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Post by pauld on Oct 7, 2019 20:48:42 GMT
 Bit of change at PaulD towers. I had been struggling with my Focal speakers for a while, finding them great for short bursts but fatiguing to listen to over extended periods. Then a couple of months ago my 2 year old son decided it would be a good idea to put his finger through one of the Beryllium tweeters. I got in touch with Coherent Systems who quickly got in touch with Focal’s UK partner, Naim and ordered two new tweeters on my behalf. Naim’s service has gone downhill recently. It took them the entire two months to source the tweeters from Focal in France. Whilst waiting for the replacement tweeters, and whilst bored one evening, I thought I’d have a look at the used section on Coherent Systems website and saw they had a pair of similar sized Quadral floorstanders for sale so enquired about them. On Thursday last week, Tony of Coherent System came over to replace the Focal tweeters and kindly brought over the Quadral’s for me to try. I plugged the Focal’s in and they sounded as I’d remembered them, great for short bursts, but quite fatiguing. With Tony’s help we swapped over to the Quadral’s and I could tell within the first 2 minutes that I’d had to buy them. They are excellent. Much, much easier to listen to, but with the same level of detail. They just don’t throw that sound at you in a overly bright manner. The Quadral’s have even more bass than the Focal’s and have a punchy detailed sound. I spent some time over the weekend listening and didn’t find I needed to turn off the system in the way I used to do with the Focal’s, I just spent the time enjoying my music again. |
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Post by macca on Oct 7, 2019 21:01:02 GMT
Which model are they Paul?
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Bigman80
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The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
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Post by Bigman80 on Oct 7, 2019 21:01:33 GMT
Bit of change at PaulD towers. I had been struggling with my Focal speakers for a while, finding them great for short bursts but fatiguing to listen to over extended periods. Then a couple of months ago my 2 year old son decided it would be a good idea to put his finger through one of the Beryllium tweeters. I got in touch with Coherent Systems who quickly got in touch with Focal’s UK partner, Naim and ordered two new tweeters on my behalf. Naim’s service has gone downhill recently. It took them the entire two months to source the tweeters from Focal in France. Whilst waiting for the replacement tweeters, and whilst bored one evening, I thought I’d have a look at the used section on Coherent Systems website and saw they had a pair of similar sized Quadral floorstanders for sale so enquired about them. On Thursday last week, Tony of Coherent System came over to replace the Focal tweeters and kindly brought over the Quadral’s for me to come over to try. I plugged the Focal’s in and they sounded as I’d remembered them, great for short bursts, but quite fatiguing. With Tony’s help we swapped over to the Quadral’s and I could tell within the first 2 minutes that I’d need to buy them. They are excellent. Much, much easier to listen to, but with the same level of detail. They just don’t throw that detail to you in a overly bright manner. The Quadral’s have even more bass than the Focal’s and have a punch detailed sound. I spent some time over the weekend and didn’t find I needed to turn off the system in the way I used to do with the Focal’s, I just spent the time enjoying my music again. I never liked the look of those Focals. Quadrals look much better. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2019 21:03:11 GMT
Focal speakers remind me of obnoxious teenagers when I look at them.
S.
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Post by pauld on Oct 7, 2019 21:03:13 GMT
Which model are they Paul? Aurum Montan VIII. |
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Post by macca on Oct 7, 2019 21:08:57 GMT
They certainly look like they might be pretty good.
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Post by pauld on Oct 7, 2019 21:13:25 GMT
They certainly look like they might be pretty good. They have a similar configuration of 1x Tweeter, 1x Midrange and 2x Bass units that the Focal’s had but just in a slightly alternative configuration. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2019 22:27:01 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 3:44:20 GMT
Always wanted to hear the RATA 'Olson II' speakers.. I think there was only two pairs made. Awesome Space 1999 look.  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 3:58:23 GMT
Great stuff enjoy them, keep us updated with your long term impressions, presume they are new, then they can only get better. There is nothing worse than a fatiguing speaker, so many are these days, somewhere there has been a wrong turn made in some speaker designs.
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Post by antonio on Oct 8, 2019 4:55:09 GMT
Pleased your happy with your new purchase, for me speakers are still the most important part of the chain.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 7:03:19 GMT
Yes they look very nice indeed.
Ive only heard Maccas Focal-esque jmlabs, but they certainly weren't forensic or fatiguing. With the right sources, they were superb.
Sometimes its a great match of components on paper, but a different kettle of fish in the room
I know Tony rates the quadrals so they must be pretty good. Congratulations
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Post by nonuffin on Oct 8, 2019 8:26:04 GMT
I simply love my Quadrals and just like Paul I knew I had to have them the moment they were connected to my system. As I keep on saying (but nobody listens), they are fantastic speakers and the best I have ever owned.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 9:07:19 GMT
I simply love my Quadrals and just like Paul I knew I had to have them the moment they were connected to my system. As I keep on saying (but nobody listens), they are fantastic speakers and the best I have ever owned. We're listening! |
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Post by nonuffin on Oct 8, 2019 9:49:43 GMT
Generally speaking, I am no great fan of bookshelf and standmount speakers, so I tend to go for floorstanders for a more realistic bass output, but then you can easily end up with bass boominess. Even though my Quadrals have relatively small bass/mid drivers they still manage a superb bass which is both deep and very controlled. I also have an inherent dislike of ribbon tweeters, but the Quadrals manage to pull off the trick of being detailed and transparent without any splash or harshness at all.
