Which Quads: 12L2 or 11L Monitors?

Rob, you're right abut piano. The 12Ls are wonderful for piano music.

Thanks.

Masswineguy,
The 500 hours is a rough estimate based on my personal experience. But I certainly luv the Quad dynamic speakers. You would be hard-pressed to find a competition in their range that can do music better. I have mentioned in my posts before. The Quads were never in my shortlist when I wanted to put together a good system. But one listen to the Quad 12Ls and I was hooked. I went back and researched on the difference between 12L and 21L and came to a decision that I wanted the floor-standers. I got the 21L sight unseen, sound unheard (though familiarized by 12L).
And look at it this way - either 11L or 12L you are gonna have a winner :-) Oh, I am so waiting to get my audio room back :-(

I had the 12L for a while and liked them. The tweeter was very good and overall a nice clean sound. That being said, I found them to have a recessed midrange compared to several other speakers I had on hand. I always wondered if the 11Ls had more explicit mids (or if the next generation 12L2), especially since I used them with a sub.

I have the 12L2s and have never had an issue with crispness on the mid range. For the price point, they are pretty incredible. The bass is signifinaclty better than the 11L2s.

Also, they do take a while to start sounding their best.

As a testamanet to the quality of the Quad dynmaic speakers, they are the main "value" d speakers sold by Overture in Delaware - arguably the best high fi shop on the east coast.

Mine are the 12L2 model. I'm hanging on to them.