Quad ESL-2905 Floorstanding Speakers
Quad ESL-2905 Floorstanding Speakers
USER REVIEWS
[Apr 02, 2020]
audionerd
Strength:
There is an alluring sound of the speaker because of the dipole effect; however, the goodness ends there. Weakness:
There are some inherent weaknesses in electrostats. First, they are very inefficent which makes them difficult to drive. Some will argue to just add more power; but wait, inefficiency is a flaw that is not overcome. This inevitably means that the transducer material (plastic) is very lossy, which translates to a loss of detail--they actually resist current put to them and thus will fart out before reaching a reasonable concert level SPL. This is manifest in the fact that they rarely have enough treble in them, because they just aren't fast enough to reach 20k hz or beyond. Also, because of their limited excursion, they cannot produce bass and other dynamics naturally as a piston type cone speaker. Also, the sound off the back of the plastic panel diaphram is slightly later than the sound off the front, which creates phase error; something that will inevitably spear the micro details to the ear. Also, the panels are so large that they create an unatural image and sounstage. A vocalist or a guitar is not as big as the wall. On the contrary, a good box speaker can create a 3D effect in the listening space with the musicians of proper size. Also, the panel is routinely used to cover frequencies from the treble to the lower midrange, but there is no reasonable way for the panel to move at 15k cycles at the same time as 300 cycles--something must give--the end result is more detail smears and or a lack of treble. Also, plastic is known to color the tone of the signal; so if you like the sound of muted plastic instruments, this speaker is for you. This is one of the reasons why these speakers are almost always demo'd with uncomplicated acoustic type music with midrange only. If you want to hear what they are really cable of doing, play some rock or pop with them, something with not only midrange, but with complex bass and treble passages at the same time; the speakers will fall apart and quickly reveal their inabilities to fly with the box cone speaker. In the end you have a speaker that has a large cool sound, but lacks treble, bass, SPL output, refined tonality, proper imaging and detail because of its inherent design flaws. I suggest sticking with a well designed large box speaker, thus with a large woofer and all low mass, low loss material drivers such as paper cones and soft domes. There was a time when box speakers sucked and thus the electrostat was created (late 50s); however that time is long gone and manufacturers make a much better box speaker. |
[Nov 01, 2015]
kb0000
AudioPhile
These are current version of the classic Quad ESL-63 speakers. I am the first person living in the Western Hemisphere to own the ESL 63 speakers, of which I now have two pairs, one International Monitor, and one American Monitor. There came a time when Quad was purchased by a Chinese company, and Quads are now made in China, unlike the ESL-63. There was considerable criticism of the ESL-63 for panel failure, which was, as Raj J a AudioPhile noted, almost always due to overpowering the speaker. However, Raj is way off track when he says, " those who say these speakers have failed and have faulty pannels - please don't lie! you have either abused the pannels by over-driving them or someone else in your household has abused them - again this category of people are idiots! the above two types of people DO NOT deserve Quad ESL's, because thet are IMMATURE!"
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[Nov 22, 2012]
Colin
Audio Enthusiast
I am purchasing the classique 2905's. I would like to put them onto a base plate with small castors. Can anyone provide the overall base dimensions for the base plate and the positions of the spikes so I don't have any clashes with the castor bolts?
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[Aug 08, 2012]
Richard
Audio Enthusiast
I suppose it is bit presumptuous for me to review something I do not yet own. Let me explain.
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[Feb 14, 2011]
Leoross
Audio Enthusiast
For thirty years I have listened to almost nothing but quad esl's and these are the best alround esl of the lot, although the 989 was as strong on imaging, it lacked the taughtness and punch of the 2905's. They are totally transparent abd consequently you just never get listening fatigue, I can't recommend them enough and they are astonishing value. I use Naim CDs, Thorens deck and i pod through Audio research sp 16 and Krell KSA 150. I venture to say that for solo acoustic instruments and the human voice there is no better speaker in any price range. However, there has been a drawback which has been intermittent buzz on the treble panels in one speaker. After 4 months an element needed replacing, under warranty and when returned it still intermittently crackles. I am told by quad that this is a 'common fault ' with this speaker and is to do probably with dampness or moisture in the element causing a shorting effect, hence the buzz. A warm room will cure this. If this is so then this is not a problem, only a minor temporary inconvenience which a quad lover will put up with because of the rewards. I am monitoring this situation and will keep you informed because this may well help other quad lover/sufferers! Keep chasing the butterfly. |
[Jan 22, 2011]
dpaws
Audio Enthusiast
It's hard to add to what's already been said. Superb speakers that really do fast tight bass! Some thoughts though... room size can be quite intimate, mines 4m x 5m x 3m ceilings, sounds wonderful - with only some heavy cushions in the back corners to kill standing waves. Amps? You need power - trust me. I've tried Graaf GM20 mono's, Levinson ML430, Vitus SS010 but nothing drives them quite like the NAD M2 - a stunning combination and a bargain too! Tweak your speaker cables for taste, I've gone back to Nordost after starting with copper which added just a hint of warmth. Music? Marillion / P.Floyd / Goldfrapp / Bowie / Bon Jovi / Trance / Jazz - anything you can "smoke" to ;) Spend monies on cables - I highly recommend a power regenerator just to nail the input voltage steady. Go treat yourselves or come for a listen! I paid around £4.5k new for mine - shop around and get on the phone!! |
[Sep 27, 2010]
Raj J
AudioPhile
good day! greetings from Melbourne.
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[Feb 23, 2010]
symptomatic
AudioPhile
I bought a pair of 2805's and 2905's three years ago. They have given me no trouble in that time, and they sound wonderful. If you are a volume freak, look elsewhere. But if you are a clarity freak, like myself, you should audition these speakers.
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[Apr 15, 2009]
Enrico69
AudioPhile
Quite easy to review these loudspeakers: overall, surely, the best ones on the planet. They play how the perfect loudspeaker should play; only less top of the top performance at very high and very low frequency; soundstage and medium frequency simply perfects!!!
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[Aug 16, 2008]
kevin Foster
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Solid construction with a "modern" look. Fantastically accurate, great soundstage, staggering presence....a truly pleasurable listening experience.
Weakness:
Questionable build quality but QUAD has stood by its product and repaired defective units. They may not be everyone's cup of tea so far as aesthetics are concerned (but who really care!) To describe what these behemoths sound like would not be doing them justice. You HAVE to experience them to understand. Much has been written about soundstage, clarity, colour blah blah that I am not going to repeat. I was a little hesitant in the first place to couple these low efficiency units to a relatively low output amp (in my case a pair of Audio Note Conquest Silver Signatures at 18W pc) but I need not have worried. Sufficient power is available to provide comfortable listening volumes, particularly to the types of music I like. Now that everything is running perfectly, I can only say "Sweet".
Customer Service Excellent so far. |