Back and recovered from the Capital Audiofest. This year we continued to bring things that were different and had no possible chance of selling. This time the main difference was presentability.
I'll admit it looks a bit like a late 90's projection TV but there is a reason for this look. Once you step around back you see the 'direct drive' power amplifier neatly tucked into the base.
For this round it was Push Pull triode wired EL34's and while this isn't technically a "direct drive" amp, I have not come up with a better term. The two interesting Key points are the panels are biamped through discrete step up transformers loading the EL-34's and the crossover is in the amplifier circuit allowing the transformer direct connection to the panels.
The cabinets are Walnut with some bloodwood inlay and there are a few other tricks going on inside.
The two biggest comments at the show were along the lines of 'I thought quads didn't have any bass' and 'who says quads cannot go loud'. It was mentioned on some of the forums that we only seemed to play things that showed off these two points and neglected to play the girl on a stool with a guitar that quads are known for. Oh well... we can change that for RMAF. Check out what Herb has to say at the link below.
Herb on the ESL