Now this brother in arms, Rdr4b, speaketh nothing but the truth. Its like being married to a highly temperamental, headstrong women: Sometimes bliss, sometimes hell, but never a boring moment. |
Detlof pretty much summarized all Quad users' love-hate relationship with their speakers. Can't live without them, can't burn them. I finally decided to move on after 10 years and just have to look back every now and then when I know there is something missing in my current system. |
No Greg, actually I wanted to, but I couldn't, because my thumb was still tacked to the speaker. That was another time, when again a 63, just on return from a refurbishing, made strange rattling noises and passed out on me.......must say, in the end it made a lovely funeral pire and the firebrigade came quite a bit quicker, because they still knew my address from last time. Cheers, |
Detlof, was it then you threw the Jadis monos out the window in rage?? Cheers |
Now how the heck did you know that Sean!!!?? You're right, I gave it up, after I had inadvertedly glued myself to the bass panel of a 63, got immobilised by having duct tape all around me, burnt a hole in the diaphragm with the soldering iron and tacked my thumb to the wooden top enclosure. They had to call the fire department to get me free....... |
Detlof, you mean that you're not using your tack hammer, soldering iron, duct tape and super glue anymore ??? : ) Sean
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I live in Europe Dave, so I have several possibilities, including Huntington itself. Regards, |
Yes,I(we) really love the sound of these speakers Detlof. Thanks for the encouragement. Where did you have your repairs done, Q,S & D? |
I've been using 63s for years, for the simple reason that " they do a lot of things right". After about 6-8 years of use, they'll go bad on you. Mostly its the panels, sometimes the electronics. Even if only one speakers conks out, you need to send in both, otherwise your setup will be thrown off balance, as was rightly suggested above. A complete haulover might set you back up to 1500 bucks a pair. But many love the speaker so much, that they don't mind the cost. Don't know about the new 988 and 989, but I'll tell you in 7 years time (-; Cheers, |
Thanks for the feedback,appreciate the information. I'm going to give the leads you guys have given me to my buds and help them follow up on them as well. I'll let you know the outcome. Wish us luck, sounds like we'll need it... (and maybe a pile of money!)..........thanks! |
I owned two different pairs of ESL63s between '85 -'95 and both of them ended up suffering the same problem as you described. I found a local guy in LA named Gary Garfield for service on the latter pair. After spending almost $450, there was little improvement -- that was, the 63s need to be driven slightly louder to rattle at low frequencies. And Mr. Garfield guy said that was the best he could do. Considering the value of these speakers, I'd say the repair was wasted. |
In addition to Randy at QS&D, you might talk to Ben Openshaw, aka The Electrostatic Doctor. He works on all kinds of electrostats (he even rebuilt some old Dayton-Wrights). His number is (208) 535-1302. At least visit his site at www.electrostaticdoc.com, and check out his "Home Remedies" page. |
I looked for ESL 63s for a number of years on the used market...my experience was that when one speaker had been repaired and the other not, or two speakers had been repaired at different times...the speakers sounded different from each other. I don't know if this is an issue with Quads today...I finally bought one of the last new pairs of US Monitors sold in the US. Check with QS&D...they are knowledgeable, experienced, and reliable.
Good Luck! |
The best place I know of is QS&D in Fredricksburg, Virginia. Ask for Randy Stringer. I had a number of repairs there. The problem is that there is more than one panel inside the Quads and when one goes it is likely that the others may not be far behind. Also when you go there thay have a few upgrades that may be more efficient in protecting and improving the speaker. If you love the sound of the ESL 63 then it is worth it. As someone said, they do a lot of things right.
Steve |
