Quad L22 or Castle Cornway to replace B&W N805

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

Bcgator,

I know you are comparing the 22L to the B&W Signature 805, when you made those comments about the 22L sounding like "sandpaper"...."grainy".

But for the life of me I have no idea what you're talking about.

The 22L is so very smooth.

Anyone who takes the time to match appropriate components upstream and work on placement with the 22L; will be rewarded with silky, smooth highs and midrange......and of course a nice tight lower end.

I don't know what the circumstances involved in your comparison, nor do I know of the room acoustics. But I have to believe what you heard was not the 22L at it's best.

I own the 22L, and myself and some friends have done quite a bit of comparing, and to a man ( and women) they all love the 22L. No harshness, no grain, certainly no sandpaper....when set up properly.

The 22L can be very revealing and unforgiving of bad recordings and bright components.

I feel there's a huge misconception regarding the 22L and it seems to be rooted in some review, where the reviewer claimed the 22L was the worst of the L-Series line.

I've heard or owned all the L-Series speakers in the last 2 years, and I disagree. So do a lot of other people who have taken the time to listen to them all.

The 22L is also VERY VERY sensitive to positioning. If you take that into consideration for the B&W Signature 805, in fairness, you should have taken that into consideration with the 22L.

I don't care what people say about the difference in the crossover points of the 22L, compared to the rest of the line. The bottome line, when they are set up and matched correctly, they sound better than any of the other L-Series models.

Simply looking at crossover points, is not the same as listening and living with them; and I have done that with all of the L-Series models. The 22L stood head and shoulders above the rest.

http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=speakers&n=191927 Here is a thread with an individual who was weighing the 21L vs the 22L, my comments are in the thread, but of special note is "duckman's" as he owns both the 21L and the 22L and has for some time.

No doubt about room setup on the 22 as that is the same thing I have encountered on the 21. I have not spent enough time with the 22 and can simply relay discussion and points made by others, and I have been careful to clarify them as such. I'd be curious to hear the 22Ls in my home system vs the 21s and I suspect the debate won't be resolved until I do that :) That being said, I'm very happy with my 21s.