@prof-- your comments are pretty on the money. Listening to the original Quad is in some ways like sitting in the balcony. I never had double or triple panel set ups, and was never happy with woofer integration on the old Quad; I didn’t even try on the ’63 when I ran them.
The detached experience-- sort of a portrait in miniature--drove me to horns, for a greater ’in the room’ experience, dynamics. But, those posed a similar problem in sub-woofering.
I currently run the restored 57 unadorned-- no special stands, woofers or auxiliary tweeters. They are what they are-- magnificent in some ways, fundamentally flawed in others. Their coherence and their ability to get out of the way of the music is still pretty stunning, though, more than 60 years later. In discussions with other owners on another board after I revitalized this pair, we agreed that though there have been strides in speaker design since the introduction of the original Quad, it’s pretty amazing how good they are this many years later, making you question whether throwing tens of thousands of dollars at the high end really does return value. (It does, but hearing the Quads will make you question it--i hadn’t heard my ’57s for since around 1990, though I have heard other pairs in years since).
Robin Wyatt did a nice job several years ago demo’ing them with tape at the Waldorf show-- It was like old home week for me, I hadn’t been to an audio show in at least 20 years- the elevator doors opened and I saw the same guys I used to see from the NY audio mafia-- just 20 years older! (Me, I’m ageless) :)
The detached experience-- sort of a portrait in miniature--drove me to horns, for a greater ’in the room’ experience, dynamics. But, those posed a similar problem in sub-woofering.
I currently run the restored 57 unadorned-- no special stands, woofers or auxiliary tweeters. They are what they are-- magnificent in some ways, fundamentally flawed in others. Their coherence and their ability to get out of the way of the music is still pretty stunning, though, more than 60 years later. In discussions with other owners on another board after I revitalized this pair, we agreed that though there have been strides in speaker design since the introduction of the original Quad, it’s pretty amazing how good they are this many years later, making you question whether throwing tens of thousands of dollars at the high end really does return value. (It does, but hearing the Quads will make you question it--i hadn’t heard my ’57s for since around 1990, though I have heard other pairs in years since).
Robin Wyatt did a nice job several years ago demo’ing them with tape at the Waldorf show-- It was like old home week for me, I hadn’t been to an audio show in at least 20 years- the elevator doors opened and I saw the same guys I used to see from the NY audio mafia-- just 20 years older! (Me, I’m ageless) :)