The Strata isn’t as neutral as the Quake II. But boy was the sound ever enjoyable now! This involved a much lower filter setting (23hz) and much higher gain. So I tweaked the filters until I achieved the same low bass extension as the little Quake II had. But less low bass? I couldn’t believe it. But stranger things happen in the audioworld and it it probably just a case of improving the bass coming from the Magnepan in such a fashion that the midbass is tightened up. Second, midbass shouldn’t be coming out of the sub since it is set on 36hz. First, the Strata III has a much bigger cabinet, larger woofer and officially digs deeper. It has better midbass articulation but less low bass. Upon first listen, using the very same settings, the Strata III seems to extend less deep than the Quake II. I almost sold the speakers to go for big B&W’s but managed to recapture my wit and decided to look for bigger subs instead. Of course that is a good thing in itself, but I wanted to compensate for the Magnepan’s inherent leanness and clinical quality and the Quake II’s are just too self-effacing and neutral for that. Good though the Quake II’s are, they were just a bit too neutral. I wanted more body, fulness and colour in the bass, just like B&W always does so easily. You really cannot distinguish where the speaker ends and the sub takes over. The Quake II’s match with the Magnepans splendidly. They are very tight and fast in the bass but in the process sound just too dry and lean for my taste. Previous Magnepans had always had loose bass but weren’t clinical. When I bought full range magnetostats the need for subs became more severe. Even the tiny Quake II’s provide genuine 23hz low, pure and uncoloured, highly neutral and superfast bass. Just for laughs, I once connected the subs to my main system and was stunned. The subs weren’t bought for hifi use but to complement the small speakers I used for home cinema back then. I was certain that they would be too boomy and wouldn’t match well with the planar speakers I used then, the Martin Logan S元’s. I have to admit that I was sceptical about the Quake II’s. Every time I listen to the B&W N804’s that are set up in the cinema room, I am reminded of this. Although they go down quite low (for a planar speaker) their midbass and deep bass is definitely lacking body and power. The setup in which the subs are not only tested but used on a regular basis has Magnepan MG3.6R full range magnetostatic speakers. Not a lot of subwoofers reach that low and even fewer full range speakers do. Yet the Quake II is still capable of outputting 23hz at -6dB which is truly remarkable! The Strata II manages 18hz at -6dB though. It is basically the size of a football, although I could be slightly off there since I am not exactly the sporty type -) The Quake II has an 11-litre enclosure while the Strata III has 1 40-litre enclosure. So how does the cute and compact Quake II compare to its newer little brother?Īs you can see from the main image at the top of this article, the Quake II is absolutely tiny compared to the Strata III. However as always, things in audio are not always as clear-cut as we’d like. The Strata III is an older type than the Quake II but it was more than twice as expensive, and is considered by many to be better.
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