[bifor]

 I do find that my quad 2905  are  somewhat rolled off in the treble ,lacking in presence and sparkle. I have tried all type of top    amplifiers ( both ss and tubes) and all possible positions in my 6x7 mt dedicated room with no effect.
Do you think that they might  benefit from a supertweeter ( suggestions  please ) or do you generally agree  that the 2905 are lacking in treble ?
Thanks
Bruno

[jmserre]

This is a pretty complicated question.

1- You can check my own soundsystem at:

http://www.musiqueenmulticanaux.com/soundSystem.html

2- I have kind of the reverse problem than you, but my room is very 'bright' acousticaly.

3- You are not the first person I have heard of that has this issue so I do not think you are 'wrong' or anything like that. For example the first time I have heard the 2905 in a sound system show (FSI in Montreal) the 2905 had all the highs suck up because there were heavy drapes in the room.  I am sure you do not have something extreme like that, but maybe something is interacting with the highs.

Without sounding condescending (I hope ) the upper register (let's agree on something like 3KHz to 20Khz for teenagers) covers sounds like cymbals, high hats, picolo, harpsichord, vibraphone, etc. I think the easiest test is to listen to the upper harmonics of instruments. So on my sound system I feel violins (like in the four seasons SACD from TACET http://www.musiqueenmulticanaux.com/ENTacet4Saisons.html) sound very rich even in the highest notes which would seem to me that upper harmonics are faithfully reproduced. Another good one is another SACD of the blue chamber quartet http://www.musiqueenmulticanaux.com/EnBCQFirstImpressions.html which crackle with high frequencies.

I can also dispel another myth, since I have 2905s,988s and 63s, on the first days I got my 2905s of course I played games like swapping them with their smaller brothers and I do not feel the 2905s have less highs than their ancestors. It is just that the mid-bass on these is so much better that their tonal 'feel' has shifted to our ears.  But I could play the same violin music on all three pairs and get pretty much the same airy sound from the instrument.

Finally lately I had a dedicated electric circuit installed, played with cables (Nordost were terrible (on my set-up, I have heard great system with these, but not on mine), crystal OK, but audioquest were really better for me). I think we can all agree that sometimes small things can ruin a good sound.

I think everyting I wrote must be pretty obvious, sorry I could not be more specific.  It must be frustrating for you to have all the other good stuff these speakers can provide (micro-details, imaging, liquid mid-bass) but not the highs.

Best of luck.