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After Quad ESL's?

I am enjoying listening to Quad esl-63's and to the 57's (which I prefer). And though my wife has enjoyed them also, she informs me that her heretofore acceptance of the visual impact on our living room has been "only out of love." Her valiant endurance of my Quad-love has come to an end, period.

It has been six years.

So, now the time has come:
Speak, Quad owners (and former Quad owners), about what else has worked for you.

I would like a smaller, (than the quad) used speaker that images better than the Quad's. These are some of the directions I am thinking about:
The Vandersteen 2c Signatures are on the large side.
Perhaps a Dynaudio monitor, B&W 802 Matrix Series III, Proac (are there any that aren't excessively bright?). Are Lowthers a possibility, or too hopelessly colored?

I am attracted to ATC and Merlin, My taste runs expensive, but my pocket book (I work as a concert piano technician) runs shallow.

$1500 a pair or less would work best.

I also welcome your synergistic amplification suggestions. So far, I have prefered the sound of tubed equipmnet in the under $1500 per component range. I have recently been captivated by the idea of TVC (transformer volume control) Bent Audio NOH, etc. with a SET. But, the TacT M2150 (integrated without room correction) also intrigues me. Does anyone know how it sounds?

Acutal experience prefered to conjecture. Let it rip, and I thank you in advance for your thoughts and replies.
earthpulse

Showing 1 response by tmallin

tmallin
6 posts
 
I think the Harbeths are the ones you should listen to. I have not heard the SHL5s, but the C7s, M30s, and M40s all play superbly well at low volumes for dynamic speakers. The Quads are still king at that, and the 63s and 988s have that "of a piece" quality which no multi-driver speaker can match, but these Harbeths are not too far behind.

The Harbeths have equal or better bass, better and cleaner highs, and the midrange actually beats the Quads. What really swings it for me, however, is the fact that the Harbeths, while they won't play disco loud, play demanding material at naturally high levels and a bit above--levels which will either fry or shut down the Quads.

Robert E. Greene of TAS owned Quad 63s for more than 10 years before moving to Harbeth M40s as his reference. He has now used the M40s as his reference for more than five years. He likes the Harbeths better and finds them to be yet more accurate reproducers of music. I agree and now own M40s. Check out the Harbeth user group (HUG) archives.
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