Looking for thoughts about Quested monitors

[abit]

H208 here.
Have them for like 15 years.
Nothing better even exit IMHO.
412 - the old one I think I tried - killers too. Just a pure killers.. Beautiful.

Have to say tho, I tried 3208 powered and unpowered and that was different.
I have no comments on S7 - just never had a chance.

Hope this helps.

[edham]

The quested S series is my personal bang for the buck recommendation.
I have owned and/or extensively demo's a lot of monitors over the last year.
S3a's - lipinski - barefoot - focal - quested - genelec 8250's - and many more.
Quested were the biggest surprise to me. They don't seem to get a lot of forum love but I was seriously knocked out by them.

Currently I have a set of 3208's sitting beside my barefoots. 3208's are stunning.
Maybe a bit too big for my small room but I'm addicted and am looking for ways to rearrange my space to accomodate them.

Quested's have a very open sound to them. Balanced if a bit mid-forward - which is a very good thing. They can come across as a bit bass light but they're really not. It's all there just very well balanced with no hype in the low end. No 100hz push for the demo room. Very open and natural high end and I like their choice in tweeters a lot.

Monitors are my personal obsessions. Out of all things audio, monitors are supremely important and finding a set that hears it "my way" has been a grail quest.
Had I spent time with quested's before purchasing my barefoots my search might have ended with quested. That's how much I took to them.

[void]

Any thoughts on the H108's?

[analogjeff]

thanks to edham and abit for good comments ...edhams's description mirrors my initial thoughts... anyone else, yay or nay on questeds??

thanks!

[Stefan]

I love Quested's since nearly 20 years now.
These are not loudspeakers, these are real "monitores".
A mix which sounds fine on a Quested will NOT sound any worse outside the control room - and this is what I like

[gravityminor]

I have a pair of F-11s. They've done me right.

[androne]

I am torn between these two ! WHich one would be the better nearfield ?

[bdmctear]

I am currently demoing a pair of 2108s and a pair of S8s. Both are very revealing. I'd say they have made a big difference in comparison to just having my Genelec 1030a's. I can hear a lot more detail in the mid range especially. The 2108s are preferable to me as they are a bit more pleasant. They don't sugar-coat anything, but sound nice at the same time. The S8s have more of a "work-horse" quality. They are even a bit more revealing, but I could see clients having a more difficult time with them. In other words, they don't translate quite as well.

Both are excellent speakers.

I would like to have a more thorough review of the two sets soon!

B

[edham]

Originally Posted by androne

I am torn between these two ! WHich one would be the better nearfield ?

you need to do a mix on each and see where you end up.
It's really the only way to know.

I think quested are on the level of barefoot, atc, etc as far as very accurate no hype monitors. If that's your taste they are worth demoing - which is honestly the most you can ever really say about a monitor.

[analogjeff]

thanks! anyone else??

[Krecording]

Love my F-11s, as battered as they are!

[mattoxxx]

I've been working on H210 and H108 and my mixes are translating well and sounding good. I think the H108 are great very detailed and you can really hear the front to back imaging (verb tails, delays, ect).

Matt

[audiomichael]

Hi,

I had the H108 monitors with a Bryston 4BSST power amp (through Benchmark DAC1) for about a year as my main pair. Great great monitors. I think at this level, it comes down to preference. The H108 monitors are very balanced have incredible detail, and are very awesome sounding (as opposed to say...ADAM S3A which is a great monitor, just not awesome! sounding...more clinical).

I don't use them any more because for orchestral work I needed the monitors to go down a bit lower. I was using a sub, but there was a disconnect between the Dynaudio sub and the Quested's that left my cello / basses range hard to guage. If it was just rock/pop/etc it wouldn't have been a problem. The 2108's have that extended bottom I was looking for, but tonally lost a bit. They were a tad more boxy sounded in the low mids.

The tweeter has so much high end detail that sometimes I'd spend too much time tweaking up there things that cannot be heard on almost any other speaker. It takes some getting used to, in order to guage balance because you hear everything on them. If you tuck an instrument on H108's sometimes that means they've disappeared from every other playback system.

Quested's are a little hard sounding and after a long day I'd be tired and usually have a little headache. However, I can be very happy working on them. Great monitors.

[FYI: I ended up switching to K+H 0300+0800 sub system, super happy now, no more speaker envy, no more headaches, great translation, and they sound glorious]

[octatonic]

I've used the VS3208's on several mix sessions.
They are extremely flattering speakers with huge bottom end and not fatiguing to listen to at all.
I didn't buy them myself because they are simply too big for my room.

