Quad's New Elegan Loudspeakers

QUAD quality – pure and simple 

Britain’s original high-end audio brand unveils two new loudspeakers, expertly engineered to represent the entry point of QUAD ownership… 

Cambridgeshire, England – Made to deliver high-end performance at accessible prices, QUAD’s new Elegan loudspeakers exude simplicity of design and purity of vision, implemented with uncompromising precision. There are two models in this small yet perfectly formed series – the standmount Elegan 1 and floorstanding Elegan 2 – each painstakingly engineered to ensure optimal performance from its specific form factor. 

QUAD knows that in acoustic design, true excellence lies not in flashy attempts to ‘re-invent the wheel’ but in the quality of essential, time-honoured ingredients and the engineering applied to weave them all together. Both Elegan models exemplify this concept, the elegant simplicity of their architecture immediately evident in their clean, crisp appearance. 

Although newly designed, one might consider the Elegans to be spiritual successors to the QUAD L Series, which garnered much acclaim throughout the early 2000s. The new speakers – especially the Elegan 1 – are reminiscent of the 11L and 12L in their essential ingredients, yet here those ingredients have been freshly developed from the ground up to engineer an even tastier sonic dish. 

This conceptual simplicity extends to the speakers’ finish options, of which there are but two. The allblack option echoes the deep, non-reflective ‘stealth black’ finish of QUAD’s ESL X electrostatic speakers which launched last year, while the walnut option adds a touch of real-wood class to complement the matt black front baffle. Both are beautifully realised, exuding sleek, seamless minimalism that suits a wide range of room and decor styles. 

Aesthetically and sonically, the Elegan speakers match superbly with QUAD’s hugely popular 3, 33 and 303 electronic components, delivering complete QUAD systems at ‘affordable high-end’ price points. Equally, they provide excellent options to partner with other audio brands – at their respective prices of £749 and £1499 per pair, the Elegan 1 and Elegan 2 deliver acoustic excellence, pure and simple.

Acoustic architecture

Designed under the direction of QUAD's longstanding Director of Acoustic Design, Peter Comeau, the Elegan speakers are built around woven Kevlar driver technology. Five times stronger than steel by weight, Kevlar’s industrial uses include ballistic body armour and structural reinforcement in aircraft and spacecraft. It also makes an excellent material for loudspeaker cones, its exceptionally high tensile strength-to-weight ratio enabling the production of a cone with an excellent balance of stiffness and controlled response. This facilitates precise pistonic behaviour over a wider bandwidth, reducing unwanted resonance and improving midrange clarity. 

QUAD has made speaker cones from Kevlar since the trailblazing 11L and 12L speakers, which launched in 2002. The experience gained over a quarter of a century of development has been applied to optimise the cone construction and accompanying drive unit assemblies, ensuring the units designed for the Elegan 1 and Elegan 2 are QUAD’s best Kevlar-based drivers yet. 

The cones themselves are formed from lattice-woven Kevlar, impregnated with a self-damping resin to further minimise distortion. The Elegan 1 is a classic two-way design, pairing a 165mm Kevlar mid/bass 2 driver with a 25mm fabric-dome treble unit – pure and simple in concept, delivering seamless sonic coherence perfectly suited to smaller rooms and near- to mid-field listening. 

The Elegan 2 floorstander is founded on a three-way architecture, enabling an extended frequency response. Dual 165mm bass drivers provide extension down to 32Hz (-6dB), while a dedicated 125mm midrange driver, housed within its own internal chamber, ensures clarity and expression across the critical midband. All three drivers sport woven Kevlar cones, combined with the same 25mm fabricdome tweeter deployed in the Elegan 1 – these work in unison to fill larger rooms with glorious highfidelity sound. 

In both models, a carefully profiled high-frequency waveguide optimises dispersion and supports a smooth transition into the midrange. This controlled directivity ensures consistent off-axis performance, which is a critical factor in real-world listening environments. 

Crossover design

The crossover network is a crucial part of any high-performance loudspeaker design, responsible for knitting together the various drivers. Each Elegan model incorporates a specifically designed crossover, developed using advanced computer modelling and hundreds of hours of listening tests, to optimise phase coherence and deliver seamless driver integration. 

