１１Ｌ的真实价格！！！
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New piece of history
By KHAIRAN NASIR
Model: Quad 11L loudspeaker
Price: RM2,300
Distributed by CMS ELECTRONICS (Tel: 03-4294 9808), 91G, Jalan Pandan Indah 4/6B, Pandan Indah, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.
ELECTROSTATICS. That would be the immediate association at the mention of Quad speakers. The British company, founded in 1936 under the title 鄭coustical manufacturing company・first produced public address systems and compact amplifiers (relatively speaking). In 1949, the company produced the Corner Ribbon Loudspeaker, producing higher frequencies than had ever been achieved before. In the same year, the QA12/P was launched and the brand 漸UAD・was born, an acronym from Quality Unit Amplified Domestic.
Much has progressed since. The groundbreaking electrostatic design still forms the basis of Quad痴 current generation, but commercialism has prompted alliances with other companies. There has been a change in ownership and a subsequent relocation of some production facilities to lower cost locations.
The success of the Diamond range from sister company Wharfedale prompted renewed interest in Quad痴 original 10L that was originally commissioned to Spendor. This saw a short production run of approximately two years from 1997 to 1999. Capitalising on the almost cult status of the originals, Quad thought it prudent to leverage on its extensive loudspeaker building capabilities to revive the L series and position it as a higher-end offering befitting the brand痴 status. Thus, the new L series was born. Consisting a complete range of two bookshelf designs, a pair of floorstanders, a centre channel and a soon-to-be-released active subwoofer, Quad is apparently unable to escape the craze that is home cinema. The 11L is the smallest in the range and serves as the focus of this review.
FABULOUS FOUR-FOLD FUN: The Quad 11L speaker is a definite entertainer, and a pretty looking one at that.
It痴 a looker alright
Aesthetically, the 11L will be perceived as being pretty esoteric, given its asking price. The cabinet is made from reinforced 18mm MDF, ensuring first-rate build quality, followed by an application of seven coats of piano lacquer, with each coat drying for a full 24 hours before being cut and polished ready for the next coat. Four finishes are available for the Quad: Piano Black, Piano Rosewood, Piano Maple and Piano Bird痴 Eye, which the review sample came in. The textile protective bag for each speaker was a nice touch and only served to reinforce the notion of class with the product. Indeed, the baby Quad is a very pleasing aesthetic proposition, giving out the appropriate demeanour of a high-end offering from a respectable British manufacturer.
The owner痴 manual describes the 11L as a monitor loudspeaker and certainly its size of 32.5x19x24.3cm (h/w/d) pitches it squarely in the compact loudspeaker arena. Quad decided on a fresh start for the L series and designed everything from a clean sheet. The drive units were designed and manufactured in-house, utilising a 12cm long throw Kevlar woofer. The 25mm fabric dome tweeter uses a neodymium magnet with a ferrofluid-cooled voice coil. This high specification allows Quad the claimed ability to produce frequencies of up to 37kHz, thanks to a light diaphragm and coil assembly.
A pair of small reflex-loaded rear ports sit above the gold-plated bi-wired binding posts, whilst a pair of cloth grilles round up the fascia. Oxygen-free copper is used extensively internally. Quoted frequency response is 45Hz-24kHz, with sensitivity a respectable 86dB. The 11L has a six-ohm impedance, but that didn稚 pose any problems throughout the review.
Quad this
The 11L found company with the usual crowd for this review. First to be sidelined were my Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo 3s to make way for the new contender. Sources were my Micromega Microdrive/ Microdac CD transport/DAC and Arcam Alpha+, with an AVI S2000MI integrated handling amplification duties. Cabling also varied, the system primarily running on a diet of a pair of bi-wired Audioquest SR15/4, alternating with Naim NACA5 speaker cables. Audioquest Jade, Audio Magic Sceptre and my DIY SharkWire silver interconnects completed the mix.
I had the pleasure (and associated pain, but more on this later) of the 11L痴 company for more than two months; this gave me ample time to thoroughly run them in as well as familiarise myself with the speakers sonic qualities. In my new listening room, the 11Ls were mounted on Atacama SE 24 stands and upon experimentation, angled in rather acutely towards the listening position. The speakers were set about two metres apart and placed free from the room boundaries a metre away from the rear and side walls.
Quad speaker connector terminals on the 11L? Of course ...
Getting the 11Ls to sing took some coaxing ・straight from the box they sounded rather restrained and pretty anaemic. While patience is a virtue, nothing quite prepared me for the amount of running in the 11Ls took. Each passing day saw excruciatingly slow incremental improvements in the sound and overall presentation. I can only surmise that the Kevlar drive units do take longer to reach their optimal operating conditions.