[ddageek]

When I bought my F11as I was torn between the F11 and the 2108 Brian Anderson convinced me that if you want Mid detail F11 bass responce 2108 I wanted the mid detail and love them everything translates well too My Big Magnepan M#3.(I forget)
and my Vendersteen 2CIs (very colored but consistant from top too bottom!)

I would love a pair of 3208 or the S10 three ways that really don't exist yet (I beleive it is an S5 combined with an s10b)!

The Thing about Quested that no one has mentioned is that with the actives your getting a MC2 amp not hust some amp on a chip!

Roger seams very proud of the S series every time I have communicated with him so I would give them a serious listen if I were in the market! and I might just spring for a pair of H108s just for something different!

[kkulesh]

Originally Posted by analogjeff

thanks! anyone else??

I like my S7. As well as 3208. But it's hard to mix only on big ones...
anyway, S7 is a great choice for 2k IMO

[Marineville]

Originally Posted by audiomichael

I ended up switching to B&H 0300+0800 sub system, super happy now, no more speaker envy, no more headaches, great translation, and they sound glorious

Do you mean K&H 0300+0800 sub system? I am auditioning this set up at the moment and it is truly wonderful.

[Audionaut]

I never cared much for their large format main studio monitors, but the powered nearfields with the 8" woofers (sorry , don't know the model #) are brilliant. Tight bass, very accurate on the top. I'd compare them to KRK E8's in overall sound... or think genelec 1031's if you could remove the BS "already mixed and mastered" smoothness veil.

Very accurate at low volume levels too, but you couldn't really crank 'em. Great for a smaller Control Room.

[audiomichael]

Originally Posted by Marineville

Do you mean K&H 0300+0800 sub system? I am auditioning this set up at the moment and it is truly wonderful.

Yes. Thanks Marin. (original post now changed)

I have to walk around with a cheat sheet for abbreviations. B&K, K&H, M&K, S&M, T&A, McD's, etc.

[delcosmos]

My Quested 2308 (and my NS10!) have seen a speaker parade over the years: Genelec's, Adam's, Emes, Tannoy's, Dynaudio, and they are always there to bring a good service when needed.

Best regards.

delcosmos

[analogjeff]

maybe one last weekend bump??? i really appreciate all the comments so far... anyone else have opinions on Questeds??

Thanks!!

[PhilE]

Always enjoyed them as mains (hope to put a set in my new room if it ever gets done!) but not liked the nearfields as much. I'm an NS10 guy and the Questeds always seem to please the clients appropriately... would love to add Barefoot to the party but the Quested would still remain as the 'fun' monitor with the others being the real tools.
All views only IMHO.

[bdmctear]

Originally Posted by PhilE

Always enjoyed them as mains (hope to put a set in my new room if it ever gets done!) but not liked the nearfields as much. I'm an NS10 guy and the Questeds always seem to please the clients appropriately... would love to add Barefoot to the party but the Quested would still remain as the 'fun' monitor with the others being the real tools.
All views only IMHO.

I guess it depends which Q's you are talking about. My only experience is with S8s and 2108s. I am demoing a pair of each right now. My previous reference was mostly my Genelec 1030as, and NS10s previous to that.

The S8s are, in my opinion, very revealing... to the point of shear depression when I first put them on. If that's not a tool (albeit, not a very fun one), I don't know what is. I thought they were a lot like NS10s in their 2 dimensionality, though they go way further down in the spectrum. They really pronounced low mids and lows, though not as much subs, maybe just because of how forward the low mids were. I could hear particularly offensive sounds in an xy pair of overheads on a washing ride cymbal (somewhere in the 500 to 600 range), that I definitely didn't hear in the 1030a's.

The 2108s are still revealing, though not in regions quite as typically ugly, and I hear much better detail in the subs. I've noticed the mic coupling with the floor on some very very low frequencies in an electric guitar: intermittent stuff that's not musical at all. Stuff that i then fixed. I can also hear a lot more sympathetic vibrations from strings, especially the most faint low E on a bass if it isn't absolutely muted. The highs are smoother than the S8s, and I think the overall sweeter, and more natural frequency balance lends to a more 3D sound. My only criticism is that the high mids (1.8k to 3k) seem a little spikey on some mixes. I double checked by listening to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Refugee"... that sounded great in the high mid region. So did the first song on Stereolabs's "Emporer Tomato Ketchup". THough "Back in Black" was a little tough to take at higher volumes. At proper volumes (75 to 80dB) it's pretty much fine.

