u/PlainPup

Just picked up these Quad 21Ls, the HSU VTF-2 MK 2 sub, and the Cambridge Audio Azur 640 V2. Got them all for about market value ($600). They’re all in basically like-new condition.

The speakers are clear, detailed, and produce an amazing stereo effect. It’s so pronounced that it sounds like I have a center channel hooked up to the system. The Elacs in the middle were my previous speakers and are no longer part of the equation, but your ear would lead you to believe there is sound coming out of them.

The sub is awesome as well. I’ve always heard good things about HSU, and this thing confirms that they are indeed great subwoofers. It fills the room and is very responsive on all kinds of music.

The Denon DRA 800H that I’ve had for a few years is powering it all nicely as well.

I started my journey to where I am now when I got my first stereo as a teenager. It was a Panasonic SC-AK520. It was honestly a good little system for the price. I had it for nearly twenty years. It got me through high school, college, grad school, post graduate work, and was still in use into my 30s. It still lives and plays music to this day back at my parent’s house because when I bought an upgrade I gave it to them.

My first big upgrade was buying a Denon DRA-800H AVR along with a pair of Elac Debut 3.0 DB63. They’re great little speakers for the price and the AVR is perfect for running them along with our projector. It was awesome and what an upgrade in sound it was compared to the Panasonic stereo I had before!

I thought I was going to be set for another 20 years at that point. Why shouldn’t I be? The last stereo I had outlived moves to different states, relationships, schools, jobs, and so many other milestones in my life.

I was at work one day and one of my coworkers found out that I have a mild interest in the audiophile world. Turns out, they and a number of other guys I work with do as well. We had a good chat about music and equipment. I know very little compared to my coworker so it was an informative talk for me. The conversation wrapped up and I thought that was that. He was happy to see a younger guy in the hobby and I was happy to listen to him talk about it.

A few days later, I get a message from a different coworker that he has some old equipment he’s looking to sell because he wants to downsize his life a bit.

He ends up letting me borrow some speakers, a CD player, and a subwoofer.

The whole kit is in pristine condition.

The Quad 21L floor standing speakers are super clean sounding, and produce such a nice stereo effect that it sounds like there is a center channel on my system. My wife and I couldn’t believe how much better they sounded over the Elacs. This isn’t to say the Elacs are bad. They honestly sound great too and were a huge improvement over the Panasonic stereo. But we swapped between the two multiple times and the clear winners were the Quads.

Then after trialing the Quads for a while I finally hooked up the sub. It’s an old Hsu VTF-2 MK 2. It has a lot of power, but it balances very nicely with the system. I could tune it to overpower everything but I found a sweet spot that fills the room with clear, punchy, but musical bass.

The Cambridge Audio CD player was just a nice bonus because I didn’t have one prior to this.

So I guess this is how the journey truly is. Temptations come and the urge to upgrade will always be right around the next corner. We just need to stay strong and hold our ground even when things get tough.

That being said, here is my current system: