone tried to pull the sock down and with what kind of sound results ans aestetics ?

Claude
819-845-8684

Claude, I have a friend who has tried these Quads with the sock down, and I have heard and seen them both ways at his place -- to my ears, the sound doesn't improve. It is DIFFERENT ever so slightly, audible only on some material, but it's too close a call to say the quality improves or declines. And the aesthetics are horrible. Also, I think the manufacturer warns against the possibility of damaging the exposed panels. These speakers are so good that there is simply no reason, in my opinion, to try to tweak them to a higher state of performance, other than trying different room orientations, amplifiers, etc. I suspect any musical flaws in the performance of the Quad 989's are due strictly to equipment mismatches, difficult room set-up conditions, or bad software.
Gerald Clifton, gkcc3@netzero.com.