More Quested Speaker Impressions come in-My Solution to Atmos/Auro/DTS-UHD

[Peter CINERAMAX]

https://www.avforums.com/threads/quested-speakers.1925554/

Wooki chimed in...


    I had the pleasure of popping round to Andy's last night to take a listen to these Quested speakers, as I have been very keen to hear them for some time, given all the hoopla about them on the US forum. I only found out recently that they were manufactured in Devon!!

    I have to say I was suitably impressed. We tested the LT24, three of them across the front, the smallest in the range with a retail price of around £1,200 I believe (excluding the attached power amp for those that want the speakers active), and they are probably one of the cleanest and most dynamic speakers I have ever heard at that price point.

    The sound they produced completely belied their size - with the lights down you'd be mistaken for thinking you are listening to full size speakers, not something measuring only 480mm x 150mm x 130mm deep. Most notably when we pushed them hard, given Andy's preference for ear bleeding reference SPL's, they didn't lose any of their clarity or stability. They are rated to 110dB continuous max SPL which means they must be able to fill even the biggest rooms with reference SPL's without strain - there aren't many speakers I know of that don't use compression drivers, that can make that claim.

    We then tried the LT8's - there only being a pair of these, we ran them in stereo mode, these are a larger stand mount shaped speaker, but still quite small at 240mm x 405mm x 240mm deep. I believe these retail for £1,800 (again, excluding the active power amp). For me these were the sweet spot (well at least in the absence of hearing the LT10 and LT20) - they delivered greater smoothness in the treble, and more linear integration between the drivers, together with a fuller sound that one might expect from the larger mid/bass driver. They delivered Norah Jones with fantastic detail and the inviting smoothness her voice requires and is known for.

    The LT24's were great and probably deliver better clarity and home cinema dynamics at that price point than any speaker I have heard at their size and price, but I think the LT8's are worth the extra outlay, and their smooth more rounded presentation worked equally as well for music as they did for movies.

    I'm looking forward to hearing the much larger LT10 and LT20 which utilise a different AMT (rather than ribbon) tweeter.

    Thanks for the chance to listen to these Andy (and for the Chinese!) :thumbsup:

    PS - For those interested in specs, here is the manufacturer site:

    http://www.quested.com/studio-monitoring-production/pdfs/Quested-POW-brochure.pdf
   

 

[Peter CINERAMAX]

Hi Nyal,

In fact, I have a copy of Floyd Toole's book. I read through it in planning out my new set up.

I should've been more clear. I really think compression drivers sound great. I always dug the sound of mine. It was at the highest volumes that I would get fatique over the period of a movie... which for me is how I and my family listen to films. But make no mistake, I love the sound of a compression driver.

But replacing a whole system was on tap so I had to check out everything. I have been to a number of CEDIAs and heard many speaker systems from Genelec and Procella. I didn't like either.

I like soft dome tweeters and know they are an excellent high freq driver in HT but could not find any I liked that could not be fried at the highest level. I immediately took them out of the mix. I didn't want any speaker I'd have to worry about breaking. This is what lead me to compression drivers in the first place.

In fact, I did my own shoot out with Seaton Catalyst (compression drivers) vs Quested LT-8 and my own speakers in my own theater. Curt (Trinnov) did a calibration for all speakers so as to make the comparison as equal as possible and I switched them out to listen and evaluated over a period of weeks.

And, as reference in the blog above you linked, I should've theoretically chosen the Catalysts - a highly regarded compression driver, beefy speaker WITH EXCELLENT DRIVER DIRECTIVITY MATCHING that is roundly praised around here. However, to me and a buddy (whose ears are in better shape than mine), the subjective listening tests pointed to Quested every time. The Trinnov brought out real problems I've always suspecting in compression drivers - a veil at the top end (not to mention fatigue at higher levels). It wasn't always so clear until I had another speaker to directly compare it to.

It was an easy choice to go Quested...and though the 10" driver doesn't match up with the AMT in any sort of ideal way, it seemed to work in my room (or with 13 speakers around, the impact of directivity is less so). Had I chosen the Seaton Catalyst, it would've been purely on theory and Floyd's book. They fit the bill for sure but hearing the sound of a ribbon (and now AMTs), I had to go with my gut. As you know, every speaker design has it pluses and minuses. You pick your poison.

I know the Questeds are problematic on paper in some areas (like all designs) but I can live with those short comings as the pure sound of them are amazingly seductive. They won the shoot out at my place. The movie sound I have is nothing short of astonishing.