This is insane...the Quad ESL

[Lampie519]

QUAD Musikwiedergabe - We deliver electrostatics, worldwide (quad-musik-shop.com)

 

[Addicted to hifi]

QUAD Musikwiedergabe - We deliver electrostatics, worldwide (quad-musik-shop.com)

Great info.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

I must admit I like quads over Logan’s but both good speakers.

 

[Andrew S.]

I must admit I like quads over Logan’s but both good speakers.

I'm with you on that - down from the CLXs - which is a whole other beast to the other Logan's, in my respectful opinion.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

I'm with you on that - down from the CLXs - which is a whole other beast to the other Logan's, in my respectful opinion.

Yes agree.

 

[Andrew S.]

Aha - remember now the subs I had paired with the 57's - a pair of TBI Systems MAGELLAN. I found that they were very fast, and inexpensive. They could 'chuff' a little which was easily controlled by foam in the port.

I found the ad on another forum where I sold them way back in 2010. They were the (now no longer made) TBI Magellan VPI subs - which were active - they had a plate amp and various XO, hard floor soft floors and gains.

I think all the TBI Magellan's now are passive.

TBI systems: http://tbisound.com/index.asp

And here was the little thing:


They had multiple inputs and outputs - I use them at speaker level with a 70hz hard floor for the main speaker and up to 150Hz for a soft floor for the sub. I varied it according to the speaker (at the time I had a few lying around) but for instance with the 57's I used a hard 70Hz floor and a soft floor 130 hz at about 2/3 gain (35-40db), depending on room.

Anyways a little history, and perhaps a inexpensive fast sub for Quad owners. I don't think the 2905's needed them or it wasn't worth the fuss.

Interesting little animal - took me a while to find something that was fast enough at reasonable cost.

 

[dpgals]

Has anyone tried the Passlabs XA 25 with the Quad57, Steve Gottenberg reckons it is the best amp he has heard with the Quads better than the mega expensive ASR amp that was top amp in the Quad amp challenge a few years ago

 

[kswanson27]

Has anyone tried the Passlabs XA 25 with the Quad57, Steve Gottenberg reckons it is the best amp he has heard with the Quads better than the mega expensive ASR amp that was top amp in the Quad amp challenge a few years ago

The XA 25 was on my shortlist when I had my ESL 63's on the way but I decided on the Benchmark AHB2 and I'm very glad I did. Just a superb match.

 

[Phillyb]

McIntosh MC 402 drove my ESL rebuilt 63's like heaven, who ever said they dont need some power is arong, My amp showed almost 40 watts on most music and peaks even more. What they did will was being so coharrent, and the projection from the wide panel gave instruments sound so right and most of the right size with out being bloated in imaging. Just a dam fine sounding speakers that killed many of todays 15K-25K speakers of today where over hyped detail and lack of any real musical realness. I finally found the open baffle speaker to replace them and they have some of the same trats as the Quads. My speakers are the Spatial Audio Sapphire M's. Just superb.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

McIntosh MC 402 drove my ESL rebuilt 63's like heaven, who ever said they dont need some power is arong, My amp showed almost 40 watts on most music and peaks even more. What they did will was being so coharrent, and the projection from the wide panel gave instruments sound so right and most of the right size with out being bloated in imaging. Just a dam fine sounding speakers that killed many of todays 15K-25K speakers of today where over hyped detail and lack of any real musical realness. I finally found the open baffle speaker to replace them and they have some of the same trats as the Quads. My speakers are the Spatial Audio Sapphire M's. Just superb.

Mcintosh is a great match for stats.I have heard this combination and it sounded great.

 

[RDSChicago]

I drove my 57’s with several amps including Pass Aleph 0’s which sounded superb albeit more powerful than the XA25. I just bought a pair of Marantz 9’s which are being restored and I expect them to be the best amps I’ve heard with the Quads.

 

[Addicted to hifi]

I drove my 57’s with several amps including Pass Aleph 0’s which sounded superb albeit more powerful than the XA25. I just bought a pair of Marantz 9’s which are being restored and I expect them to be the nest amp I’ve heard with the Quads.

Marantz 9s are classic amplifiers.

 

[Andrew S.]

who ever said they dont need some power is arong,

That would be me.

I respectfully differ in my assessment - although I would agree it depends on how loud you care to listen.

That said all of the amplifiers mentioned I imagine would be great with 57's. But really, its the state of the 57's that matters more than the amplifier, IMHO.

 

[godofwealth]

For myself, the Quads have enough bass that up till now, I have not been tempted to install the Gradient or Element subwoofers.

