QUAD ESL 2912X
Floorstanding loudspeakers
The ESL produces a very smooth and coherent midrange, where vocals and instruments sound lifelike, accurate, and natural. High frequencies are very detailed, smooth, airy, and refined without fatigue, enabling the ESL for immersive listening sessions. Unlike other ‘electrostatic panel’ loudspeakers, the ESL does not have an integrated subwoofer, nor is one required. The low end is tight and accurate. The bass is fast, clean, and seamless, as is the concert hall performance. The Quad ESL excels in creating a wide, open, and three-dimensional soundstage. The sound feels like it extends well beyond the physical boundaries of the speaker, creating a sense of space and depth in the music. The precision in the delivery of details allows the listener to pick up on subtle nuances in the music that would remain unheard with traditional moving coil loudspeakers. The overall balanced presentation is breathtakingly accurate. The Quad ESL is unmatched.
Funkce a forma
I borrowed the first paragraph from the Quad’s printed materials. Unlike many similar self-promoting write-ups, I find the Quad’s one pretty accurate. What they describe is what you hear. Does it make the ESL 2912X the best speaker? The answer is – to some ears yes. I must admit I got more than I expected, although it asked me to adapt to less conventional style of presentation.
From the outset, these push-pull dipoles produce a spherical sound field from a point source with extremely low levels of distortion. The phase shifts and delays and minimized (if not eliminated) down to the bass region, which is the area where conventional speakers suffer and nothing can be done about it.
Quad is using a "concentric ring" design, where stators are configured into circular, concentric segments (rings) rather than a single panel. By using an innovative delay line system, the audio signal reaches the outer rings with a slight delay, and this mimics a point source at a distance, ensuring the sound emanates from a singular point rather than from a large surface, offering precise stereo imaging and a more realistic soundstage. The lightweight Mylar film, ten times thinner than a human hair, is coated with a high resistance conductive material and suspended between two perforated metal plates called stators. The new ESL 2912X utilize advanced laser-precision in the manufacturing of these concentric electrodes.
Installation of the ESLs is straightforward as anything you need is included in the package: floor spikes and soft feet, AC cords, all metal accessories, and a pari of cotton gloves. Once the panels are assembled and positioned, tightening the tensioning rod (connecting the top of the panel with the base) is the last step that makes the whole assembly much more solid and stable. Manual says that the tensioner should be periodically checked to ensure the speaker remains fully rigid, as temperature and humidity variations may cause the tension to slacken slightly.
One critical factor influencing the ESL’s performance is its notably high operating voltage – approximately 5kV. This elevated voltage substantially enhances the diaphragm's control and linearity. The Quad ESL 2912X regulates this high voltage via a multiplier circuit that amplifies standard AC power, complemented by a protective circuit designed to prevent overdriving the speaker. Quad recommends amplifiers with power of less than 100W into 8 Ohms, saying that there is no benefit from using an amplifier with an output greater than that. The usable frequency response specified as 28Hz - 23kHz (32Hz/-6dB), which seems like a real full-range speaker to me.
In an interior, the ESL 2912X aesthetic is very understated, yet modern and clean. If you are into fancy things, Quad logo on the speaker bezel can be illuminated, as well as you can create a glowing light pool under the speaker’s base. These functions can be adjusted at will by pushing and turning a button on the rear panel.
Nízké frekvence
I’ll start with something that was mentioned in the introduction: the ESL 2912X builds its sound around the midrange. That has always been the strong point of electrostatic speakers, though often their only one. Most owners of electrostats soon start searching for subwoofers and/or supertweeters to fill in the gaps at frequency extremes. The results inevitably vary in quality but are rarely good. Integrating a subwoofer under a foil panel, as for example Martin Logan does, isn’t a very good idea either; for one thing, the sub (actually two of them) is permanently attached to the panel, so you lose the ability to move it around the room to a more optimal acoustic position; for another, by the very technical nature, the dynamic bass driver has a different sonic character than the electrostatic panel, and this unmatching has audible consequences. With the new Quads the extremes of the frequency response don’t stay behind the midrange excellence, which is a rather rare to hear, especially at the bottom end side of things.
The bass of the ESL 2912X is best described by the “refined” adjective. There is just the right amount of it, which means that while it doesn’t create the kind of chest pressure we’re used to from concert stages, it doesn’t feel lacking volume, and most importantly—it’s fabulously detailed and beautifully defined. The bass lines are perfectly clear, intelligible, and perfectly proportioned to the rest. You can hear this on any material, including hard rock (more on that later), but most strikingly on tracks where the bass is difficult to read, such as Cassandra Wilson’s Death Letter. With the ESL 2912X in command, everything in the lower half of the frequency spectrum was arranged so neatly that it was one of the best, if not the very best, playbacks of this track I’ve ever heard. Because the Quad distributes sound pressure across a wide area rather than concentrating it at specific spatial points like dynamic speakers do, the “drivers”—and thus different frequency bands—do not compete with one another, preventing the musical mix from becoming congested. At first listen, the sound from the panels is less flashy and may seem less bright and shiny; however, once you adapt—and it doesn’t take long—the unobtrusive yet deeply transparent presentation will grow on you. With the Cassandra Wilson’s track, it was easy to follow the interplay of all the percussion, guitars, and banjo; every instrument had excellent clarity and its own harmonic identity. It’s quite reminiscent of listening through high-quality headphones. Personally, I would prefer this type of refined integration over a dynamic low end and masculinity, but that’s up to everyone to assess for themselves.
