Quad 2905 versus Quad 2805 plus subwoofer

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your advice. I did try the 2905's in my home but I could not live with them. Firstly the appearance - my wife could not stand their appearance when she saw them in the dealers showroom but said (most generously!) I should hear them at home.
When they arrived they looked like two great tombstones in the lounge and even I could not live with that, but the bass response was what finally decided it. I tried them at various distances from the rear wall but the bass seemed to be almost completely absent. Even the dealer (the very excellent John Jeffries of Sounds of Music, Heathfield, Sussex, UK) was surprised. He regards my room as having very good acoustics and it is a large room, so I am still puzzled). I was really disappointed at this. Maybe with a subwoofer they would have been bearable but did not pursue it due to the appearance. I am not a "bass freak", I just like hearing an orchestra which sounds right. I know you can never reproduce the real sound of an orchestra in your living room but I like to get near to it!
I now have a new system with which I am absolutely delighted.Previously I had four Linn Klouts feeding Keltiks with four cables and all the multi cable interconnections. I now have ONE integrated amplifier and the two speakers (biwired).
The speakers are Krell Resolution 2's and the amplifier a (Chinese made) DK LS.1 Reference III and for the first time in almost fifty years I am really satisfied with the sound and can just relax and listen to the music. Every record sounds so much better and I now can hear the difference between good lp's (which ARE more open) and good cd's. I can recommend the system to anyone and I still cannot believe that you can get this quality from an integrated amplifier and two speakers. Wonderful open sound with amazing imaging and tremendous power plus really deep clear bass.
Regards
Brian

Bass extension is not the whole story. One should not forget that getting those ultra-low frequencies out of the main speaker will improve its performance reproducing the rest of the spectrum. The wavelength of a 50 Hz tone is 22 feet, so phasing is not a big concern.

I have just purchased a pair of Quad 2805's and an REL B2 sub-bass. I have not had any problems with integration, or smearing. Bass imaging is presise. The REL is seamless with the Quad's as long as they are set up properly in the room. The REL is set to roll off at 36 Hz and with the fine adjustment it just disappers. The Quads also sound better in the lower mids with the REL connected.
I have not heard the 2905's but I have a friend who has and says the 2805's and REL sound better in the low bass than the 2905's.

I talked to a dealer Friday who claims the 2805 is a better speaker than the 2905 in any room
Can anyone confirm this?

I have 2805's (after half a life with the ESL 57's) because I could not accommodate the 2905's. If you can, my advise would be to go for the 2905's. However, with a good subwoofer the bass of the 2805's can be remedied to a large extent. I recently bought the new and reputedly ultra clean and fast B&W PV1d (connected at speaker level), and after a bit of tinkering the sound is well integrated. B&W's default suggestion to match the Quads was too overpowering, however. I lowered crossover to 34 HZ (rather than 37 HZ), set the slope of the low pass filter to 24 db, and lowered sensitivity to 82 db (rather than the recommended 86 db). This maintains the integrity of the glorious 2805's without any smearing or woolliness, and yet it adds a new dimension to music with deep bass, such as organ. My biggest remaining concern is not the integration with the Quad's, but on the one hand the match with the room (even though large, with a high ceiling and a mostly concrete construction), and on the other hand the varying quality of recordings. I now discover that unlike most classical recordings quite a few rock and some jazz recordings have artificial bass boost to make them sound better on indifferent systems. For best room integration I also auditioned the Velodyne Ultra series, but these did not integrate quite so well with the 2805's, at least when I heard them.