I have tried several amplifiers on them. Here’s my list of amplifiers I have used to drive them:
1) the old Spectral DMA 100
2) the Crosby modified Spectral DMA 50 monoblocks
3) the 47 lab gaincard
4) the Stax 80M monoblocks
5) the Audio Research D 76
6) the Croft 7 monoblocks

I’m using Dennis Had’s brilliant 300B SET monoblocks to drive my Quad 57s. I’ve owned my bronze pair for 10 years. I’ll have it buried with me so I can listen to them in the metaverse.

 

[Fishfood]

My favorite with my 57s was a custom Rogue Audio Atlas Magnum they will make upon request for the Quads.

Never got around to buying an ASR Emitter, which is what I'd want now. We moved and now the ESLs are in storage until we have more space.

 

[wbass]

Does anyone, by chance, know a good source for ESL 57s in or near London? I've been pointed toward Vintage Wireless, and I'm going to check them out. But I'm also wary that I'll want a nicely restored pair, perhaps done by a specialist. I see Classique Sounds on Google, but they're in Leicester, perhaps a little further than I want to go. I'll poke around Pink Fish Media a bit, too, but thought I'd check in here first. Thanks for any tips.

 

[Big Dog RJ]

Does anyone, by chance, know a good source for ESL 57s in or near London? I've been pointed toward Vintage Wireless, and I'm going to check them out. But I'm also wary that I'll want a nicely restored pair, perhaps done by a specialist. I see Classique Sounds on Google, but they're in Leicester, perhaps a little further than I want to go. I'll poke around Pink Fish Media a bit, too, but thought I'd check in here first. Thanks for any tips.

G'day mate, not sure if you were able to find a good place for the Quads as yet...
This is going back quite a while, someone in that area highly recommended PK Quads or something similar to that name... can't quite remember the exact one. Anyway, they restored both his ESL57's and ESL 2905's to great lengths. He got in touch with me on another forum and shared pics of it, and they looked fab! Driven by CJ tube amps, he couldn't be any happier. Also had some big Maggie's in the corner but listened more to the Quads after the refurbs were done. I guess that's another personal preference... good on him. What a contrast though to have 57's and 2905's, few decades between those two models!

Anyway, hope you get them re-done soon and you'll be enjoying those fine tunes in no time.
Woof! RJ

 

[Kcin]

G'day mate, not sure if you were able to find a good place for the Quads as yet...
This is going back quite a while, someone in that area highly recommended PK Quads or something similar to that name... can't quite remember the exact one. Anyway, they restored both his ESL57's and ESL 2905's to great lengths. He got in touch with me on another forum and shared pics of it, and they looked fab! Driven by CJ tube amps, he couldn't be any happier. Also had some big Maggie's in the corner but listened more to the Quads after the refurbs were done. I guess that's another personal preference... good on him. What a contrast though to have 57's and 2905's, few decades between those two models!

Anyway, hope you get them re-done soon and you'll be enjoying those fine tunes in no time.
Woof! RJ

Sadly Wayne Piquet ( PK) a restorer of quads passed away a few years ago. Some had difficulties toward the end with fulfillment from him - however, I had several sets done over the years and never had an issue.

His rebuilds were the best of QUAD Musikwiedergabe, Classique Sounds and some other local restorers I tried. I still have NOS treble Quad panels here that have been tested and the PK quads were identical.

Now Electrostatic Solutions in the mid west USA is reputed to rebuild great panels- never used them. I still have my ESLs and enough panels and hardware for a double stack to use with my Futterman ESL...... Maybe one day.

 

[RDSChicago]

Another restorer in the USA is Sheldon Stokes in Maine. I imagine there have to be good Quad restorers in the UK, their birthplace.

 

[wbass]

As best I can tell, Classique Sounds in Leicester is the go-to place in the UK. Or, anyway, I've not found an obvious place to get a restored pair in London. There are tons of Quads for sale on ebay and other hifi listing sites though. For surprisingly cheap prices. I'm guessing you have to factor regular maintenance/restoration into those prices though.

I haven't figured out what I'll do for hifi just yet. For the time being, I've got a pair of Focal Elex and an SPL Phonitor SE headphone amp to keep me listening. I might get a mid- to high-end pair of HifiMan or Audeze to go along with them.

Or maybe a reasonable pair of Tannoy something. Cheviot maybe. I'm in a temporary accommodation with pretty thin walls, so it might not be worth it. But I'll be here for 6 months to a year, which almost feels long enough to have some kind of hifi to enjoy. Headphones are great, but I find them a bit relentless for more than an hour or two a day.