Quadral Pico Bookshelf speakers
The appearance of an updated Pico in the "Phono-logue" line had an impact primarily on the price - a shelf speaker system costs now almost a thousand dollars more that has automatically transferred it into the prestigious category of top-end acoustics. However, switching into another class expressed not only in the cost but also in constructive features of the speaker systems namely a ribbon tweeter. The advantages of a ribbon tweeter are relatively small depth of the speaker and almost complete fast response. The first factor has a positive effect on the layout of the drivers inside the body, the second one - directly on the sound. In most cases ribbon tweeters sound open and live and it is much easier to extend the upper limit of available range with their help. Another distinctive feature of these tweeters is a wide polar pattern which allows you not to get attached to a certain place while listening.
The advantages of Quadral Pico came out from the first chords. Firstly we decided to listen to acoustic jazz. Quite melodic and positive album sounded a bit cool. Having in mind that many speakers are too scrupulous to the offered music styles, we put electro music. There was no miracle - we found the same slightly laid-back performance manner. The next change of disc - hard rock now - again brought nothing. There was an impression that Quadral Pico is reluctant to meet the desire of audiophile to enjoy favorite songs. After trying several more genres we clearly understood that the best intended use for these speaker systems will be a simple, background scoring of a living room, when you want the music presences but does not distract from other things.
Speaking about "non-musical" talents of Pico, this is pretty good, with a nice microdynamics speaker system which is able to play both loudly and quietly, virtually without changing sound character. It also confidently copes with work in home theatre. The strong side of these speaker systems is the ability to play dynamic bursts and give certain sharpness to tones that increase an emotional intensity while watching high-budget blockbusters and the scale of sound field.
As the most suitable place for Quadral Pico is the systems of background sound, surely of high level, these speaker systems will be great also in the role of "rears" in the kit of home theatre. We recommend you to choose carefully an amplifier to them - it can significantly change their neutral manner that won't do good to work.
