Quasar questions (BD-Design)

by James D, Monday, December 12, 2005, 21:10 (6709 days ago) @ Bert

Following on from Bert's comments, I can make the following observations from EggFest where we compared a Lowther EX4 in a home designed horn and a Fostex 206 (modified) in a Jericho horn.

First I should state that the back horns made a pretty good job of driving the big room we were in but they are better suited to a domestic living room - The Quasar is much less room fussy than any box design. However they all sound different in different rooms.

I guess the big difference is the coherence that the Quasar has due to the factors Bert mentioned above. The sound is all one. This is really noticeble on things like drum kit as the bass transient lines up with the mid and top so there is no bluring of the sound with delayed bass. So the Quasars can be much more explosive than box speakers as they stop and start as one. This lends a stunning clarity to the sound too - no time smearing - and it lets the true tone of instruments and voices come through. In particular it maintains the emotional purity of a performance... this is very important so I'll restate it... OBs let the emotional integrity of a performance come through much more than any box based speaker. So you enjoy your listening more :-) The back horns are not bad compared to bass reflex designs or tranmission lines but are clearly not as good as the Quasars.

The other thing they do is put the music 'in the room' rather than making it stay in the plane of the boxes. So you walk around through the music - just like listening to a live band in a dance hall (a proper band with acoustic instruments). Again the backhorns fall between the Quasars and BRs or TLs. TWQT fall between TL and back horns (in many ways TL, TQWT and back horns are all variants of the same design i.e. they work the same way).

In terms of speed, transient response, etc. My AERs sound faster than the Lowthers and much faster than any other drive unit such as the Fostex.

They were a bit lean in the mid bass but have filled out over the last 12 months (they are three years old now) - so much so that they don't sound lean at all now compared to other speakers.

Of course I'm biased but the same remarks have been made to me by many of the people who attended EggFest - some by the owners of other speakers there. Many people have asked about buying a pair but the cost is more then most are willing to bear. I find this extraordinary when compared to the amount they are prepared to spend on their valve amps!!! The difference between the same amp on different speakers at EggFest was many times the difference of different amps through the Quasars - and the Quasars showed the difference between amps much clearer than any other speaker...

Oh well, de gustibus non est disputandum.

How the Quasars compare with front horns is down to Bert to say. I have never heard a pair of Oris horns. One day I will and no-doubt then I will want them!

James

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