Hello,
I have been an audio enthusiast since the early sixties.
My first pair of speakers were a pair of Tannoy HPD385 in GRF cabinets. Later, I had several pairs of QUAD ESL 63. I bought my first pair in 1982, sold them, in 1987 I bought my second pair which I also sold. In between, I had several monkey boxes such as B&W DM6, Tannoy 15" Silver and 12" Red, Proac, KEF, Goldmund, Aerial 10T and several Falcon Acoustics kits. Lately, I bought a pair of 63s and had them rebuilt.
I have never had a subwoofer before and I would like to add a pair of dual drivers subs to my system, they would be perfect as stands for the QUADs like the Gradient W-63 [please see photo of a friend's clone set-up]. I have the plans to build the Gradient clones using a pair of Peerless 830500 per side and plenty of baltic plywood left from older projects.
I have a spare upgraded QUAD 405-2 but do not have a crossover. A problem with the crossover is that the sub needs a 6dB/octave boost because it is a dipole and I would guess most off-the-shelf solutions don't offer this with exception of Nelson Pass First Watt B4 but it costs $1500 list, discounted to about $1250.
I am also considering a Rythmik OB but I do not know which drivers and amp would work better with the QUADs. I do not know if I need 2(two) servo amps or just one.
They offer "two different Open Baffle driver with impedance matching to either dual or more driver configuration. SW12-08FR has a nominal impedance of 8ohms and it is best for dual driver configuration. The matching amp is HX300-12OB. SW12-16FR is a 16ohm nominal impedance driver and it is best for dual or more driver configuration. The matching amp is A370 family amplifier" but this info is a little bit confusing to me.
If this info helps, I have a very simple 2 channel system consisting of an Electrocompaniet AW-100 limited ed [125W/Ch], Klyne 6LXP/3, Linn Sondek LP12, Ittok LVIII, Denon DL103R, Meridian 507 CD player and Revox A77 hi-speed plus the spare 405-2 [100W/Ch]. I am retired, with a fixed income and I will be content with a simple set-up, room is not large and I do not listen to very high volumes.
I am particularly fond of large-scale symphonic works such as Wagner’s The Ring , Beethoven, Mahler, Strauss, etc. but the 63s are very special and very frustrating used full range, they have limited bass and dynamics. I think that crossing them over to a sub, maybe at 80 Hz or whereabouts, will probably get rid of some of the frustrations, although dynamic headroom limitations at higher frequencies will continue to intrude from time to time.
Are there any members that have a QUAD-63/Rythmik set-up combination?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards,
Horacio
