Quintet15 Horn1

It’s about time I posted some photos of the Q15H1,s that I received last summer from Ze’ev with the beautiful unfinished German White Oak. I had a plan to finish the baffles myself to suit my personal artistic peculiarities and my decor, so, starting with the help of my mad scientist son, and his 15,000 and 2,100 volt generators, we “burnt” the Oak with what looks like “lightning strikes” (both sides and the edges). That was a process involving , “secret sauce “ used a conductor.(We chose the 2,100 volt option for the more delicate pattern it produced). The next steps were drying the wood, brushing the burnt carbon out of the grooves, washing the grotesque mess, bleaching the wood back towards the original color, and then sanding it to restore it back to about 95% of the beautiful color and finish that it had when it arrived (unfinished). Next was staining it, front, back, sides, edges… rubbing the stain off was a HUGE work-out for the triceps! After drying for a few days, 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of professional lawyer for the shiny, high gloss finish I wanted. Then, after weeks of this, ASSEMBLY! Each baffle panel was carefully, individually selected for each specific position on each of the frames to match the carrying coloration of the panels… darker on the bottoms, best looking finishes on each side of the horn sections, etc. During my assembly, I was thoroughly impressed with the design, engineering and manufacturing production that went into creating these components that fit together with such incredible precision, exactly, EXACTLY!!! like it was all meant to fit together. I don’t think I cursed and swore and threw the screwdriver through the window once! This was very impressive and it made me appreciate the technical abilities that Ze’ev possess and appreciate the quality of the hardware components provided to make this happen as it should. Getting that last baffle up to the top by myself (without a ladder or stool) was literally, a stretch, but once done, I could stand back, see both towers assembles and say, “Holy shit, what have I done!” I said to myself, “I had better REALLY like these because they don’t look like they are going anywhere, especially not all the work I’ve invested in finishing them…. and by the way, they turned out EXACTLY as planned and I’m thrilled with the appearance. Not only that, I am thrilled with the sound. Simply put, they exceeded the sound of the Martin Logan Montis that I had lived with and enjoyed for 5 years, but had just never quite satisfied that craving for the emotional experience I was missing… the Q15 H1’s came through with everything I was hoping for. Everything the recording engineer wanted on the recording…. and all the emotion that the musicians and the artist singing the songs put into their performance. Absolutely perfection! I am very fortunate to have a listening room that is so exceptionally conducive to virtually any speakers, with the one limitation that I can only separate them as much as you see in the photos, but that seems to be perfect anyway. Paired with a good 300 B with just 8 watts, of which I think I have never used more than 1 or 1 1/2 watts to achieve 95 dB SPL on the meter, this is pretty darn satisfying. It is difficult for me to imagine how much better other systems can sound… better? But are we literally splitting electrons? These are my last speakers, ever, for sure, no question! Happy! Done! KB 17

K.B.