It is the one speaker that I have no criticisms at all with them and that is immense given that after 40+ years it is the first speaker ever that has achieved that. Get a demo sorted and hear for yourselves I say.
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Bigman80
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The HiFi Bear/Audioaddicts/Bigbottle Owner
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Post by Bigman80 on Oct 8, 2019 10:33:36 GMT
Generally speaking, I am no great fan of bookshelf and standmount speakers, so I tend to go for floorstanders for a more realistic bass output, but then you can easily end up with bass boominess. Even though my Quadrals have relatively small bass/mid drivers they still manage a superb bass which is both deep and very controlled. I also have an inherent dislike of ribbon tweeters, but the Quadrals manage to pull off the trick of being detailed and transparent without any splash or harshness at all. It is the one speaker that I have no criticisms at all with them and that is immense given that after 40+ years it is the first speaker ever that has achieved that. Get a demo sorted and hear for yourselves I say. I’ve tended to have the opposite experience in that no conventional floorstander has ever made a good sound for me. Bass just seems too slow and room resonances always intrude. I’ve given them a few feet of space behind and to the sides, but the various rooms have always intruded. As a general rule of thumb I tend to believe that if the room is singing, the hifi isn’t. An REL sub has proved to be a far more manageable way of having bass because you can tune it. I doubt I will ever have another floorstander. |
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Post by pauld on Oct 8, 2019 20:42:26 GMT
I simply love my Quadrals and just like Paul I knew I had to have them the moment they were connected to my system. As I keep on saying (but nobody listens), they are fantastic speakers and the best I have ever owned. They are seriously good speakers. Which models do you have? |
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Post by pauld on Oct 8, 2019 20:45:24 GMT
Generally speaking, I am no great fan of bookshelf and standmount speakers, so I tend to go for floorstanders for a more realistic bass output, but then you can easily end up with bass boominess. Even though my Quadrals have relatively small bass/mid drivers they still manage a superb bass which is both deep and very controlled. I also have an inherent dislike of ribbon tweeters, but the Quadrals manage to pull off the trick of being detailed and transparent without any splash or harshness at all. It is the one speaker that I have no criticisms at all with them and that is immense given that after 40+ years it is the first speaker ever that has achieved that. Get a demo sorted and hear for yourselves I say. With the plugs out, the Focal’s I had would boom like crazy, but these don’t seem to suffer that, even though they go a lot deeper. I played Hey Now by London Grammar earlier and it literally shook a door in my lounge. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 20:57:39 GMT
I know about Boomers.. The worse ones were Spendor 'SP-1' with Quad '405'. Probably the shortest lived combo i had..
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Post by nonuffin on Oct 8, 2019 20:58:05 GMT
I simply love my Quadrals and just like Paul I knew I had to have them the moment they were connected to my system. As I keep on saying (but nobody listens), they are fantastic speakers and the best I have ever owned. They are seriously good speakers. Which models do you have? I have the Chromium Style 6 |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 21:00:51 GMT
I know about Boomers.. The worse ones were Spendor 'SP-1' with Quad '405'. Probably the shortest lived combo i had.. Well, those SP1's are old age pensioners. They will no doubt fart and boom at the post office queue. S. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 21:05:09 GMT
Dont be silly. My Equally as old & same size Castle Conway 11A never boomed
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 21:06:49 GMT
I guess it boils down to genetics. The conways have superior butts!
S.
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Post by macca on Oct 8, 2019 21:13:58 GMT
Generally speaking, I am no great fan of bookshelf and standmount speakers, so I tend to go for floorstanders for a more realistic bass output, but then you can easily end up with bass boominess. Even though my Quadrals have relatively small bass/mid drivers they still manage a superb bass which is both deep and very controlled. I also have an inherent dislike of ribbon tweeters, but the Quadrals manage to pull off the trick of being detailed and transparent without any splash or harshness at all. It is the one speaker that I have no criticisms at all with them and that is immense given that after 40+ years it is the first speaker ever that has achieved that. Get a demo sorted and hear for yourselves I say. With the plugs out, the Focal’s I had would boom like crazy, but these don’t seem to suffer that, even though they go a lot deeper. I played Hey Now by London Grammar earlier and it literally shook a door in my lounge. Possibly your amp was not sufficient for the Focals and the Quadrals are an easier load. I wasn't happy with the bass performance of mine until I stuck a Krell on them. Although I wasn't getting any boom it wasn't as tight as I wanted it. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 21:17:45 GMT
Ive never ever had a problem since i started going down the High Efficiency/Low Power route with combos.. The Inefficient Speakers, High power amp episodes were a nightmare. Laugh is you dont need such things in a 4.5mtr sq living room.
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Post by pauld on Oct 8, 2019 21:32:09 GMT
They are seriously good speakers. Which models do you have? I have the Chromium Style 6 Think we might have had this conversation elsewhere lol. the Chromium Style 6 are excellent. I have heard them a few times. |
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