Anybody heard the Quad 21L or 21L2?


Hi,

A couple of weeks ago, I started what has turned into an enormous thread on the topic of "budget" loudspeakers for a small to medium-sized room. Here is the link, if you're interested:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1212633048&openmine&Rebbi&4&5&st0

I want to thank all the people on this website who have been so helpful in their comments and suggestions. I had not been involved in the high-end audio scene for over 20 years, and really wasn't aware what's available these days. Really, the people on Audiogon gave me a complete reeducation on this topic! Thanks to all of you. :-)

Now, getting to the point. At my price range, and with my associated equipment and room size and listening preferences, I was pretty well settled on picking up a pair of used Totem Arros. They seem to be going for around $800 here. The problem, however, is that my wife would really prefer that the speaker be black, or in the case of the Totem, Black Ash veneer. But all of the used Totems here on Audiogon are either mahogany or cherry finish. Getting a pair of them, new, in the black finish, will cost me over $1300, plus tax. :-(

In the other thread, however, a speaker that came highly recommended was the Quad 21L2. It turns out that I can get a pair of these in Piano Black finish for just under $1000, plus shipping. this is very attractive, indeed, but reviews of this speaker on the Internet are scarce-to-nonexistent. So, what I need to know is, whether any of you fine audiophiles have actually heard this speaker? Do you know anything about its power handling, imaging, transparency? Do you know anything about how fussy it is about room placement?

Thanks, again, in advance! You folks are fantastic. :-)
rebbi
Let me add a slightly different perspective to the mix here. I've had a pair of 21Ls, but eventually moved up to the 22Ls. The price difference between the two models on the used market borders on trivial. The added low end on the 22Ls makes then a bit more desirable in my view, that is unless you are pairing the 21Ls with a sub. I will agree with the others who commend these speakers for their fine sound. The 21Ls have a very smooth sound, never harsh, and are indeed stunning to look at in all of their different finishes. With that said, what's frustrating about the Quad L series is how power hungry they are. I have my 22Ls in the living room and have progressively moved from a 100 wpc, to a 120 wpc, to a 200 wpc amp to drive them--and I'm still turning the preamp way up to get decent loudness out of them. I'm astonished that one of the contributors to this thread can effectively drive these with a 40 wpc amp. My advice, unless you are going to place these speakers in your powder room, is to have on hand an amp with a bare minimum of 125 watts per channel to drive them. With that, a good preamp, and bi-wire speaker cables, you will almost surely like what you hear.
In the end, I decided to go with a pair of Totem Arros, in part do to this being a very small listening room, and in part because I'm only running a PS Audio Elite Plus integrated amp with 70 watts/channel. Waveform, thanks for the info about the power needed to drive the 21L2's. I'm sure they're marvelous speakers, but I'm suspecting that given my room and associated equipment, the Totem's were a better choice for me.
Waveform, sounds like your sources are lower voltage than normal, you like things real loud or you have a huge room.

21s are 88db sensative, 22s are 89. This is far from what most would consider power hungery.

16wpc is getting 21s close to 100db. That is pretty loud.

-Rob

FWIW -- I have the Quad 21L2s up and running with the Jolida 302. Sounds marvelous to me! I imagine the bass will take a few weeks to settle in, but so far so good!

Cheers - Marty
It did take a little while for the bass to relax on mine it seems. They seemed a little tense out of the box to me.