Čistota rozlišení
However, nothing comes for free, and it is how the ESL 2912X’s handles transients that remains a harder nut to crack for me. I’ve studied it at length and still haven’t figured it out. The tap of a wooden stick on a drum rim, the pluck of a pick on a string, or the bass growl don’t send a sharply defined impulses to the ears. Keith Don’t Go (Nils Lofgren) is a typical showcase recording full of such sounds. The Quads didn’t give them that sharp-edged definition; they didn’t fire them out at projectile speed, but rather gently pushed them into the room. The trick is that the transient peaks aren’t rounded or blurred on the ESL 2912X—not at all. The difference lies in the way they reach the listener and likely in the very principle of electrostatic speakers. The tap of a drumstick on the rim is a point source of sound, originating from an area of one square millimeter. When reproduced by a planar transducer, however sophisticated, the sensation reaches the ear in a different way. What I mean is that the transients on the ESL 2912X are precise—and actually even more precise than on many dynamic speakers—because through the Quad I heard much more of the entire process of their creation, from initiation to decay; you just need to set aside your usual perspective on the matter. And you also need to experiment a lot with the positioning of both panels, which I’ll discuss later.
Tonální věrnost
It probably doesn’t make much sense to buy electrostatic speakers for listening to pop music or heavy rock – that’s where you want loudspeakers to pressurize the air. But then again, there are two sides to every coin. For example, the title track from Metal Church’s eponymous debut album sounded really great through the ESL 2912X. Instead of highlighting the shortcomings of the production from that era, the speakers let me immerse myself in the individual instrumental parts and the vocals. I felt like I was hearing significantly more, as if I were much closer to the magnetic tape. It wasn’t a concert style of playback, rather it was a very deep insight from the perspective of an engineer in the control room. Another classic, Deep Purple’s Highway Star, sounded like it came from another dimension through the Quads as well, and I thoroughly enjoyed how easily I could navigate the recording. Sure, what I’ve already written still holds true—the bass and drums could be more dynamically explosive and chest thumping—but the overall clarity and natural presentation were on a completely different, higher, level.
In classical music, the ESL 2912X is naturally at home, whether it’s Martha Argerich’s legendary live recording of Rachmaninoff (The Lugano Recordings) or the Vienna Philharmonic under Carlos Kleiber performing Beethoven’s Seventh. In the first case, we get two spatially perfectly distinct concert grand pianos (Nelson Goerner at the second one) with absolutely precise definition and beautiful fundamental tones and harmonies. In the second case, I was captivated by the work of the timpani, the wonderfully traceable interplay of the strings, and the unrivalled deep view into the orchestra. Of course, one must also take into account the completely different recording techniques that were used for each of the recordings.
From a macro perspective, the dynamic gradations with the Quad aren’t as cathartic as they could/should be, but the overall clarity, refinement, and precision are excellent—provided you’re in the sweet spot.
Prostorovost
The ESL 2912X has only one sweet spot, the ideal listening position. Even slight head movements of just a few centimetres throw off the sense of balanced spatiality. Villanelle for Our Time was a perfect track for experimenting with finding that one right spot. Leonard Cohen’s deep resonant baritone shifted from the centre to one side or the other, depending on how far off-axis I moved my ears. You can’t do much about the tilt of the speakers; Quad has it pre-set to 3°, and I don’t recommend changing it unless you want to throw off the panel phasing. The distance of the listener from the speakers partially eliminates lateral sensitivity, but not entirely, because the Quads by design minimize the effect of the room’s side walls —you get the sound directly, not mixed with delayed wall reflections too much. The advantage is clear – the panels can be placed closer to the side walls than any conventional speakers could be.
In the vertical plane, however, the ESL 2912X is significantly less directional than typical two- or three-way speakers with multiple drivers. This allows for greater freedom in terms of listening height; you can relax and stretch on the couch, and the sound will still be balanced, provided you’re sitting right in the middle. Even there, you can play around with it. At my listening distance of just under 3 meters, it paid off to slide down a bit in my chair to get the vocals a few centimetres higher, but that’s a matter of preference.
Electrostatic speakers are a discipline of their own. And not all electrostats are created equal. Quad has gradually found a way to address the usual weaknesses and built panels that have very few of them. At first, it takes some time to adapt to the different sound presentation—at least it did for me, and I had a tendency to look for flaws. But the more I worked through it, the more correct the ESL 2912X’s interpretation seemed to me. And now, back home, I must recalibrate myself to my own dynamic speakers. That’s why I recommend giving the Quad ESL 2912X a listen. Not just a quick listen, but a thorough one, with your own music. You might just fall in love with them right away.
A note on the rating: The fairest approach would be to have a separate category for electrostatic speakers; otherwise, it’s like comparing turntables and streamers. Creating a separate speaker category doesn’t make sense given the limited number of available products. The Quad ESL 2912X performs significantly better in some areas than the highest-rated speakers in our rankings. In other areas, however, they may be a compromise. The main point is that they simply sound different, just like electrostatic headphones sound compared to high-tech earbuds. Take their placement at the top of the list with a grain of salt - I couldn’t figure out where else to put them.
Připojené komponenty
- Sources: Audionet Planck CD player, Grimm Audio MU2 streamer
- Amplifiers: Audionet Heisenberg, Grimm Audio MU2 preamplifer/DAC
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Gryphon Audio Vanta speaker, Audionet IC
- Power conditioning: Gryphon Audio Powerzone 3, Gryphon Audio Vanta, Tonguyan Industries AC cables (supplied with the speakers)
Galerie
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