A Linkwitz-Riley acoustic topology is used for both models, with the Elegan 2’s more complex three-way configuration incorporating fourth-order slopes for midrange-to-treble integration and second-order slopes for bass-to-midrange. This approach ensures controlled driver handover, maintaining tonal consistency and spatial stability. 

Component selection is equally considered. Polypropylene capacitors are used throughout, with aircore inductors for midrange and treble sections and high-power laminated cores for bass. The PCB layout is optimised for signal integrity, with short signal paths and controlled grounding. The result is a loudspeaker system that behaves as a unified acoustic source, rather than a collection of individual drive units. 

Cabinet engineering 

Alongside the drive units and the crossover, the cabinet is the third main ingredient of a high-performance loudspeaker system – all three of these core elements must be designed and engineered in unison to deliver a cohesive, fully optimised acoustic performance. Taking the concept of a two-way standmount speaker and a three-way floorstander as the starting point, the Elegan 1 and Elegan 2 were meticulously designed as individually unified systems, distinct from each other and designed for maximum performance from both form factors. 

Cabinet proportions have been carefully considered, in terms of both in-room practicality and acoustic performance when combined with the drive units. Internal volume is a critical consideration, the dimensions of the Elegan 1 precisely determined to allow 15.5L, while the Elegan 2 includes 14.5L in the midrange section and 31L in the bass enclosure. In combination with the drivers and crossovers, these cabinet volumes enable an ideal sonic balance. 

High-density cabinet walls are combined with strategically positioned internal bracing and damping materials to control panel resonance and reduce energy storage. This ensures that cabinet contribution remains below the level of the audio signal. The speakers’ structural integrity is reflected by their significant weight – each Elegan 1 speaker weighs 8.9kg, while the Elegan 2 is 27.8kg per speaker. 

Bass loading is managed via the QUAD Airflow™ port system, incorporating carefully profiled geometries to reduce turbulence and promote smoother airflow. This results in cleaner, more controlled low-frequency performance with reduced distortion. 

A few words from Peter Comeau

Speaking about the development of the Elegan Series, Peter Comeau – QUAD’s Director of Acoustic Design – said: 

“Across the last three years we have revised the entire QUAD range, introducing the upmarket Revela loudspeakers and new versions of the iconic ESL electrostatics, alongside an all-new lineup of audio electronics stretching from the QUAD 3 and re-imagined QUAD 33/303 to the remarkable flagship Platina Series. All the while, a new range of QUAD speakers at more accessible price points was also in development, designed to complement the new electronics acoustically and aesthetically. The Elegan Series is the result. 

“The Elegan 1 and Elegan 2 are a ground-up re-evaluation of what entry-point QUAD loudspeakers should be, in a thoroughly modern context. Today’s listeners expect performance that integrates seamlessly into both the system and the living environment – acoustically, visually and practically. 

“The industrial design is controlled, understated and purposeful. Proportions are carefully considered, surfaces are clean, and visual complexity is deliberately minimised. Key elements are familiar – the use of Kevlar cones, for example – but here they are engineered to an elevated level. The result is loudspeakers that integrate naturally into contemporary spaces without drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. Minimalism does not imply compromise, quite the opposite. 

“In true QUAD style, the Elegan speakers’ performance is defined not by exaggeration but by balance. Vocals are conveyed with realistic body and clarity. Instruments occupy clearly defined spaces, supported by consistent tonal balance and natural dynamics. Low frequencies are extended yet proportionate, avoiding artificial emphasis while maintaining presence and authority. The presentation is open, linear and fatigue-free, encouraging extended listening across a wide range of music – from dense electronic productions and guitar-based tracks to orchestral recordings and vocal performances.  

“This is a loudspeaker series built on conceptual clarity and engineering discipline, prioritising fidelity to the recorded performance – ‘the closest approach to the original sound’ – and long-term listening satisfaction. Comprising simple ingredients of exceptional quality, expertly engineered in unison using state-of-the-art techniques, the Elegan speakers establish a new foundation for QUAD in the accessibly priced high-performance audio category.”

The QUAD Elegan 1 and Elegan 2 speakers are available from 24th July in a choice of deep matt black or walnut wood veneer. RRPs are £749 per pair for the Elegan 1 and £1499 per pair for the Elegan 2. 

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