Quad 21L vs. 22L2 Sonic differences?

I have never heard the 21L, but I have given the 22L2 several auditions and I prefered them over Focal 826 and B&W 683. The finish of the 22L2 is superb.
The 21L is a 2-way, the 22L2 is a 2-and-a-half way speaker, as you probably know from the specs. It not much of a fair fight between these two, because the 22L2 brings an additional driver to the contest. This brings a deeper low-end response and better mid-bass sound. I have read on the forums that the 22L2's tweeter is an all new design. The 22L2's benefit from a better plinth than the 21L series, giving is more stability. They are reviewed to have a much flatter frequency response in the mid-range than the 22Ls, so that means the 22L2's mids are likely to best the 21L's as well.
I know an awful lot about these speakers, auditioned oodles of monitors and more than a few floorstanders, and the 22L2s kept coming out on top. They have a very detailed sound, with a great stage and excellent imaging. The finish cannot be beat for the money on the used market, where the 22l2's routinely go for around $700-$950.
I wound up buying cheaper monitor audio BX5s though, because I am a broke architect and I just got tired of sitting around saving money. I wanted to get to the music.

Never heard the 22L2 but I have owned the 21L2 as well as the 12L2. I preferred the 12L2s.
Although I'm sure it had to do with room placement. The 21L2 is very short and IMO needs to be raised up on some sort of small stand to sound right. As the 22L2 is taller, this probably would not be the case. Good luck with the search.

Hello,
I have a pair of 22L2 speakers finished in Rosewood. Got them used here on Agon from a seller - Lanemart - who sells numerous QUAD speakers. I power them via Monarchy Audio SE-100 Delux amps and a VTL 2.5 tube preamp. Very happy with the combo but to be honest never compared them to anything else except for the older Mirage speakers they replaced. Very detailed and the bass is good but I also suppliment the bottom octave < 50 hrtz using a FR15 Velodynne Sub. The only complaint I have is that the spikes do not thread properly into the base inserts. The tolerance between the spike threads and the threaded inserts is not correct. I fabbed up some different spikes. Other than that I'm happy with them. Best wishes.