Quad L22 or Castle Cornway to replace B&W N805

As a Quad owner (21L) I just want to point out something very quickly. Is it your speaker or is it other components in your signal chain that is contributing to the brightness which seems as it may be resulting in fatigue?

I've had to change cabling and components for my Quads because they are simply not forgiving of poor quality or etched sounding components. I will never - pair anything by Black Rhodium with Quad speakers - a fellow Quad owner asked for my advice regarding cables and I said pretty much anything but BR - he went out and bought Black Rhodium and then ended up getting rid of them within a month because he had the same problem I had we bouth had a laugh over that.

I had to change my source (lowly Pioneer DV353) because it was contributing to listener fatigue as well. If at all possible try to introduce some different components into your system to see if the problem is your B&Ws or something else in the chain. If its something else in the chain you will NOT be happy by shifting to either the Quads or the Castles (which I know only by reputation but are reputed to be similarily ruthless regarding upstream components.)

That being said, I briefly heard the 805 Signatures recently and was completely unimpressed and thought that my Quad 21Ls were atleast equal if not better in most respects than them,(Soundstage / detail / height of image / PRAT etc) as always your mileage may vary.

Nathan Klassen

Hi there. I am planning to have the following AV system:

DVD & SACD Player - Denon 2913
AV Amp - Yamaha RX-V1500
Speaker - Quad L22

Can anyone here please advise?
Cheers.

You could pickup a used processor and stick with a proper two channel amp and be much happier I think. I have not been happy with most receiver's performance but perhaps that is a personal issue.

I think that the 21L with a Sub would be much better than the 22L as the 22L's crossover/integration with the midrange woofer seems to leave much to be desired. The 11/12/21L are all crossed over @ 2200hz and the 22L @ 3000hz. For Kevlar woofers the key is a low crossover, something the 22L does not do. My 21L goes more than low enough for movie enjoymount but a sub would be 'nice'

The DVD player is likely a decent one.

Stick to Copper cabling & interconnects for Quads. With Silver it becomes 'tizzy' and with silver plated copper it just doesn't sound quite right. Black Rhodium's nickel plated copper also doesn't fit the bill so maybe just avoid all non-copper stuff.

Feel free to e-mail me if you'd like

I've had the chance to do an A-B comparison, in my home, of the B&W Signature 805 and the Quad 22L. The Quad 22L is a very nice speaker, well made, beautiful finish. It exhibited nice balance and good low-end power.

However, the difference in detail, smoothness and articulation between the 22L and the 805Sig was HUGE. The best way I can describe the difference is to say that if the 805S sounded glassy-smooth, the Quad 22L was like sandpaper. What I mean is, vocals on the 22L were grainy, and a little more harsh, while the 805 Signature was so smooth and pretty-sounding.

It's easy to look at the 805 Signature and think, "what am I getting for $3500?" But listen to them next to the $1700 Quad 22L, and you'll get an answer very quickly. By themselves, the Quads sounded good, but once you hear the 805 Signature the Quads sound unacceptably grainy. And, by the way, if placed properly the 805S has as much low-end grunt as the Quads - it's amazing how much range that little bookshelf has.

I realize you asked about the 805, and not the 805 Signature, but I've owned the 805 as well and I'm not sure you'd be happy going to the Quad 22L from the 805. The 805 enjoys much of that upper-end sweetness that the 805 Signature has, so if you enjoy that part of being an 805 owner, you'll miss that with the Quad. The only thing the 22L will give you, above the 805, is low-end power.

I agree with Vaystream, in that you should check your cabling and especially your speaker positioning before giving up on the 805. In my experience, they are VERY VERY sensitive to positioning, and can go from bright to beautiful and bassy with proper toe-in and wall proximity.

Hope that helps a little,
BCGator