They will never hit you over the head and command your attention, but the music is there, flowing and relaxed. The Quad s will draw you in, rather than seek you out. But don t take that to mean these speakers are colored, they are not. Listen to a voice recording you know well and see if the Quad s don t involve you with their sense of naturalness. The ability to focus instruments and players on a soundstage is not the forte of most planar speakers.
Quads are different.
Many years ago, Quad s Peter Walker decided that a point source was the ideal way for a speaker to radiate sound. Since electrostatics radiate a planar wave front, Mr. Walker designed a series of delay lines into the speakers electronics, allowing the speaker to electrically approximate a point source radiation pattern from a planar speaker. Thus, the Quad s focus a soundstage more like a good point source speaker than a typical planar. I am here to tell you, they do. If you liked the sound of the 63, you ll be right at home with the 989 .