tbbg, I appreciate your experience with Quad's. I've tried a number of different things and can narrow the problem down to two effective antidotes. A) put the ESL's, with spikes and titanium gliders on a wool rug and B) buy the Akiko Audio Corelli. This I believe, will resolve my issues to the best that my issues can be resolved. There will be tweaks along the way no doubt (because I believe in a few) and it will take some time to accomplish, given that the Corelli is roughly 1,800. euro. But that's just a part of my journey.
I have a friend who a while back added bass panels to the Quad 63's and he said that the 2905's are in general the same however I tend to believe that the 63's have a little fuller midrange. I've never had the chance to hear a refurbished or mint original pair of the 57's. I do know that they were initially produced for monophonic listening so were sold by the single speaker rather than by the pair. A tech that I know of has a pair of Accoustats and brags about those and the inability to arc them. I'd love to hear those ESL's as well.
I have a friend who a while back added bass panels to the Quad 63's and he said that the 2905's are in general the same however I tend to believe that the 63's have a little fuller midrange. I've never had the chance to hear a refurbished or mint original pair of the 57's. I do know that they were initially produced for monophonic listening so were sold by the single speaker rather than by the pair. A tech that I know of has a pair of Accoustats and brags about those and the inability to arc them. I'd love to hear those ESL's as well.