The trouble for me now is that if I have to decide between the two, I really don't know which to go with. I had a terrible day with those S8s because they made my heart sink to new lows. My mixes really seemed to suck. But I never had a mix take such a big leap forward either. Not that I knew that until I listened at home!

The 2108s would probably be a good ONLY set of speakers, which is most likely where my "not so high-end" wallet will be taking me. But if I could have both (and if both would FIT behind my console), I would have both.

If I were a real high-ender, I know, I would have both.... I can hear people saying it as they read this. But I can't totally commit to letting go of the 1030a's either.

[Marineville]

Originally Posted by bdmctear

But I can't totally commit to letting go of the 1030a's either.

Keep them and put them somewhere else in the room. I'm keeping my old Genelec 1030s too and intend to bung them in a different listening position over by the sofa. I've had them too long to say goodbye (10 years).

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by octatonic

I've used the VS3208's on several mix sessions.
They are extremely flattering speakers with huge bottom end and not fatiguing to listen to at all.
I didn't buy them myself because they are simply too big for my room.

that big botom is precisely why i stopped using them. They're still here - but i only put them on for clients and "impress-o-listen". They are a great monitor for loud listening - but thats just not for me .. Earthworks sigma 6.2's are now my main workhorses. Clean and clear.

[StudioLogic]

The Quested S10 has become the VS3110.

It will be in production in about 6 months.

Roger is very proud of this one.

Here is a picture of the VS3110 that was taken at the AES show in NYC.

[Seamus TM]

Originally Posted by bdmctear

I am currently demoing a pair of 2108s and a pair of S8s. Both are very revealing. I'd say they have made a big difference in comparison to just having my Genelec 1030a's. I can hear a lot more detail in the mid range especially. The 2108s are preferable to me as they are a bit more pleasant. They don't sugar-coat anything, but sound nice at the same time. The S8s have more of a "work-horse" quality. They are even a bit more revealing, but I could see clients having a more difficult time with them. In other words, they don't translate quite as well.

Both are excellent speakers.

I would like to have a more thorough review of the two sets soon!

B

Any choices being made on the Quested front?

I'll be testing out the S8 and the Focal Twin6 soon,
but was curious about the VH2108 (passives), too.

[TRW]

Just a bump for those VS3110 / S10 Quested's.

Doing the monitor rounds and going through the various contenders...K&H (at work) and Twin6s (whcih I have at home right now) but want to try a few others.

These caught my eye but this thread is literally the ONLY source of info on these speakers.

I know they are still approx. 3 months away...

Just wondering how they are coming along and what their target price will be?

To me I'm guessing they will sit between the S8 / VS2108 and the VS3208 price wise...so maybe £2-3k?

I'd love to see some more info. Is that softdome mid like the ATC/Volt/VS3208 driver? Also looks like the mid/tweeter panel can be re-orientated for vertical or horizontal use?

Cheers T

[AKAT-1]

Ok firstly I am a bit biased as I currently have a 5.1 setup consisting of 5 VS2108's and a VS1115b Sub.

I have worked in studio's for 10 years or so and have always struggled using speakers such as NS10's or Genelec's which never 'felt' right to me. The nearest I got to a monitor I could both trust and enjoy working on we're a pair of KRK 7000b's but although they sounded great you were at the mercy of below par amps and mixes didn't always translate well..

That is when I heard a brand new custom quested main monitor setup and to say I was blown away would be a huge understatement.. I went on to try many of there smaller models and found that the whole range had consistent characteristics with only the level of clarity and frequency range increasing with price. I settle's on the VS2108's as I thought they had the balance between musicality and insight right for my need's. You should demo as many speakers as you can get your hands on but don't be fooled by speakers that initially sound better or have the most detail as these will become tiring over extended periods and you're going to be spending a lot of time with them.. Instead listen for the ones that feel right and can show you things in mixes that you've maybe missed in the past.

I cannot recommend quested speakers highly enough and if there was one drawback I would say that it is only when other people use them and pop your tweeters! Personally I think the fact they are not protected is one of the reasons that the top end response is so smooth and open plus they are pretty cheap to replace. I must admit I would always have another ref pair of monitors to check for anything I might have missed- I have a pair of NHT M-00's which are perfect for that task as the level of detail they reveal is frightening!

At the end of the day you should trust your speakers to translate well so you don't have to adjust to their own characteristics and when these speakers are setup properly in a good room for me they are the best I've heard.