Part of my frustration in the prolonged running in also stemmed from the 11Ls・tendency for playing hide and seek: they have this 渡ow you see it, now you don稚・quality that simultaneously hints at greatness just lying underneath the surface, but at the same time managing to be infuriatingly reticent to a similar degree. At best, the Quads play with the quiet reserve that exudes understated confidence; at worst, they can be a music lover痴 nightmare.
The anticipated eventual bloom manifested itself fairly late into the review period; three weeks later, to be exact. During that period, the 11Ls were given a thorough workout of music of various genres, often at near anti-social levels, almost daily. It痴 indeed a wonder that my neighbours still see it in their hearts to speak to me!
Where the 11Ls scored most was in their imaging. These speakers projected well into the listening area and painted vivid musical canvases. The impression of a wide soundstage was carried off effortlessly, such was the 11L痴 strengths in throwing out a sound that was bigger than its diminutive dimensions.
The impression of depth was easily portrayed with open space siting. The relative point-source strengths of the unit made the illusion of stereo depth and three-dimensionality layering more tangible than other price comparable speakers I have listened to. Spyro Gyra痴 Florida Straits from their In Modern Times album carried a gyrating Latin-based melody and the 11Ls caught the essence of Jay Beckenstein痴 saxophone interplay with Julio Fernandez痴 frenetic guitar to perfection.
Bass performance is commendable despite the speaker痴 relatively smallish stature. Given a quoted frequency response that goes down to 45Hz, the low-end grunt is appropriately well weighted and is pretty removed from traces of flab. My suspicion is that a gentle treble roll-off compensates for drop below, subjectively say around 80Hz, creating a relatively smoothened out audible spectrum. This however, worked well for the baby Quads as it translated into a pretty cohesive presentation ・the speakers never pretended they were anything more than what they were physically capable of.
One thing became increasingly obvious as I delved further into my music collection. Despite the 11L痴 poise and quiet confidence, something was still not quite right. There was this slight tendency for over-exuberance in the top end, while the anaemic midrange that was so readily apparent during the running in period never quite went away. I felt that this combination led to a slight smearing in the speaker痴 overall cohesiveness and resulted in that lack of presence so critical during normal run of play. Vocals suffered the most, the projection of which emanated on a smaller scale compared to the resident AE Evo3 setup. On Come Away With Me, Norah Jones・breathy rendition lacked that final iota of conviction that was so easily captured with some other transducers. Cranked up a notch or two higher, the 11L began to sound a little strained, particularly with loud, dense passages.
I hosted some friends for an evening of music and drinks over one weekend, the primary focus being to obtain a second opinion on the 11Ls. Additional gear including an AVI Laboratory Series integrated amplifier, Cyrus 3/PSX-R combo and Marantz CD 63 KI Signature CD player, pressed into the setup to give the 11L an extended workout. The unanimous verdict was the same, and correlated with what I found all along, that the 11L痴 tonal balance is a bit too reticent in the midband, creating a sound that veers slightly to the side of thinness. I wished I had the Pathos Classic One amp I reviewed several months back on hand as I suspected that this would have made for a happier combination: the relatively warmer sound would have probably flattered the 11L痴 tonally and made for a killer combination.
A moment of silence
The recent passing of Peter Walker was a huge loss for the audio fraternity. Arguably one of the earlier proponents of electrostatics, with significant contributions to the world of high-fidelity, his life痴 work has allowed countless music lovers to enjoy the fruits of his labour. Whether the L series will be known as the landmark-parting gift from Walker remains to be seen but they will no doubt have a rightful niche of their own in the greater, hi-fi scheme of things.
On balance however, and within the context of this review, I find the 11L does possess the necessary basic ingredients, and in some instances, by the spades too. However, I feel that an intrinsic something is missing from the whole equation.
Still, while it might not be perfect, the Quad 11L does possess a number of positive traits ・strong imaging, wide sound staging and that groovy, nimble bottom end. So, while it may falter slightly in terms of sheer presence, the 11L nevertheless merits serious consideration with slightly warmer playmates as suitable partners. Investigate the speaker痴 capabilities, as you may well be astounded that it may have more to offer beyond just what痴 stated on the cards and what I found.
For: Gorgeous finish; fast yet well-weighted bottom end; big on imaging and depth.
Against: Not quite there in the midband; can sound recessed with the wrong partners; very long running-in required.
