Quad ESL 57's....any good?

Hi

I have always loved the old shape/design of the older Quad ESL 57's, and am on a nervous point about to possibly buy a clean/used pair from ebay.
The only thing is, I have NEVER heard a pair of 57's, I have been using a brilliant pair of Magneplanar 0.6 speakers for the past 8yrs with awesome results, yes, I love panels ok!
Any advice/thoughts would be appreciated from any owners out there please... I presently use valve amps, Primaluna Prologue 7, 70 watts, using standard KT 88's, marvellous sound.

Are the Quad 22 power amp's the standard match for Quad 57's..?

Thanks in advance!

peter
(Ireland)

 

I'm using 57s at the moment and they are superb.
The mid and top are world class and very few speakers get close IMO. They sound very coherent and seamless but they have their own set of problems - maximum level at LF and bass tonality.

The level issue may not be an issue at all for some people but they will not play very loudly on music with plenty of bass.
In room bass is nicely fee from overhang and they seem more room friendly than you'd expect as the dipole design can only excite one of the three main room modes.

Bass tonality can be wrong at times as there is a strong internal resonance at around 100hz but a little EQ can be useful here.

Your valve amp will be fine though I'd suggest using the 4 ohm tap if it has one - quads dip to 1.2 ohms at HF.

Peter Walker was a genius to have developed such a superb speaker 50 years ago!

 

Hi RobHolt

Thanks for your advice.... I presently use a pair of Magneplanar's, it is important that the tweeter faces the outside whilst listening to them. Do the Quad 57's have this same idea were it's important that bass or tweeter placement is important when putting the speakers left and right etc..? I don't know the design inside the 57 panel etc....
Best wishes

peter

 

I've only had my 57s one day! - but I'm hugely impressed. Big, bold, powerful, amazingly transparent and detailed.

Cor.

 

Hi Peter,

The mid/tweeter panel is in the centre of the speaker.

They do beam however so you you need to ensure that you sit on axis.

 

Yes the sweet spot is bang in the middle of my 2.5 seater settee, which doesn't always make me popular. Never had an issue with bass, compared to my lowther driven horn speakers theres loads. I found a tablet rubber from WH Smiths under the back leg can fine tune the angle, as I think they are a little too laid back. Thats just me. I also toe mine in as per conventional designs.