Quad L22 or Castle Cornway to replace B&W N805

Hi there. I am planning to have the following AV system:

DVD & SACD Player - Denon 2913
AV Amp - Yamaha RX-V1500
Speaker - Quad L22

Can anyone here please advise?
Cheers.

You could pickup a used processor and stick with a proper two channel amp and be much happier I think. I have not been happy with most receiver's performance but perhaps that is a personal issue.

I think that the 21L with a Sub would be much better than the 22L as the 22L's crossover/integration with the midrange woofer seems to leave much to be desired. The 11/12/21L are all crossed over @ 2200hz and the 22L @ 3000hz. For Kevlar woofers the key is a low crossover, something the 22L does not do. My 21L goes more than low enough for movie enjoymount but a sub would be 'nice'

The DVD player is likely a decent one.

Stick to Copper cabling & interconnects for Quads. With Silver it becomes 'tizzy' and with silver plated copper it just doesn't sound quite right. Black Rhodium's nickel plated copper also doesn't fit the bill so maybe just avoid all non-copper stuff.

Feel free to e-mail me if you'd like

I've had the chance to do an A-B comparison, in my home, of the B&W Signature 805 and the Quad 22L. The Quad 22L is a very nice speaker, well made, beautiful finish. It exhibited nice balance and good low-end power.

However, the difference in detail, smoothness and articulation between the 22L and the 805Sig was HUGE. The best way I can describe the difference is to say that if the 805S sounded glassy-smooth, the Quad 22L was like sandpaper. What I mean is, vocals on the 22L were grainy, and a little more harsh, while the 805 Signature was so smooth and pretty-sounding.

It's easy to look at the 805 Signature and think, "what am I getting for $3500?" But listen to them next to the $1700 Quad 22L, and you'll get an answer very quickly. By themselves, the Quads sounded good, but once you hear the 805 Signature the Quads sound unacceptably grainy. And, by the way, if placed properly the 805S has as much low-end grunt as the Quads - it's amazing how much range that little bookshelf has.

I realize you asked about the 805, and not the 805 Signature, but I've owned the 805 as well and I'm not sure you'd be happy going to the Quad 22L from the 805. The 805 enjoys much of that upper-end sweetness that the 805 Signature has, so if you enjoy that part of being an 805 owner, you'll miss that with the Quad. The only thing the 22L will give you, above the 805, is low-end power.

I agree with Vaystream, in that you should check your cabling and especially your speaker positioning before giving up on the 805. In my experience, they are VERY VERY sensitive to positioning, and can go from bright to beautiful and bassy with proper toe-in and wall proximity.

Hope that helps a little,
BCGator

Just a quick note to Bcgator the 22L is the worst of the Quad line. If you look where its crossed over compared to the rest of the line it will have some problems the rest of the line simply does not have.

A fellow inmate on the Audio Asylum who owns the 22Ls and the 21Ls agrees with me that the 21ls are superior in every way 'except' bass response, although the 21s are quite good there as well.

If you can BC try the 12L or the 21L vs the 805. If you do please e-mail me with your thoughts,

Nathan Klassen

Francois

What about changing the Nautilus 805 to the new 805s ?? New 805s has the same features as the 805 Signature except for the nice finish and retails for $1000 less ( I think ).Perhaps less bright as they employ the Signature tweeter.

Do you want to change from a Two-way to a Three-way ?I am biased towards Two-ways.

Another option is to look at the Merlin range - TSM-MM/MX or VSM-MM/MX Again biased ,since I own the VSM-MM speakers .....can make a strong recommendation on them.

Good Luck
Chris