On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 09:30:06 +0000, Rob
wrote:

I've only ever heard Quad electrostatics twice - once in a hifi 'shop'
(the old Laskey's in Birmingham, a huge room), and once at someone's
home. In the shop the music sounded superb, as good as I've heard, but
at this bloke's house I found it very 'thin' - inoffensive but lacking
detail and weight at frequency extremes. The room was probably 25'x15',
and we were about 15' from the speakers. I didn't recognise any of the
kit, but he was very rich - I'd guess it was 'decent'.

I have never owned ESLs myself (although I have owned a variety of
very good Quad electronics), however I have heard them demonstrated
a number of times in some rather small hi-fi dealers' demonstration
rooms. Despite the conventional wisdom being that Quad electrostatics
only sound good in big rooms, those demonstrations have always been
highly impressive.

I do like the electrostatic "sound" though (my existing loudspeakers,
active ATCs, share some characteristics of the Quads in terms of
accuracy, but are perhaps more dynamic and certainly play louder),
which may be colouring my opinion.

--
Anthony Edwards