Greetings to all! Trust that everyone is enjoying their music and keeping up with the simplicity in life...
Speaking of which I have been given the 23L for a break in period for my dealer mate. Happens to have three pairs of these beautiful dynamic floor standing speakers, with some superb finishes.
This is the Quad 23L which is a 3-way design, with a ABR- Auxilary Bass Radiator that produces the extra low frequencies down to around 40Hz. This is quite a simple speaker system for those looking for the simplist things, and is easy to drive. I'm using the Jas 300SE class A (rated at 8 w/ch) drives it beautifully with great sense of depth and scale. A well balanced sound overall with a nice touch to the midrange, very open I must say, typical Quad style, smooth highs (not too extended, just about right) and well balanced bass. The 23L's will produce the bass required when it is "required" and can heard very prominently when it is there. I have noticed on some mini-monitors you would have to really strain to listen for that bass note, however with this system it is not an issue, therefore I don't see a need for a sub either.
The ABR- is downward firing and is slightly raised off the floor from the base of the speaker itself. Therefore, the speaker is mounted off the plinth on four points, allowing adequate room for air flow. This is then supported by spikes which lock very securely, and a simple grill cover is provided. The Quad logo is also present on the enclosure as well as on the grill cover, therefore allowing the speaker to be played without the covers, making the Quad logo visible I suppose.
I found that the sound to be more open with the grill covers off, especially in the midrange, however I preferred the overall balance in sound with the covers on.
These speakers can certainly move a decent amount of air, rated from around 50-200 watts of input power, they are very smooth and present the soundstage extremely well. I have angled them in towards the listening position, and found this to be most accurate in terms of imaging and depth, plus excellent center focus on vocals. They are fast and respond to transients very nicely, plenty of detail and no edginess of harshness whatsoever.
I have been listening to these for well over a month now, having then placed aside by the Quads, have been enjoying them for a while. I must say this is just about as simple as it gets, although the speaker can be biamped, I did not try this option. I would think bi-amping may be far superior in overall dynamics but for those with a single low to moderate single stereo integrated tube amp, this system is wonderful. I also did try the bigger ARC intergrateds such as the VSI65 & 75 amps, using KT120's and 6550's this generated a larger more dynamic soundstage. However, with the 300B, the sound was the most intimate and sweet sounding presence I could think of. I am not sure what these would retail for in the US or other markets but in AUD$ they are around 3 grand a pair. The finish is remarkable, plus comes in piano black and cherry gloss walnut and rosewood. This finish was the cherry matt finish, very well done.
For those considering a well balanced all round floor standing performer, without having to break the bank or go homeless, I would highly recommend the Quad 23L system. Other speakers in the range that come to mind which I have tried and liked are Image, Monitor Audio, Sonus Faber and Proac. However, all of these were slightly higher in price and required better electronics to get them to perform at their best. These Quads seem to like whatever you drive them with, and very easy to place around in your room. I also experimented with the bass, by placing closer to the back wall, I found that bringing them out into the listening room by around 4ft away from the back wall, gave the smoothest distortion free sound, compared to most dynamic driver designs.
I have posted some picks, the first one is the size stacked up against the Quad stats, second shows the finish and 3rd is with the grill off
Speaking of which I have been given the 23L for a break in period for my dealer mate. Happens to have three pairs of these beautiful dynamic floor standing speakers, with some superb finishes.
This is the Quad 23L which is a 3-way design, with a ABR- Auxilary Bass Radiator that produces the extra low frequencies down to around 40Hz. This is quite a simple speaker system for those looking for the simplist things, and is easy to drive. I'm using the Jas 300SE class A (rated at 8 w/ch) drives it beautifully with great sense of depth and scale. A well balanced sound overall with a nice touch to the midrange, very open I must say, typical Quad style, smooth highs (not too extended, just about right) and well balanced bass. The 23L's will produce the bass required when it is "required" and can heard very prominently when it is there. I have noticed on some mini-monitors you would have to really strain to listen for that bass note, however with this system it is not an issue, therefore I don't see a need for a sub either.
The ABR- is downward firing and is slightly raised off the floor from the base of the speaker itself. Therefore, the speaker is mounted off the plinth on four points, allowing adequate room for air flow. This is then supported by spikes which lock very securely, and a simple grill cover is provided. The Quad logo is also present on the enclosure as well as on the grill cover, therefore allowing the speaker to be played without the covers, making the Quad logo visible I suppose.
I found that the sound to be more open with the grill covers off, especially in the midrange, however I preferred the overall balance in sound with the covers on.
These speakers can certainly move a decent amount of air, rated from around 50-200 watts of input power, they are very smooth and present the soundstage extremely well. I have angled them in towards the listening position, and found this to be most accurate in terms of imaging and depth, plus excellent center focus on vocals. They are fast and respond to transients very nicely, plenty of detail and no edginess of harshness whatsoever.
I have been listening to these for well over a month now, having then placed aside by the Quads, have been enjoying them for a while. I must say this is just about as simple as it gets, although the speaker can be biamped, I did not try this option. I would think bi-amping may be far superior in overall dynamics but for those with a single low to moderate single stereo integrated tube amp, this system is wonderful. I also did try the bigger ARC intergrateds such as the VSI65 & 75 amps, using KT120's and 6550's this generated a larger more dynamic soundstage. However, with the 300B, the sound was the most intimate and sweet sounding presence I could think of. I am not sure what these would retail for in the US or other markets but in AUD$ they are around 3 grand a pair. The finish is remarkable, plus comes in piano black and cherry gloss walnut and rosewood. This finish was the cherry matt finish, very well done.
For those considering a well balanced all round floor standing performer, without having to break the bank or go homeless, I would highly recommend the Quad 23L system. Other speakers in the range that come to mind which I have tried and liked are Image, Monitor Audio, Sonus Faber and Proac. However, all of these were slightly higher in price and required better electronics to get them to perform at their best. These Quads seem to like whatever you drive them with, and very easy to place around in your room. I also experimented with the bass, by placing closer to the back wall, I found that bringing them out into the listening room by around 4ft away from the back wall, gave the smoothest distortion free sound, compared to most dynamic driver designs.
I have posted some picks, the first one is the size stacked up against the Quad stats, second shows the finish and 3rd is with the grill off
