PureAudioProject Quintet15 Horn1 open-baffle speaker system

I got my new Erector Set the other day! If you are old enough to remember Erector Set toys, which are still being produced by Meccano, then you are authentically heading over the hill. I played many hours with that plastic toolbox full of metal girders, bolts, nuts, a set of four wheels, and even a small DC motor. I had always loved taking things apart to see how they functioned mechanically, and it was nearly as much fun, though not nearly as easy, to put things together. That fascination in how things work spilled over into my adult life, wherein I spend inordinate amounts of time building audio systems, and most often issue a technical interview to manufacturers regarding the products I review.

PureAudioProject will forgive me this time as I did not issue a technical interview; the speaker being considered is a variant of the Trio15 Horn1 that I reviewed not long ago. The Quintet15, like an Erector Set, has parts that I literally pulled from the Trio15, along with supplemental parts, to populate it. Four of the drivers and the horn are the very ones scavenged from the former speaker. As might be expected, much of the design and performance of the Quintet15 Horn1 is mirrored in the Trio15, albeit on a smaller scale in the Trio15, so I direct those interested in the nuts and bolts of this design to my first article on that speaker.

The Quintet15 goes together not much differently from an oversized Erector Set. Bolts hold the several heavy gauge frame parts together; longer bolts with finger tightened nuts affix the drivers to the frame, while still others hold the crossover to the bass frame plate. The speaker comes in four separate boxes; the supplemental parts also came in four separate boxes containing additional baffles, drivers, hardware and crossovers. One of the lovely attributes of most models of the PAP line is the option to select the color of baffles: White, Black, Natural Bamboo and Caramel Bamboo (Bamboo adds $40/baffle), and they can be mixed! There is also an option for German Oak in four different shades, which is an upcharge of $60/baffle.

There is an assembly caution I would give a new owner of the Quintet15. When assembling the three upright pieces of the metal frames that hold the driver baffles, on the mid-section, insert the bolts tightened with the supplied Allen wrench on the front-facing side of the right-angle piece first, then the bolts for the side wings. Even when held in place, when I tried putting the side bolts on first and then the front bolts, one stripped. Altering my method, every other bolt on the frame went in perfectly with no concern except using a bit of muscle to hold the frame pieces in exact alignment when tightening and not letting go of it until the piece was tightened fully.

The speaker footers are composite, with a plastic collar over a metal post and pressure-coupled metal disc, and round felt stick on pads for the bottom. Again, this is probably sufficient for most who would position the speakers and let them be. As I moved the speaker around by walking it on thick Berber carpeting, one of the plastic shoes came loose, thus also ejecting the metal slug and compromising the precise height of the footer. While tipping the speaker forward with one arm, I pushed together the parts to re-form the footer with my opposite hand. If I had enough ambition to worry over the state of the footers, I would go to the hardware store and buy different screw-in feet more agreeable to me.

I would caution against the option of putting casters on these speakers as they are so tall. With its appropriate but not oversized base, I would still not feel comfortable rolling them around. To move them in or out of my listening room I used a piece of 2”x2” wood placed against the hand truck’s bottom plate to block up the metal base so that I could lift the speaker with a hand truck to maneuver it. I placed the hand truck against the front of the speaker, using a thicker hand towel to cushion the arc of the wooden horn as it rested against the hand truck. There is usually a way for an individual to move a large speaker, but it may take some creativity to figure out how.

Thrier crossover

There is also some assembly required when it comes to the crossover. It was a pleasure to build, a nice project for my son and me as we looked at the images online, which were clear and very well defined in terms of parts and location on the board. An owner should have no trouble, which is important as it is a critical assembly! The Thrier crossover is a three-functions-in-one crossover. It allows either two way first order crossover in Series Topology (Jumper on S), or more traditional Parallel Topology (Jumper on 2W). Secondly, it allows for the addition of a third channel for 2.5 or 3-way operation when a third driver, tweeter or super tweeter, is added. Finally, if there is a desire to further contour the tweeter output, an additional coil can be added and a setting using another jumper set to the “LM” position. In the normal use of the speaker as it comes stock, it does not include the additional coil, and the jumper position must be set to “HB” position. That is the position I used throughout the review, as I heard no reason in terms of the sound of the speaker to alter the treble performance.