It's not just the treble panel you need to be concerned about but it's good you have the protection circuit. My recommendation would be to reach out to one of the Quad experts, either Kent McCollum at Electrostatic Solution or Sheldon Stokes. I know Kent sells both the clamp and EHT boards and if you are handy and can DIY, they are not difficult to replace. Personally, when I bought my first pair of 57s I sent them to Kent to have them checked out. When I knew what I had to work with I was able to understand what it would take to restore them.
Recommend an amp + pre for ESL 57s and a new turntable (way out of my league)
Hi all, longtime lurker now starting my semi-serious venture into all of this. I was recently gifted a pair of Quad ESL 57s, a Well Tempered Labs Amadeus GTA turntable, and a Miyajima Labs Shilabe cartridge. I need a preamp and amplifier for the system on a budget of ~$1000 - $1500. I currently have an old Harman Kardon Stereo Festival (TA-230) receiver, which is just a cool piece of old, barely working, shits-n-gigs gear I used to drive some junky speakers with in college. It hasn't been plugged in in two years and even if its still works, I don't think it's a great match for my system. What would you recommend? I am most interested in listening to some old mono blues, jazz, and folk LPs I have, and I imagine most of the records I collect in the future will be similar (I know I have a stereo cart, which I've always understood to be fine for this?).
Some guiding questions:
- Seems like a favorite for the ESLs are a pair of heathkit UA-1s. Another that I'm seeing well recommended is the Dyna st35. Thoughts? Does it make sense to spend ~$700 - $1000 on a nice amp and get something more basic for the pre in the $400 range? (Rega fono??)
- Should I get a nicer preamp to match my cart and go with something more basic wrt amplification? Not sure what is good in the way of cheaper(?) amps to drive these speakers.
- In the event that I stretch my budget and wait a bit between buying one and the other (to save back up lol), would I get more out of a ~$1200 amp and the cheapest preamp that will work, or a ~$1200 pre and the cheapest amp that will work? What would the cheapest preamp and amp that "will work" be in the meantime? What would be in the $1200 range for each, respectively?
Thank you if you took the time to read this! I will be cleaning the dust off the Quads in the meantime.
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Lot’s of advice, I have owned multiple pairs of 57’s over the years. These aren’t starter speakers and do require some attention to detail to get the most out of them. These are not an easy load for a lot of amplifiers out there and I would recommend tubes for the amplification, based on your limited budget for separates I would highly recommend an integrated, I would look for something vintage thats been updated or would also recommend the Quad amp/preamp combo the Bourne mentioned as those do sound good with the Quads and you can find the amps that have been updated for not a lot of money. I have used integrated amps and gotten very nice sound from them with the Quads. Kent from Electrostatic Solutions in KC likes to use ARC amps with his and he is not wrong with using higher powered tube amps with the 57’s and I ran ARC Ref 110 with my highly modified pair I got from Kent/Robin Wyatt and the sound was some of the best I have had. I would recommend not to rush in your purchase and take advice from actual owners not forum surfers so you don’t wast the limited funds you have and buy the wrong piece(s) & not get the sound your looking for, also make sure you have the room for these as you need to get them out off your back wall for best results. |
That article was an interesting snippet for me, especially as I am fettling a Garrard 301 turntable my dad gave me years ago. The article contains a quote
I beg to differ. Peter Walker knew the limitations of the original ESL, now known as the 57, and six years after its introduction started work on a completely new design, the ESL-63 which was finally released into production about 18 years later. The ESL-63 has evolved through a few models up to the ESL-2912X released some weeks ago. Not bad for a 60 year old design! Major changes included: flat panels, not curved; integral dust covers; incipient ionization detection; protection from high input voltage; far kinder impedance characteristics; oriented for stereo not mono playback. By far the biggest difference, and something that still differentiates from all other panel speakers, is the creation of a virtual point-source of sound about 1-ft behind the panel. To visualise this, imagine a sound wave radiating from such a source. The wave first intersects the centre of the panel, then expands outwards in a circular pattern. Pater Walker's design creates eight concentric stators which approximate rings. The signal to the outer rings is delayed according to the speed of sound to give the uncanny effect that the sound is coming from1-ft behind the speaker. The result is that the sound is almost perfectly coherent, allowing the ear-brain to perceive a huge soundstage even in the presence of wall, ceiling and floor reflections. By contrast, the ESL-57 has a very small sweet spot! |
@arg6442 No Prob's with the Inquiries at my end. The N'chrome is the Modular 86 (65W), there was once a 286 option, but not a current design and the current increased Power Model is the 386, my reports on experiences had, was instrumental in quite a few in the UK adopting the 386 and they remain loyal to this day, having it supersede Power Amp's with a good pedigree and reputation. |
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