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Solid State Amps for Quad ESL 57?

My system is feeling pretty tube-y and I was looking for suggestions of a solid state amps that people are liking with their original Quad ESLs. Looking for more speed and more of the bass I know the Quads can put out if set up right.
dhcod
whart's avatar
whart
3,062 posts
 
bdp- Pearson also waxed over the maggie bass panels with the Crosby Quad 63. For one issue or so. And then he moved on. What always killed me about The Absolute Sound in the glory days was the promise of a follow up after a sneak preview, which never happened. I used to read those things religiously back in the day, along with an assortment of other stuff, Montcrieff, etc. 
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,931 posts
 
Yeah Bill, Pearson had really high ambitions and aspirations for TAS, sometimes unachievable. Moncrieff had his own unique reviewing and writing style (which was to beat a subject to death, saying the same thing three different ways)---whatever happened to him? I think I heard he was in a very bad car wreck, and hasn’t been the same since. The same thing happened to the Bay Area’s leading Hi-Fi dealer in the 1970’s and 80’s, John Garland, who had the Wilson Audio WAMM speaker in his sound room! Another interesting mag was Art Dudley’s Listener, his publication before joining Stereophile.
larryi
4,099 posts
 

It has been quite a while since I heard the HQD system.  That was a very expensive system in its day. 


I have heard, much more recently, re-built and heavily modified 57s done by a company called MyEmia.  One of these pair of  speakers came with an active crossover and was bi-amplified using dedicated EL34 tube amplifiers.   The other pair, I cannot remember the specific details, but, I think it was a similar setup.  Both pairs were able to deliver music at quite high volume levels and with fairly deep and impactful bass; this is NOT your father's Quads.  It was hard to say if they could do all the other things that the 57s are known for because I heard them at two different DC -area Capital Audifests (2015 and 2016) and they were mainly demonstrated at exceedingly high volume levels. 

kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 

Atma-Sphere M-60 Mk. 3.3:

80 wpc @  16 ohms

60 wpc @ 8 ohms

45 wpc @ 4 ohms

So, is this the right "type" of amplification for these Quads? 

By the way, magnificent piece of audio jewel.


atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,942 posts
 
^^Thanks!

If you were planning to use an SET on the 57, you would likely use the 16 ohm tap. You would get a similar proportionate spread in total output power.

However, the total output power does not represent what you would actually hear in practice. This is because there is less energy in music at higher frequencies. So the amp does not need to make as much power at those frequencies. In practice it seems to work well- we have a lot of Quad customers.

Since the M-60 can make far more power than the 57 can handle, many of our customers run the  amp with less than the full complement of power tubes (which is easy to do with our amps). This would further limit the 4 ohm power but this does not seem to be a problem. Alternatively the 57s can be outfitted with a modern protection circuit which shuts down the amplifier power if it senses too much output voltage.

FWIW, Quads and OTLs have a long history together going back to the 1950s.
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