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Opinions on Quartets


mcp

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5 hours ago, willland said:

Just curious, what does "outperform" mean?:unsure2:  Dig deeper, tighter bass, image better, more accurate, more detailed?

 

No argument here seriously want to know.:unsure::smile:

 

Bill

 

It would be good for people to include that list of qualities, and rate and compare speakers along those characteristics --- except for accuracy.  As a global quality, subjective, or based on measurement, somehow combining variables into a net score, accuracy might be O.K..   But I'm chary about it being considered as a simple homogeneous variable.  I'm not saying anyone here is proposing that, but I've experienced two speakers sitting cheek by jowl, with each of them being more accurate in one way, and less accurate in another.   I would like to see various kinds of speaker distortion specified in advertisements and reviews, especially modulation distortion.  Klipsch used to do this; in the '70s, they rated the Klipschorn as having 1% modulation distortion at 100 dB, and the then current Cornwall as having 3% modulation distortion at 90 dB.   Heyser, Keele Jr., and others have reported IM levels in speakers.

 

The category of "accuracy" was damaged for me (and others) when, sometime in the Pleistocene (actually in the late 1950s), CU's Consumer Reports started to equate accuracy with smoothness of frequency response, and only smoothness of frequency response, with distortion completely ignored (for about the next 15 to 20 years, after which they started a category called "bass distortion" rated as being "below average, average, or above average").   Catalogs and advertisements by middle-persons reported  miraculous smoothness like +/- 2, 3, or 5 dB, 30 to 15K Hz for speakers that had more like +/- 10 dB, or worse.  Some good speaker companies went along.  To their credit, AFAIK, Klipsch and JBL did not.  In the 1950s Consumer Reports loved the AR1, one of the first "acoustic suspension" woofers, and rather disliked my JBL D130 "extended range" in a rear loaded horn (C34).  It is true that between 30 Hz and about 500 Hz the AR1 was far, far smoother than my D130, but my D130 was far, far clearer, with much tighter bass, better dynamics, and, according to CU, required 22 times less power. 

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9 hours ago, willland said:

Just curious, what does "outperform" mean?:unsure2:  Dig deeper, tighter bass, image better, more accurate, more detailed?

 

No argument here seriously want to know.:unsure::smile:

 

Bill

Exactly. The Quartets I had were more efficient, and obviously played lower than my Heresy's. I couldn't tell you what "imaging", "accuracy", and "detail" sound like, but I'd say other than the efficiency and low end limit, the Quartets and the Heresy's sounded the same.

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10 hours ago, Peter P. said:

And to rub it in, I purchased my Quartets for the insanely low price of $250!

 

That’s a great price. Before the seller informed me that the speakers were already sold, she immediately accepted my offer of $300 - making it all the more frustrating. Oh well, win some, lose some...there will be other opportunities.

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Regarding the comparison between the Heresy and Quartet, I realize that the Heresy doesn’t go as low in the bass region as others in the Heritage line. But my room has always had nightmarish bass peaks and, for the first time, I am getting great results with an Elac subwoofer with an EQ feature. So positive are the results with a pair of RP160M’s, that I was thinking that Heresy’s would give me that Heritage midrange while saving on space and $$$, comparatively speaking. Of course, if Quartets or Fortes showed up at a reasonable price, I will take a look. Just thought I would explain my thought process...

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1 hour ago, mcp said:

 

Before the seller informed me that the speakers were already sold, she immediately accepted my offer of $300...

 

I wonder if they'd really been sold or that was just their way of telling you and your lowball offer to take a hike.

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Quartets are the baby bear of the Chorus, Forte, Quartet family.  There were Chorus iI and Forte II but no Quartet II.  So there is no reason to ask if they are a (I) or II.

 

The Quartet is similar to the II versions of the Forte and Chorus.  

 

They all have the tractrix (magic!) midrange and bass is augmented by a drone (passive) woofer.  I like the bass response on my Quartet and specs show it's better (deeper) than the Heresy series.

 

One issue is that they are short.  I have mine on risers.   

 

WMcD

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1 hour ago, glens said:

 

I wonder if they'd really been sold or that was just their way of telling you and your lowball offer to take a hike.

 

Could be, but I don’t think so. I had a good conversation with one of the sellers. I kind of expected them to counter somewhere in the middle. Like I said, not the end of the world. I still think a pair of Heresy’s, with my subwoofer, will be the best match in my room. As I stated in an earlier thread, the RP160M’s are pretty amazing to my ears in this context. I do appreciate the comments from the forum experts, though, and now know to follow up on any Quartets in the future.

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