Quad 989/2905 all around qualities

Ah!!!! Nice day of listening today and tomorrow! Enjoy! Talk to Myles Astor (who is a reviewer and posts here)...he owns the Summits as his references and is very helpful.

My suggestions: SF GRands sound amazing with really powerful Krells...i would not say Homages Series SF sounds particularly great with big Krell...but i was stunned to hear how well the SF Grands sounded with krell. Not the only amp...just in case you have the options at the audition. Plus your tastes may well vary.

I think given your focus on esl, the Magnepan and ML auditions will be interesting. they are panels...a good thing...but they are also different. Will be very interesting to hear your views...please post!!! Enjoy.

So here is the bottom line - I am still in search for a speaker after this weekend.

SF Grand Piano - I couldn't really "evaluate" this speaker despite of all good reviews and opinions it got.
The room was very small (about 7-8 sq m) the speakers were about 50cm, they were driving by some digital Akai amplifier, so it was not a set and a room to enjoy them. Tonally and temporally they were OK, but the bass wasn't punchy and they were not revealing. I suppose the setup has a major role in all this, but since i didn't hear this speaker before i couldn't really form any impression.
It also failed the most important "emotional test", that is much more important for me than an "audiophile" test.
May be i did a mistake and should rely solely on all those reviews. After all, it shouldn't be very hard to sell a SF speaker.

Magnepan 1.7/3.6 - I couldn't hear the 3.7, but i heard the 1.7 and 3.6;
The 1.7 is tonally better than 1.6, i think it is more balanced.
Of course 3.6 is much a better speaker. It is more refined etc, but it still fails with the rock and everything alike.
So, it is still very similar to Quad in its problematic areas while i strongly prefer Quad in what both of them do well. Quad is amaizingly musical speaker with tons of emotions. Never knew how good is it in what it does...
The only better points for Magnepan 3.6 are: reliability and a better slam/big orchestral music.

Martin Logan - I heard the more simple Vantage model.
Despite it is also an electrostatic (hybrid) speaker its sound is very different to Quads. Even the electrostatic panels sound differently. Much more colored and sound-oriented IMHO. For what Quad does, it does much better, BUT Martin Logan is definitely better as all around speaker.
Actually better then Magnepan 1.6/1.7/3.6 as well (if you like its tonal coloration). The dynamic woofer gives a lot of slam. It is not just a bass, it is the whole slam that is missing in those planar speakers. Suddenly the rock is solid, electronic music sounds better etc.
Still... i feel this model is to "colored" for me and not as musical and emotional as Quad. As i said, never realized how REALLY GOOD QUAD IS in what it does... Unfortunately it still limited to some specific sort of music.
Then, i heard a Martin Logan Ethos. It was a big improvement over Vantage. Less colored, better punch, stage, everything... Probably a candidate...
Still want to listen to Summit X... Probably ML highest series are less colored for a sound and more true like.
Everything IMHO of course...

Hi Katamapah,

You've done your homework. Quads really are special. As you already know, they just dont play super loud and their bass could be stronger.

The new 2805s/2905s will play louder and lower from what i am told. will be interesting to hear what you think of them.

Hi,
I am still trying to arrange the audition for 2905/989...
I also heard a very good things about apogee, and while testing some videos on the youtube i was very impressed with the clarity of sound... Unfortunately it is quite complicated to import them, since they are not in the business anymore...

Is your impressions of ML/Magnepan/SF Grand Piano comply with mine, or was it some kind of equipment mismatch. It is always tough to talk about a component from one specific listening.
Thanks.

Hi happy to share thoughts offline in more detail. i would say SF Grands can sound special but only when set up right...Krell Evo402 was the only time i heard this and was quite shocked. The Homage series are closer to the sound you seek...but more expensive.

Agree on magnepan, not quite the transparency when i've heard them, of a quad. ML with the built-in cone drivers have sometimes struggled to get the overall balance right.

BTW, check out hifitradingstation.com. i know the owner extremely well...Apogee Minigrands demo pair. last time i heard apogees, i was pretty blown away at how good they are.

I woul