I have found similarly. I bought a 1970s pair in good shape three months ago. Not having heard Quad ESL's before, I thought they were very promising and sent them off --the panels and electronics only-- to the US from London for refurbishment. Upon return I was amazed by their speed, rich range of tone, bass impact, soundstage and natural "rightness". In the evening, listening to BBC FM radio, music sounds great at low volume. Voice, jazz and chamber music on LP or radio sounds fab. I have used single driver full range folded horn loudspeakers for ten years and enjoy them, of course, for their speed and dynamic force, sound staging, live and open quality. Curious to see if I could lift 57's in that direction, I added Townshend super tweeters --initially developed for use with 57's-- which was instructive, changing presentation subtly but crucially, adding useful treble to mid to bass definition and gave front to back spatial depth not there before. The horns are very different, with their own magic, and the 57's offer magic of a different nature; P. Walker was a gifted designer. Btw, the 57's came back with better sensitivity, around 88db. I was amazed to find my 4w + 4w SET (Yamamoto A -06-3) drives them beautifully, giving quite loud music in a room 5.5 x 4.5 x 3 tall with the volume pot up halfway. The respected rebuilt Quad 303 sounds dull as ditchwater by comparison with the SET. Stable power delivery from heavy duty hand wound transformers helps. Enjoy
