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Is It Possible?

Help!!!

Is it possible for a pair of Quad63 sounds better than a pair of Focal Utopia Scala I?  I am was using the Scala in my system and was very happy with the overall result, except for an occasionally bright sound on certain recordings.  I recently bought a pair of non-working Quad63 at a garage sale for $250, had them serviced for about $650.  I was going to use the quad in my office for background music, but I decided to have a A/B test against my beloved Scala.  I almost fell of my chair when heard what came out of the Quad. The vocals and the instruments just came alive, especially the female's voice.  The only advantage I gave to the Scala was the soundstage, which is wider and a little deeper than the Quad.  How can this be?  What am I doing wrong with the Scala?  How can a pair of $900 speakers sounds much better, in my opinion, than a pair of speakers that cost me almost $25,000?

myaudio168
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,799 posts
 
I bought a pair of the original Magneplanar Tympani-I’s in ’72, then sold them in ’74 and bought Fulton Model J’s. Though the Fulton’s were more transparent (those RTR ESL tweeters were killer!) and had the bottom octave missing in the Tympani’s, I soon missed the openness, image size and height, and depth afforded by the big panels. The music was being "squeezed" through the boxes of the Fultons, like a pair of bricks removed from a wall between speaker and listener. I realized then I was a planar man, and now have Tympani-IVa’s (the 80’s version of the new 30.7), old Quads (grills, but not dust covers, removed), and Eminent Technology LFT-8b’s. I feel no need for a pair of Charlatans. Oops, I mean Chameleons ;-).
inna
7,296 posts
 
I don't have your Chameleons, Michael, they are nowhere to be found. I have 20 years old Rev80i. Running them with old Purist Audio Colossus fluid speaker cables. They don't like humid and hot weather, I can tell this.
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

Sorry Inna, I should have paid more attention. Not sure why I thought you had Chameleons. This last few years a lot of MGA speaker owners have been checking in with me, so I'm getting use to who is who, slowly :)

glupson
7,842 posts
 
It seems that everyone here admires those Quad speakers. Maybe only people who admire them feel the urge to participate.

I have a bit different memory of them. It was in and, more correctly, around Salzburg in 1990-1991. It was a year of Mozart’s death anniversary and many venues were commemorating. Exhibitions, concerts, etc. Quad was a supplier of music systems in those spaces (maybe not concerts, but wherever else the music was playing) and I was excited to finally hear the magic. Well, in some sort of a castle or a huge villa up in the hills, I entered one room and poof. It was truly underwhelming. I tried to convince myself it was great, but it really was not. I tried a few more rooms and it was all the same. It was not painful, but it was underwhelming. Speakers so perfect, at least that is what I had heard and read, were as plain as they get. They were memorable only because they were so non-memorable. I do not doubt that most of you have fantastic experiences, but this was mine. Maybe next time, I will be impressed.
inna
7,296 posts
 
For me speakers should be first of all reasonably full range, if they are not I don't care about how pure some sounds might be coming out of them. And then other things.
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