A lot can be said about quad Esl 57's. They are great sounding speakers. Here is some pretty basic advise. I keep mine plugged in at all times except when I am gone for more than 3 days. Be careful not to push to much volume or you will arc them. This is not good for the panels.If you have a very powerful amp you must be careful. Tube amps work very well . The Quads are not efficient and most ss amps I have seen fry trying to run them. I bought stands to lift them so the top of the speaker was just above my head when sitting (listening). I had boxes underneath but found open air was better. So I switched to stands. Do not put them to close to the back wall.They Sound better with 2-3' behind them and space on the side. I could not find a sub that improved the overall sound. So I do not use one. Roughly the sweet spot is usually 1 1/2 x the distance between the center of each speaker. So if you have 8' between the centers then 12' from the speakers should sound very good. Toe them in at that spot. Of course this is just a guestimate.
