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Help mismatch maybe?

Hello folks,

I recently purchased a pair of Quad 21L2's here on Agon. I tried them with some older Adcom electronics, which were uninvolving. Having read alot of good things about Nad products, and since they were in my price range, I purchased a C372 Intergraded amp here on Agon. The sound of the Nad and Quads are very detailed which I like more then less. Although, I would like the sound to be a little fuller & organic in the midrange. As it stands right now, the system sounds as though the treble control is almost maxed and the bass control is half way on the minus side. (I am in tone defeat mode).
My wife who is also my listening buddy, finds the setup too bright for her ears, and she is unable to listen with me now, unless the volume is very low. Our listening tastes in music range from Classical, to Classic Rock to Jazz, to Female/Male vocals, and everything in between.

Our front end consist of a Arcam FMJ CD23. IC's are of the Monster, and Z squared varity. PC's are PS and Z squared types. SC's Monster M2's Speakers are on the long wall in a Near Field configuration far away from the side walls and at least 3 feet from the rear. I have tried various placement scenario's and the NF seems to be the best overall.

Now, Is it possible That the Nad and the Quads are a mismatch?
If so, I would like to keep the Quads. If it's the electronics, I would like to stay with a Intergrated amp.
Are there any simular experiences, or recommendations you could offer?

Any help along these lines would be appreciated.
Thanks.
mickey13
mb9061
137 posts
 
Tilting them can help a bit, but I was never happy with the result as it threw the sound stage up a bit and there was a slight loss of focus. That, and I'm using the 22L2's as my example which have the additional driver.

Biggest influence on bass from my experience is (a) amplification and (b) speaker placement from rear wall that doesn't exceed 24" and isn't less than say 16" when dealing with rear ported floor standers.

You may consider auditioning a MF A3.5 if the A5 is out of reach. Even an A3.2CR which can be had for around $600 used. These amps have the most low end of those I've demoed or purchased so far and they don't dissapoint. I know we all have our favorites, but I can attest that they work beautifully with the Quads as I've had both the A308I and the A5. They do wonderfully well in home theater duty as well. Some will mention MF amps add "coloration" to music like cardas golden cross interconnects, but everyone has their own taste and it sounds like low end response is what you're looking for (I can't necessarily reccomend the golden cross ICs though, I didn't care for them but others do...).
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,314 posts
 
"Even an A3.2CR which can be had for around $600 used"

... or MF A3CR in about the same price range. I bought exactly for a similar bass/loading issue with my larger Ohms and it really nailed it.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,844 posts
 
Mapman, ya learn something new every day. I would not have thought that Quad would do something like that... from the looks of it, with the woofers in parallel and Quad's tendency in the last 20 years to use transistors, my bet is that these speakers are Voltage Paradigm devices- doing what they could not do with ESLs (although I am sure the ESLs have higher resolution...).
mickey13 OP
24 posts
 
Well,
First of all.. I want to thank each & everyone of you for your time & input to my dilemma. From all your helpful info I was able to put some thoughts together & tame things down enough were my wife can now listen with out running out out the room. The remedy, or at least patial one is as follows:

1. A fellow Agoner e-mailed me a few times with a suggestion to go to Home Depot and get #14 Orange/Red and Black extention cord. They were temporarly out of the 14ga so I got the 12ga. Made up a double 8' run for each Quad to the Nad. Result: Almost immediate improvement. First imperssions (about 4 hours later) a much smoother high end minus that "Bite" that bothered my wife. Second it did not take away the detail (that I like so much) from the Quads.

2. (Approximatly 12 hours later) I moved the Quads closer to the back wall. Rear port 24" from rear wall with ~ 25 degree toe in ~7' apart. Result: Middle starting to fill in nicely and were starting to hear a more organic texture in things like Sax & vocals especially female, like we used to get from our ProAc's. Things are definatly starting to shape up nicely.

3. I played with the tilt,and decided to stay with the recommended amount from the review. The hight of the soundstage seemed like it droped too low in our inviornment with them on a level plane.

Conclusion:

(Well at least my wife can now listen). Oh, and as far as the Bass it has improved, not stronger or louder, but it seems as though it stands out more from the music now. Hopefully as the wire burns in it will get better or until I can save a few Peso's to get the L series sub from Quad.
Thanks (to all) again. It's been fun..

Mike
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