advertisement


System pics 2013 part I

Tannoy Turnberry (When the clocks go back)
Quad Esl 63. (When the clocks go forward)

What's your verdict between those two? if you had to choose which would you keep? I'm very curious as they are both on my list as things I might end up with. The Quads as I've wanted to own a pair since I was a kid so I'll be doing that later this year regardless, as a rite of passage if nothing else, the Turnberrys as an option later if I eventually decide to revert to Tannoys (i.e. lose the OCD panic / continual fiddling of running vintage Tannoys in cabinets of unknown quality - I'm just the wrong personality type for DIY stuff, it always ends up driving me nuts!).
 
What's your verdict between those two? if you had to choose which would you keep? I'm very curious as they are both on my list as things I might end up with. The Quads as I've wanted to own a pair since I was a kid so I'll be doing that later this year regardless, as a rite of passage if nothing else, the Turnberrys as an option later if I eventually decide to revert to Tannoys (i.e. lose the OCD panic / continual fiddling of running vintage Tannoys in cabinets of unknown quality - I'm just the wrong personality type for DIY stuff, it always ends up driving me nuts!).

Hi Tony,
Well it's a good question, one which I'm not able to give a good answer to! The jury's gone out and I'm not sure they're coming back.

I sold my 989s for the Turnberry which I've had for about 2 years now but as superb as they are I did start to miss that 'esl something' and so bought the recently refurb'd 63s about 8 months ago with a view to doing a direct comparison in my own time/room etc. Well I did 6 months with the 63s before finally deciding to flog the Turnberrys. I fetched them from the bedroom to take a few pictures and even stuck an ad on Wigwam. I made the mistake of connecting them up to check they were AOK, big mistake, within 20 minutes of Black Uhuru's Red I realised they were going nowhere!

I'm in the fortunate position of being able to keep both, hence the comment regarding the changeover when the clocks change.

If I had to lose a pair I genuinely don't know which would have to go. I suppose the pair with the best perceived value and since the 63s cost me £1k and the Turnberrys £2.6k then if money was the issue the Tannoys would be the choice. Luckily I don't have to make the choice just yet, but who knows?

Not been too helpful have I, sorry:)

Cheers....Dave
 
David,

Going from 989s to 63s would appear from my standpoint to be a retrograde step. If you had to choose instead between the 989s and Turnberrys would your opinion differ?
 
What's your verdict between those two? if you had to choose which would you keep? I'm very curious as they are both on my list as things I might end up with. The Quads as I've wanted to own a pair since I was a kid so I'll be doing that later this year regardless, as a rite of passage if nothing else, the Turnberrys as an option later if I eventually decide to revert to Tannoys (i.e. lose the OCD panic / continual fiddling of running vintage Tannoys in cabinets of unknown quality - I'm just the wrong personality type for DIY stuff, it always ends up driving me nuts!).
Tony, did you move the Geithains on or were they lends?
 
I'm not so sure about this. The first and only time I heard the 989s left me unmoved. 63s, OTOH, I thought were sublime.

Agreed. Owned both 63's and 989's. In my room and for my taste, the 63's won hands down. They both had a great midrange, the 989's better but not greatly better bass, the 63's a more natural top end. I owned the 63's for 15+ years, the 989's perhaps a year and a half.
 
Agreed. Owned both 63's and 989's. In my room and for my taste, the 63's won hands down. They both had a great midrange, the 989's better but not greatly better bass, the 63's a more natural top end. I owned the 63's for 15+ years, the 989's perhaps a year and a half.

This does surprise me, as I thought the 989s were, in effect, 63s with extra bass panels . The only difference between my 2905s and 989s that I have read is that the bass on the 2905s is tighter and more seamless. Presumably because of the bracing rod.

I keep being told by Quad afionados that the 2905s are 'reference' quality, and electrostatically orientated friends have never criticised their treble aspect in my system/room. Their ears are a lot younger than mine,too, but I wouldn't mind having a more 'tangible' bottom end (without adding subs !), crisp though it may be.
 
Sugden Mystro amp
Linn LP12 (very modified)
Manticore Mantra (my old vinyl - Zepelin/Hendrix deck)
Opera CD120 CDP
Sonos Connect
Cambridge Audio DAC
Neat Elite SE speakers
QED silver anniversary cable (yes I know the left is too short, buggered my maths :) )

The bottom shelf is reserved for my vortexbox, QNAP and switch that I'm going to localise.

dsc00727il.jpg

dsc00728b.jpg
 
This does surprise me, as I thought the 989s were, in effect, 63s with extra bass panels . The only difference between my 2905s and 989s that I have read is that the bass on the 2905s is tighter and more seamless. Presumably because of the bracing rod.

I keep being told by Quad afionados that the 2905s are 'reference' quality, and electrostatically orientated friends have never criticised their treble aspect in my system/room. Their ears are a lot younger than mine,too, but I wouldn't mind having a more 'tangible' bottom end (without adding subs !), crisp though it may be.
Just goes to show there is no substitute for first hand (ear) experience. ;)
 
i'm sure everyones bored of it by now but here goes ....


8170284764_9ac943120c_c.jpg


but with the new preamp:


8215730213_c75822e7ba_c.jpg



couple of close ups:

8224747945_089505d1b4_c.jpg


8139386720_0e65a200b0_c.jpg


7170179457_4287690d58_c.jpg



RavenAC/Reed3p/Allnic Puritas + Rega Isis Valve
Allnic H3000V/CJ GAT/Premier 350
Avalon Ascendant


A sound I absolutely love but has taken 3 years or so to discover. Never thought musical reply could be this orgasmic and the only area that's significantly upgradeable really now is the speakers.
 
It was pretty good John. It's a good arm IMO. I am more of a unipivot person myself but the SE does have an ebb and flow about it albeit with a 'Linn' signature. The Reed is far more natural sounding and composed with a deeper and wider presentation to the music but if I had an LP12 I would certainly consider using the SE.
 
What have you done to it? I can see a very shiny platter and a Roksan Nima. No power supply visible though?

Layers of beauty plinth
Hercules psu
Cetech carbon fibre subchassis
Cirkus bearing
Linn trampolin

It started out about a year ago as a standard rosenut lp12 and is now like Triggers broom :)
 
This does surprise me, as I thought the 989s were, in effect, 63s with extra bass panels . The only difference between my 2905s and 989s that I have read is that the bass on the 2905s is tighter and more seamless. Presumably because of the bracing rod.

I keep being told by Quad afionados that the 2905s are 'reference' quality, and electrostatically orientated friends have never criticised their treble aspect in my system/room. Their ears are a lot younger than mine,too, but I wouldn't mind having a more 'tangible' bottom end (without adding subs !), crisp though it may be.

My fourpenneth as a 57 and 989 owner.

57s have the best perceived treble of them all because they almost only do treble. Despite it being rolled off even more than the newer ESLs if it only does a narrow frequency range you listen only to that and nothing else your perception of that is generally good.

Similarly 63s have a better perceived treble than 989s because 63s do less bass than 989s and you get to concentrate on / hear the higher frequencies more clearly on the 63s.

A good test of the above would be 63s vs 988s or even 2908s (or whatever the very, very newest ones are called). My perception of 63 vs 988 is absolutely no real difference.

All sound is "all in your head" I guess.

This is a perception of built up over a decade or so of going from no ESLs, Arthur "two pairs ESLs" Jackson and listening to lots of others - like occasionally popping in on Roberts ESL journey, or looking at Tony's horrified face when realising 57s have no bass, Tenson's pre-Switerland 63 set up etc.
 


advertisement


Back
Top