Hi from Denmark
I have a pair of Quad ESL 2812 and i love the sound of them. But i wonder if i can improve the sound by adding a pair of subwoofers.
My room is about 400 sqare feet or 40m2. I hope by adding the right subs it will pressurise the room and ad better soundstage and details in the low registre.
Do you have experience with Quad ESL 2812 and subs?
Regards Dennis
Here is an old review of the still-current Velodyne DD18+ which was done by Larry Greenhill pairing it with a Quad 989 (
https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/720/index.html) which I think was the forerunner before the 2812.
Excerpts:
"...
Sound Quality
With the
Quad ESL-989s driven by my
Levinson No.334 amplifier but rolled-off below 80Hz, Mark Flynn's kick-drum opening to "Blizzard Limbs," from Attention Screen's
Live at Merkin Hall (CD, Stereophile STPH018-2), delivered visceral bass punches without shutting down the speakers. The DD-18+ let me fully appreciate the pace, impact, and dynamics of percussion. Precise, tuneful, focused timpani whacks shook my listening room in the second section of Stravinsky's
The Rite of Spring, with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic (SACD/CD, Deutsche Grammophon 00289 477 6198-2), and in the same passage with Eiji Oue conducting the Minnesota Orchestra (HRx 24/176 file from Reference RR-70). The DD-18+ fully reproduced the explosive rendition of Yoshihisa Taira's
Hierophonie V by the Kroumata Percussion Ensemble (CD, BIS 232), which also demonstrated the Velodyne's ability to deliver compact, dense, fast timpani strokes. The DD-18+ delivered the full power of the furious, powerful bass-drum strokes that punctuate John Williams's
Liberty Fanfare, from
Winds of War and Peace, with Lowell Graham conducting the National Symphonic Winds (CD, Wilson Audiophile WCD-8823), which erupted as huge, gut-punching whacks.
The DD-18+ could move volumes of air to capture the inherent solidity and mass of a pipe organ's lowest pedal notes. This could create "room lock";
ie, a level of deep bass strong enough to be felt as a pressure wave. The sustained 32' note that concludes James Busby's performance of Herbert Howells's
Master Tallis's Testament, from the
Pipes Rhode Island collection (CD, Riago 101), initiated some powerful room lock: The air shuddered, causing the radiator panels to vibrate.
In fact, the DD-18+'s solidity, extension, excellent pitch definition, low coloration, and tonal correctness were perfect for pipe organ recordings. I clearly heard and felt the turbulent 25Hz pedal note that underpins
Gnomus, from Jean Guillou's performance of his own transcription of Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition (CD, Dorian DOR-90117). The unusually wide dynamic range of the organ in the excerpt from Elgar's
Dream of Gerontius on Stereophile's
Test CD 2 (Stereophile STPH004-2), was most impressive—particularly the sustained final note, which produced room lock. The DD-18+ helped the Quads create a dense, texturally accurate sonic tapestry of full choir, harp, and organ-pedal notes in John Rutter's
A Gaelic Prayer, with Timothy Seelig leading the Turtle Creek Chorale (CD, Reference RR-57CD). The Quad-Velodyne combo conveyed the massive, almost subsonic organ note that concludes Rutter's
Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace on the same disc—it was stunning in its power and pitch definition.
The DD-18+ also brought into sharp focus the bass timbres of other instruments, including that audiophile favorite, the double basses playing a sustained C, doubled by an organ pedal, in the opening of Richard Strauss's
Also sprach Zarathustra, from Eric Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops'
Time Warp (CD, Telarc CD-80106). Tonally, the DD-18+ captured the tense energy and drive of Michael Arnopol's double-bass in the introduction to "Too Rich for My Blood," from Patricia Barber's
Café Blue (CD, Premonition/Blue Note 5 21810 5). David Hudson's bass didgeridoo was reproduced with a power, speed, and dynamics I hadn't heard before in "Rainforest Wonder," from his
Didgeridoo Spirit (CD, Indigenous Australia IA2003 D). The DD-18+ revealed the telltale sound of a fabric-covered mallet striking a big bass drum in H. Owen Reed's
La Fiesta Mexicana, from Howard Dunn and the Dallas Wind Symphony's
Fiesta! (CD, Reference RR-38CD), as well as Jerome Harris's careful bass work weaving in and out of "The Mooche," from his
Rendezvous (CD, Stereophile STPH013-2). ..."