Quad ESL owners question

Spendor SP-1s. I had my first Quads in 1964 and was a dealer for years. I got my first Spendors about 1970. They are close to being as uncolored as the Quads and have more bass and top. They were designed by an engineer who had worked at the BBC for years[this is also true of the Harbeth]. They have been used as broadcast monitors by most of the large national radio networks in Europe,e.g. England, Germany, Sweden and others. They are available at very reasonable prices on Audiogon, they currently retail for about $5700 and I have seen them for around $800.

BTW. I also have a Spendor S5e and it doesn't come close to the sound of my ESL 2805

Sound Lab or ATC are other options. Gordon Holt used Sound Lab for years - I believe he now uses ATC. I don't think ATC midrange beats a great electrostatic but it comes close and of course it does other things that electrostatics generally can't do as well (such as less beaming issues and a much wider sweetspot, dynamics and high SPL output). Of course, ATC's will not have the acoustic ambience of a panel that radiates forwards and backwards (nice for chamber, church or low level classical music)- so it depends on your needs - horses for courses...

I think Soundlab's would be on the list. Albert Porter's system used to be soundlab's but now Dali Megalines are in his home;he talks very highly of these speakers when I inquired on advice before I bought my soundlab m2's.

Mothra
"Quads are a pain in the ass and have a very small sweetspot..."

Have owned a pair of 2905s for two and a half years plus and its certainly news to me that the Quads have a small sweet spot!! On the contrary, the Quads, IMHO have one of the largest soundstages which stretches floor to ceiling and wall to wall. There is no narrow sweet zone or spot. I owned a pair of ML Odysseys and now they really had a small sweet spot eg the sound changed fairly dramatically if you stood up from your listening chair etc
If you want to capture the holographic sound stage of an ESL and yet overcome some obvious shortcomings of this genre, quite a few of the higher priced speakers come pretty close with a superior bottom end. The 3 or 4 speakers that would be on my priority : Revel Ultima Salon 2, B&W 802D, Wilson Sophia2 and the Rockport Mira. Of these I have heard the Rockport and the B&W and heard the the higher priced Wilsons. They are all outstanding speakers and the final choice would depend on what makes sense to your ears, room and the partnering gear.
Best of luck