Quad 989 vs Martin Logan CLS IIz?

Although Quad 57's have about the best midrange you will ever find, the ESL 63's do it all, including better power handling capabilities.Imaging and room spaciousness are much better as well. Do not screw them up by putting them with subwoofers. I own both types of Quads, so I know. Never heard the 989's but it is not the same company that produced the earlier models. Martin Logan was never in the same league as Quad.

If you can find Quad ESL 63's with latish serial numbers, Nick Gowan of True Sound, Campbell, CA does a fabulous upgrade that involves replacing 62' of internal wire, among all the more obvious things. Without knowing the famous Crosby mods, I shouldn't say which are best--but I can't imagine that the Gowan upgrade can be beaten or even matched by them. Web address: www.tsound.com. It might be worth looking into. (I should add that Nick upgraded my Quads, and it was one of the biggest improvements in my sound.)

There is a site on internet, I'll post it later (came up with it from audioring...query "cable" and came up with this site...fabulous opinionated site with tremendous amount of information...from Canada/Toronto) and I agree with site operator & as owner of both CLS and Quads, including new 99s....any series, forget about the nitpicking among models...is the best speaker around. Would say it blows away the 99s and take that to the bank...not to say there is a lot of bass, but what is is great.

Barkwood, what exactly is your point? Not trying to be a smart-ass, but you aren't clear. WHAT blows away the 99's?

Larryh - I used to own Quad 63's, then 57's, and listened extensively to many Martin Logans (of which the CLS was my favorite). I ended up with Sound Lab electrostats - and I loved them so much I became a dealer. Check out Sound Labs at www.soundlab-speakers.com; my site is www.audiokinesis.com. I liked the 57's better than the 63's, and the 63's better than the Martins, and the Sound Labs best - though they are a bit more expensive. The Quads are a fairly easy speaker to drive; the CLS's are difficult and won't play much louder than 93 dB no matter how much power you put into them; the Sound Labs are a difficult load but will play loud given sufficient power.