The Quad ESL 2912X
At a recent hifi event at Upscale Audio, I had the tremendous opportunity to spend an hour with the new Quad 2912X speakers after the show was over, before it was time to leave. Running through a quick list of reference favorites, it was easy to get a read on these amazing speakers. With a pair of original 57s and 63s here at TONE, the “Quad thing” is very much burned into memory over decades of listening.
The new speakers have 92% of the magic of the original 57, with much more extension at both frequency extremes, along with greater dynamic swing. If you’ve never heard the originals, you might just think these are one of the most incredible speakers ever made. Oddly enough, after experiencing the originals, chances are high you will still think the same thing, as here’s the Quad sound you know and love, but oh so much more of it, and the ability to play the Rolling Stones at a reasonable, maybe even a bit unreasonable level now.
Starting with Keith Richards’ “Wicked as it Seems” is a great place to dive in, especially with these speakers sitting between a large portrait of the Rolling Stones in Upscale’s room. Driven by the new Musical Fidelity M8XI integrated (about $7,999 courtesy of Harmonia Distribution) the big Quads deliver an incredibly large sound field in all dimensions, with a ton of bass grip.
Zipping through about a dozen well-known reference tracks, an hour goes by with the same speed as when you hit the snooze button on your alarm. Where did it go? These are speakers I could listen to all day and still want to listen to more music. The level of detail retrieval and lack of coloration is way beyond what you’ll ever get in a like-priced pair of box speakers. But now, they rock.
For those thinking that high power with Quads is counterintuitive, (and super easy to fry the early ones with) these speakers benefit from a lot of current and high damping factor. If you’ve always felt that the last (non-X) generation of these speakers was too polite, it’s worth reconsidering with an amplifier like this. My 2812s never sounded more glorious than they did, paired with the mighty Pass XS300 monoblocks. The M8XI is a much more reasonable solution. Add your choice of analog front end for about $5k-10k and you’ve got an amazing hifi system for the price of a CPO 3-series.
We’ll be getting a pair soon enough, but if you’re on the fence on a pair of these, I can’t suggest them highly enough. As with all prior Quads, there’s a certain level of tonal purity you just won’t get from a pair of MartinLogans, and transparency that Magnepans don’t even begin to approach.
Are these your dream speakers come true? They might be. I know I want a pair. – Jeff Dorgay
The Quad ESL 2912X
$18,000/pair (approx.)
mofidistribution.com
Photo courtesy of Laura Berbaum
