@prof1 and terry 9:
To take the one at a time--Quads are wonderful speakers. We built some stands for the Levinson HQD system and had the pleasure of listening to them with the full setup--Decca ribbons in the middle of stacked Quads and 2 24" Hartley woofers in cabs we built that were as big as we were. Totally great sound when driven by tubes. The original Quad electronics were rather weak, but joined to Audio Research products, they sounded pretty durn good! We were not a Levinson dealer--he did not care to be in the same shop with some other of our brands, and actually, back then, his stuff sounded pretty bad even though it was built like a tank. He was what we called a "slow pay" as well, but that's another story. So yeah, Quads are nice in the right room...I would bet a dinner that I could spend a day in your room and show you how much more accurate the Maggies are, but glad you love your system. That's all a good dealer wishes for his clients, and you are an example of one who knows what he likes and is able to own it. We call that a huge WIN!
Aprof1, back then we all played instruments of various kinds in bands and went to a lot of concerts. A fellow dealer from Miami became an expert recording person of live music of various kinds. The chamber music was done very well. When played over any other speaker, it did not sound as it did live based on us being in the room during the recording. I would like to tell you we set up a big lab and measured everything with million-dollar mics in an anechoic chamber, but no one I know listens to music in an anechoic chamber, so we relied upon the musicians and experts in the room to point out places where other speakers (and electronics in some cases) added or subtracted or otherwise changed the music. Obviously, no recording, etc., is perfect nor is any system perfect; they all have their idiosyncrasies. BUT, without question, the Magnepan products introduced less of all undesired qualities to the music. We have some theories, of course, but I will let the engineers argue incessantly over all that stuff. I just knew what we heard, and it sounded like the instruments we heard live. I have always put forth the concept that accuracy is best, but many clients want something else. That is why there are over 300 speaker makers with many items in each line pretty much all the time. There were 2 tube hardware manufacturers in the 1970's; today, I can't even count the number, so it must be a good business or it would not thrive. I also have some theories and many hours of explanations from engineers, inventors, etc., about the how's and why's of things, and I know that what we hear is somewhat colored by many variables out of our control. Go to a live concert (rock) today and like me, you might walk out time after time given the horrible sound systems they use. It is almost unbelievable based on current technology, but I seldom hear the musicians playing their instruments or the vocalists singing. Mostly, it is just loud noise. Back in the day, Yes was the loudest band on the planet; today, Yes seems like chamber music when compared to the concerts I have attended in the past 6 years or so. So, the best I can offer is to attend concerts where the music is played at normal volume and then see if your recordings of that same music sound as they did in the hall. Where you notice differences that YOU DO NOT LIKE, talk to your dealer and try out some other items in your system to see if it gets better to you.
There is no perfect, only what you like in YOUR ROOM and can afford.
Cheers!
To take the one at a time--Quads are wonderful speakers. We built some stands for the Levinson HQD system and had the pleasure of listening to them with the full setup--Decca ribbons in the middle of stacked Quads and 2 24" Hartley woofers in cabs we built that were as big as we were. Totally great sound when driven by tubes. The original Quad electronics were rather weak, but joined to Audio Research products, they sounded pretty durn good! We were not a Levinson dealer--he did not care to be in the same shop with some other of our brands, and actually, back then, his stuff sounded pretty bad even though it was built like a tank. He was what we called a "slow pay" as well, but that's another story. So yeah, Quads are nice in the right room...I would bet a dinner that I could spend a day in your room and show you how much more accurate the Maggies are, but glad you love your system. That's all a good dealer wishes for his clients, and you are an example of one who knows what he likes and is able to own it. We call that a huge WIN!
Aprof1, back then we all played instruments of various kinds in bands and went to a lot of concerts. A fellow dealer from Miami became an expert recording person of live music of various kinds. The chamber music was done very well. When played over any other speaker, it did not sound as it did live based on us being in the room during the recording. I would like to tell you we set up a big lab and measured everything with million-dollar mics in an anechoic chamber, but no one I know listens to music in an anechoic chamber, so we relied upon the musicians and experts in the room to point out places where other speakers (and electronics in some cases) added or subtracted or otherwise changed the music. Obviously, no recording, etc., is perfect nor is any system perfect; they all have their idiosyncrasies. BUT, without question, the Magnepan products introduced less of all undesired qualities to the music. We have some theories, of course, but I will let the engineers argue incessantly over all that stuff. I just knew what we heard, and it sounded like the instruments we heard live. I have always put forth the concept that accuracy is best, but many clients want something else. That is why there are over 300 speaker makers with many items in each line pretty much all the time. There were 2 tube hardware manufacturers in the 1970's; today, I can't even count the number, so it must be a good business or it would not thrive. I also have some theories and many hours of explanations from engineers, inventors, etc., about the how's and why's of things, and I know that what we hear is somewhat colored by many variables out of our control. Go to a live concert (rock) today and like me, you might walk out time after time given the horrible sound systems they use. It is almost unbelievable based on current technology, but I seldom hear the musicians playing their instruments or the vocalists singing. Mostly, it is just loud noise. Back in the day, Yes was the loudest band on the planet; today, Yes seems like chamber music when compared to the concerts I have attended in the past 6 years or so. So, the best I can offer is to attend concerts where the music is played at normal volume and then see if your recordings of that same music sound as they did in the hall. Where you notice differences that YOU DO NOT LIKE, talk to your dealer and try out some other items in your system to see if it gets better to you.
There is no perfect, only what you like in YOUR ROOM and can afford.
Cheers!