I just purchased a reconditioned reconstructed pair of Quad ESL
These are on higher stands and have a protection circuit
By chance my Weston push pull kt120 monoblocks drive them superbly
I have never heard a speaker that got the timbre dynamics so correct without any fiddling !
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My God - these are my old speakers! I had them refurbished by John Hall in Melbourne in or around 2014 - by memory he fitted new extended treble panels, refurbished the bass panels and the electrical circuit had a cut out fitted - he arranged to have them powder coated white and the stands I had custom made. And here they popped up. I think the OP bought them off the fellow in Canberra I sold them too. Those must be his photo's - as it was not my room.
Wow. Pity they can't come back to me. Mind you - my wife protested every pair of 57's I brought home. She didn't see the beauty of our lounge being taken over by my hi fi habits.
True story - the main reason I had them powder coated white, and put them on castors, was so I could wheel them back to sit flush with our off white walls, and so try and make them somewhat sympathetic to our lounge. Sort of worked. I had less complaints.
I truly truly loved that pair - the best of the 3 I owned. Would love to have them back. I had them paired with a Monaco GP TT, a Len Gregory Music Maker MM cartridge and a Croft integrated with its excellent phono stage. The reason I chose Croft was Glenn uses 57's, and all his amplifiers are made to cope with their impedance curves. It was only 35 wpc, just enough in a smaller room or close listening, the 57's never playing loudly in any event.
I intended to go right up the Croft line - the integrated was to see if I liked his sound - but then various factors meant the whole system was sold. One I really regret.
So that is their history. And a big hello to @awsmone !
Edit: 57's are indeed thought of as difficult to match. I once used a Cayin 40wpc push pull KT 88 integrated to much success. That was in a small apartment with them about 1m out from the back walls and about 2.5 m to the front wall (long and thin apartment). It fairly fizzed when turned up. I also tried the original Quad Pre & Powers (404's by memory) - it was ok but not terrific. A Leak 20 partnered well - a friend had one with a Shindo pre into his 57's. Point being - expensive amplification isn't necessary. Just some thought.
One set I had I partnered with a couple of self power small subs (gosh wish I could remember what they were - can picture them black with plate amplifiers and cross over's built in - like a couple shoe boxes with push pull (dipole) drivers, ported). I put the cut off at around 60Hz. They seemed to me to blend in well enough. Later I thought it not worth the effort.
In 2010-2011 I owned 2905's on Townsend Seismic stands with his super tweeters. I had reliability problems with them from new which was annoying. Overall they were a more complete speaker than the 57, but I never thought the mids of the 57's were equaled.
The other speakers I have owned close to the 57 for mid range was the Eclipse TD 712 Mk II's - which were my wife's favourite speakers. I would own another pair in a jiffy - again a speaker you had better think carefully about partnering with - very fussy. The Loth X Troubadour discussed in Carlos' system in these pages I heard at my now deceased friend's place had similarly excellent mid range, were almost as fast, and had better extension. Different beast of course.
Of course, speakers like the CLX Series etc leave all in the dust (heard the CLX at the then dealer in Sydney in around 2010 and was mesmerized)
