I know all ya'll dying for some more Insignia madness...

[Jimmy C]

I finally set the Quads up last night.I wasn't initially blown away by them by any means.I know they will sweeten up a bit after burn-in so I consider this post just my initial reaction to the 22L's.I'm always overly critical of all new audio purchases anyway so that's probably tempering my enthusiasm.They're certainly much more neutral in my room than the 703's were so that's a plus.The strange thing is my main point of reference for my system is my previous set-up with the Proacs and Rotel components that I should have left alone.That set-up simply had the X-factor and I didn't realize how good I had it until I started swapping out equipment.The 703's came first and that was a disaster that set the money wheels in motion.I then purchased the Rotel RC-1090 pre-amp to replace my existing Rotel pre-amp/tuner combo unit thinking my electronics weren't doing the 703's justice.No noticable improvement despite my high expectations with the $1100 1090.I then upgraded my interconnects and again no big improvement.Tara Lab Prism Bi-wiring for the 703's came next and again no big deal.I thought my last move was my most logical and that was replacing my 14 year old Rotel CDP with the Arcam 73T.I thought this $700 investment was sound as CDP's have made leaps and bounds in the last 15 years.Amazingly while the 73T did tone down the 703's it was far from the magical improvement I was hoping for.I truly expected it to completely blow away my outdated Rotel unit and honestly I think the Rotel had more resolution during playback of the music that I like which is mostly pop and rock.The day I set-up my old system with the Proacs is a day I'll never forget as the minute I popped in the first Cd I realized I was being treated to something special.I wasn't very knowledgable back then but I knew the system to my ears sounded just right.The only remaining component from that system is my 120W per channel Rotel amp and I seriously doubt that that's my problem so it isn't going anywhere.Oh well hopefully I'm just jumping the gun here and things will improve.I'm not even sure my Pre-amp and CDP are properly broken in as the more discouraged I became with my system the less I used it.They both have very low hours on them and I know I should just let them play in the background when I'm home to ensure they've hit their supposed sweet spot.At this point I don't have the time,energy, or money to make any more changes in the near future so if the sound doesn't sweeten up I'm just going to have to get over it.I'll post again after giving the 22L's a more fair chance to please me.Maybe I'm just getting too fussy as this hobby and the relentless pursuit of a better sounding system can get you crazy at times.

...run in for a little while. Some say there is no such thing as break-in, but I'm convinced otherwise. My Revels took quite some to start playing music. Maybe it's because I listen at a pretty low level (well, usually)... the woofer hardly moves. Also, I remember the first time I fired up the Studio 60s - I thought in many ways they sounded worse than the Titans they just replaced. Now, it's night and day. I'm not going to say it's the magical "100 hours", but burn-in time was definitely needed in both cases.

Same thing with my new amp... sounded "good" but no magic at first. After spinning a few records it really opened up and started strutting her stuff.

Don't worry about being "blown away", I'm sure it just has a different tonality you aren't used to. That, and run-in is an issue. That's just like when I was A/Bing the N804s vs. Contour 1.4 - the Danes seemed dull in comparison, but The B&Ws would probably keep me on the edge of my seat. Don't get me wrong, it's a good speaker that does many things well - just not for me.

Sorry 'bout the merry-go-round... it certainly can be an expensive hobby! Should have stopped when you started, eh? Oh, well...

The DeVores (sp?) look interesting... I think there is a dealer in Brooklyn.

Keep us posted on the Quads!

[BillyB]

...run in for a little while. Some say there is no such thing as break-in, but I'm convinced otherwise. My Revels took quite some to start playing music. Maybe it's because I listen at a pretty low level (well, usually)... the woofer hardly moves. Also, I remember the first time I fired up the Studio 60s - I thought in many ways they sounded worse than the Titans they just replaced. Now, it's night and day. I'm not going to say it's the magical "100 hours", but burn-in time was definitely needed in both cases.

Same thing with my new amp... sounded "good" but no magic at first. After spinning a few records it really opened up and started strutting her stuff.

Don't worry about being "blown away", I'm sure it just has a different tonality you aren't used to. That, and run-in is an issue. That's just like when I was A/Bing the N804s vs. Contour 1.4 - the Danes seemed dull in comparison, but The B&Ws would probably keep me on the edge of my seat. Don't get me wrong, it's a good speaker that does many things well - just not for me.

Sorry 'bout the merry-go-round... it certainly can be an expensive hobby! Should have stopped when you started, eh? Oh, well...

The DeVores (sp?) look interesting... I think there is a dealer in Brooklyn.

Keep us posted on the Quads!

Thanks for the encouragement Jimmy and maybe you have a point and the 22L's just need a little time to settle down.I know it's never a good idea to judge this stuff prematurely.As you say sometimes the adjustment to a completely new sounding piece of equipment is a big piece of the puzzle and you have to get that out of the way before you can realistically decide if you're happy with your choice.I even went so far today as to check all connections for polarity and orientation for my directional interconnects.Everything of course was correct as I just needed to do that for my head.I don't know if it's BS or not but I've heard that my particular pre-amp(as well as any pre-amp) can take up to 300 hours of run-in before it reaches it's maximum potential.Mine has maybe 50 hours on it and my 73T probably has about 30 hours on it so I guess I need to be a little more patient.Take care