Great detailed flat sound, have owned a lot (over 100) of speakers from floor standers to bookshelf speakers, picked these up for £50 yes £50 thought i wld give them a go, the ones i own have seen better days and been battered around no grilles marks all over them and still work flawlessly, very wife friendly being bookshelf speakers, i wld describe the sound like most people have described on here they truly represent the recording as it should be listened to, they can pick out bad recordings so watch out, being flat response the detail pops out at you and floats in the air love them highly recommended.

They dont’t have any weakness as such other than being a bit bass heavy at times, that can be fixed by turning it down better to be there than non existent i suppose, the mids are good and the highs are great with the silk dome tweeter, the weakness with the 11l is week bass response these fix that problem. Suppose thats why they compensated with this model which sounds better i have owned both i wld pick the 12l hands down go and audition a pair.

Excellent build quality
Colour and piano gloss finish
Sound which appear to come from within the room rather than the speakers
Extraordinary bass for such a small speaker
Easy to drive - I use a 50w/Rms per channel Nad T744 Receiver
Can be bi-wired

None

Bought the 12L's for about half the normal selling price when they were replaced by the 12L L2's - what a bargain!

The finish: they look absolutely stunning in the piano gloss cherry - more like a light oak, the real wood veneer used is of a very high quality. Each speakers comes indivdually wrapped in its own white cloth bag and you get a set of white gloves, to handle the speakers - brilliant!

The sound: I have read reviews claiming that the speakers do need about 50 hours of running in time before they settle down. They sounded wonderful straight out the box. Bass sounded better than the Wharfedale Diamond 8.4 floorstanders they replaced. The bass is very accurate and deep for such a small speaker.

High frequencies are sweet and well integrated with the low end. The sound stage is wide and the 12L's really expose different layers to recordings which I did not notice before.

If you are in the market to buy bookshelf speakers which look good and sound even better, I would highly recommend these. The 12L's sound great with a wide range of music and you can listen to themfor hours on end without listening fatigue.

Customer Service

Excellent

Similar Products Used:

B&W 303
B&W 602 S3
Wharfedale Diamond 8.1
Wharfedale Diamond 8.4

1.Soundstage
2.Great vocals
3.VERY NEAT AND CLEAN SOUND..

1.need to much time to open
2.need enough space around to perform well.
3.laid back sound great for instrumentals and vocals not for techno fans

I own this model more than one year now.Never had written any reviews before.This model to me a real value for money.I don't think you can get you can get any other speakers with the qualities it has near to the price it is selling..
starting I was bit disappointed because it took a long time to open up.Once it opened the performance was great and still keep me interested at the same level.I have changed my amp ,changed cables& cdp to another due to my itchy back.But never the speaker and still don't feel so.The power it has simply amazing...It managed my 200w power amp and 70w int without any difficuilty.

Similar Products Used:

B&W,KEF,CHARIO....all bookshelves

Very natural, not spectacular sound.
A realistic and stable soundstage.
The sound clearly seems to come
from the space, not from the speakers.
Good sound whatever the volume.
Build quality , finish and look.
Easy to drive.
Cheap.

The four "foot" of rubber.
They need some free space around to breath.
Bass roll down under 50Hz, like ALL bookshelfs,
BUT this bass are good bass, not wwooo.....

To find any other weakness you must compare
them with a speaker over 2000$.Maybe
you will find better the 12l´s.

This review is intended to be useful to QUAD 12l owners.
QUAD 12l´s are very good speakers, surely you already know.
If you want to make them double better, make this:

* The 12l´s cabinet stand on place over four little circles of rubber.
Remove this four circles and fix the 12l on place through
a thin film of BLUE-TACK or similar removable glue.

* Put the 12L´s on properly stands, not in a bookshelf.

* The 12L´s MUST be biwired. If you do they will sonically disappear. Yes.
( if properly setted )

DON´T BELIEVE ME , TRY IT.

All this changes I suggest are reversible and cheap. Try them.

* QUAD 12l´s loves a good amplifier. QUAD 405.2, for example , is a good
(old) amplifier, but not enough for the 12l´s. Between quality and watts,
choose quality, no doubt (10 good watts are enough, try and hear ).

My system:
CD Rega planet (*****)
Amp ACCUPHASE E206
Turntable THORENS TD 320-ORTOFON OM
Speakers QUAD 12L
Good wires, but not too expensive.

Quite Flat response, articulate bass, overall avery balanced sound with no frequency getting specially highlighted, or enforced , wonderful imaging and large soundstage with very good room presence, easy to drive , detailed sound

none at the price except a bit big in size

Great speaker for the money.Speaker produces a flat frequency response, It gives big sound which is grain free and no part of frequency is unduly highlighted. It gives the sound of floor stander in even mid size room. Air instruments and the strings sound beautifully. Very good imaging capability with lot of details. Listened to 11L also but 12L is much better speaker with a lot of in room presence.Not only the bass but the whole sound is very balanced.A Safe buy.

