One of the most impressive speaker sets ups I’ve owned were the Quad ESL63s with Gradient subwoofers, which were dipole pattern subs made by Gradient specifically for the 63s. Visually, the mated seamlessly. Sonically, they were the only mating of a subwoofer/electrostatic speaker I’ve ever heard that was virtually seamless.
That was essentially the benchmark of boxless transparency, realism and quality of midrange information, I’ve been trying to keep up to ever since, but in dynamic speakers (because I like the extra body of dynamic speakers). They created a huge wall of transparent sound - very full in the midrange.
Though my pal, who I bought the 63s from, went for 57s after that and it was sitting down in front of the 57s that made me understand their appeal. Trelja put it well:
That’s what I hear with the 57s, a more golden, beautiful tone that is just to die for. I’d find myself envying my friend’s 57s on that count.
I actually prefer the tone/timbral nature of the 57s and a number of dynamic speakers to the 63s, which is one reason I moved on from them. But boy were they a nice place to visit, and spoiled me for a long time! (My next speakers were Von Schweikert VR4 Gen2 speakers which were at the time about the only (remotely affordable) dynamic speakers that actually presented a sound like I heard with my Quad set up - giant, boxless, but absolutely full and rich in the midrange, but went deeper in the bass. Loved them, but moved on to other speakers whose tone called to me...)
That was essentially the benchmark of boxless transparency, realism and quality of midrange information, I’ve been trying to keep up to ever since, but in dynamic speakers (because I like the extra body of dynamic speakers). They created a huge wall of transparent sound - very full in the midrange.
Though my pal, who I bought the 63s from, went for 57s after that and it was sitting down in front of the 57s that made me understand their appeal. Trelja put it well:
"For me, the originals and solely the originals have that true to life timbre / tonality, clarity, speed, lively and engaging demeanor / sparkle,"
That’s what I hear with the 57s, a more golden, beautiful tone that is just to die for. I’d find myself envying my friend’s 57s on that count.
I actually prefer the tone/timbral nature of the 57s and a number of dynamic speakers to the 63s, which is one reason I moved on from them. But boy were they a nice place to visit, and spoiled me for a long time! (My next speakers were Von Schweikert VR4 Gen2 speakers which were at the time about the only (remotely affordable) dynamic speakers that actually presented a sound like I heard with my Quad set up - giant, boxless, but absolutely full and rich in the midrange, but went deeper in the bass. Loved them, but moved on to other speakers whose tone called to me...)