D400 playing with Quad ESL-63s: gorgeous sound!

[srima]

OK, the D400s arrived today. I upgraded to firmware 10.0.2, as recommended by the dealer. Set it up to play through USB from my Logitech Squeezebox and stream music from my Vortexbox Linux server.  Driving a pair of restored Quad ESL-63s. 

Sound can only be described as sublime! Beautiful refined string textures. Stunning but entirely natural dynamics. Midrange of the Quads taken to new heights. Sad that Peter Walker is not here to witness the full realization of his marvelous speaker. 

The Quads have vanishing levels of distortion over the full frequency range, below -70dB from the lower bass to the high treble. They are phase true, and can easily accurately reproduce a square wave. With the D400, they are taken to new heights! 

Here's a pic to illustrate my 2nd floor listening room (it's a large room of 18' x 28' by 15'). 

   

- Sridhar

[sam1000]

Were you able to use USB output from Squeezebox as input to D400? I tried doing that with my D200 and ran into issues. May be I should troubleshoot a little more.
Great setup BTW!

[srima]

Were you able to use USB output from Squeezebox as input to D400? I tried doing that with my D200 and ran into issues. May be I should troubleshoot a little more.
Great setup BTW!

Yes, that's exactly what I am doing, using the USB output of the Squeezebox Touch directly into the D400 USB input. Works great. I'm using the Extended Digital Output kernel (which you have to load as an optional Logitech unsupported configuration mode). Look in the available Applets, and  you will find it. 

- Sridhar

[Confused]

I did have the pleasure of a demonstration of Quad ESL 2905's a while back. To be fair, I think they were being demonstrated with music that played to the Quad's strengths, but even so, the things were absolutely magical. I was listening to hifi, but it was like there was no equipment involved, just pure music emerging from nowhere into the room. Superb!

I have now listened to many Devialet based systems, but I have often wondered what the combination of Quad and Devialet might sound like. OK, you have the 'classic' ESL 63's, and classic may be an overused term, but I would say the 63's are genuinely worth of the term. Reading your post has made me think back to that Quad demo, I would buy some if I had the room. What can I say? Well, enjoy!

[audio_engr]

Hi Sridhar :

Lovely setup you have & indeed - the ESL63s are close to my heart as once upon a time almost 3 decades back, the '63s with 34/606-II were my dad's system. D400 is a perfect choice for the '63s and looking into your room, I'm envious of your setup. Congrats & Enjoy !!

- Arup

[baddog]

Very nice setup, thank you for sharing the picture!