Similar Products Used:

Quad 11L, Dynaudio Audience 42 and 52,PSB B25, PSB 2B KEF Q1 ,

Stunning. I'm still amazed.

styling.. old school, but who cares when they sound like this.

Waited all my life for these.. I have been buying low end, or second hand mid range HiFi for the last 20 years. The best rig to date has been a NAD C370 with Tannoy Revolution R2's, which could at times give a hint of what it is all about. I work overseas and when I left the Turks Islands last year I sold all my gear and headed back to Riyadh. Third port of call was a HiFi shp. I was pleased to find that my favorite was still trading on Aruba. I haggled for a pair of display Quad 12 L's and did the deal for 2000R. This is the best money I ever spent on Hifi. These are superb. They trawl up and down faithfully to whatever I play through them. Balanced but wth a depth that belies there size, honest, wonderful. I'll write a more balanced review in a month or so. Im heading back for another shot.

Similar Products Used:

audiolab 8000, NADC370, NAD 3020, Tannoy R2, Linn, Mission (pants)

-Extremely musical -Good low frequency extension for a bookshelf speaker -Beautiful and solid cabinets -Great sound staging and imagery

-A bit power thirsty for a bookshelf

First off, these are gorgeous speakers. The cabinets are well constructed and the wood grain with the piano gloss finish is stunning. Sonically, these speakers have an extremely accurate bass, paired with a mild and pleasant mid range, all blended perfectly with a smooth and articulate treble. Compared to the other speakers which I have auditioned, these seemed to reproduce the true characteristics of the music the most accurately, without any added qualities caused by the speaker. Compared to the smaller Quad 11L, these speakers have a much greater low frequency extension and are much more open and less confined. These are probably the most musical speakers in the $1,000.00 price range that I have heard, and it would not be an overstatement to call them “Giant Killers.”

Similar Products Used:

PSB Stratus Mini, Paradigm Studio 20 & 40 v2, Dynaudio Audience 42 & 52, Cyrus CLS 50, B&W 600, 601, & 602 S3, B&W CM2, Epos M5 & M12.2, JMlab Chorus 705, 706, & 707, Monitor Audio Gr10, Polk Audio LSi7 & 9, ProAC Tablette Refrence 8 & Tablette Refrence 8 Signature, Rega R1, Wharfdale Pacific Evo100

Looks, finish, quality, staging vocals detail speed and clarity

Nil

The prevous reviewer sums it up well. Great speakers, accurate, fast/tight, clean, and great staging. Unless on needs big bass (mind you in my old smaller room the kicked nicely in gut, new room twice the size, so lost a little) i have not heard a speaker better for the dollars. (better meaning, "real", not some bass mongering whatever :) )

Similar Products Used:

Quad Centre Quad 22L's Quad ESL's Extensive listening: bookshelf: ELAC's Monitor Audio Lenehan B&W 602s ProAc Floorstanders: 22L's Naim Quad ESLs Vandersteen

tonally accurate wide soundstage amazing clarity and detail excellent finish ....almost perfect with vocals

wont match floorstanders for deep baSS. will show up deficiencies in recordings (they're VERY detailed)

Amazing pair of speakers. Firstly finish is second to none- more like a pair of £1000 speakers than £500 ones. Stereo imaging - absolutley superb. There is SO MUCH more detail than with my previous Tannoy's. The vocals are especially lush. I listen to an eclectic range of music, and these speakers truly suit them all. It is one of the very few tonally accurate and flat spectrum speakers I've heard (ie gives you a true rendition of the music rather than adding bass here or reducing treble there. If you have a sub-optimal system with entry level seperates, then these speakers will simply highlight their deficiencies. Similarly, If you connect them incorrectly and out of phase, they will sound "boxy". You need better quality seperates to let these shine. The frquency response is flat from 70Hz to 20kHz, with gentle roll-offs above and below. I have tried adding a subwoofer to cut in below this to gently add a bit more bass, but you can't expect ANY standmount to match a floorstander for bass anyway.....what you get from these speakers is still stupendous. the soundstage and imaging are all spot on, you'll need to spend 50% more on PMC's to match this. All European HI-FI hacks have applauded the 11L, and unanimously agreed that the 12L betters it in every respect. I agree with them. Definitely recommended. on the downside: If you listen to hip-hop, you might want floorstanders instead (so will have to spend £1000 to get the same great midrange/upper frequency sound)....in which case NO standmount will do anyway (cerwin vegas are tonally innacurate and can't match these speakers in any other area) A sub can cut in below the speakers bass to add in deep rumbles if thats what you want

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy M15 Kef Q3 Quad 11L Tannoy Dimension