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Re: Quad Speakers

Posted by JimL (A) on April 25, 2007 at 08:01:48

In Reply to: Quad Speakers posted by carpenter3 on April 25, 2007 at 06:36:20:

To begin with, Quad was a British company (not sure who owns them now) that marketed the first "full range" electrostatic speaker, now known as the ESL-57, which was actually first marketed in 1956, as well as a later model, the ESL-63, which was first marketed in 1983. Models since then have been based on the design of the ESL-63, with refinements in design (the 988 and 2805) or additional panels for more bass (the 989 and 2806).

They all share a seamless, "of a piece" sound, very transparent and neutral, with the first model in particular having a "magical" midrange, while the later models were considered more neutral but not quite as "alive." They are also relatively limited in how loudly they will play, especially in the bass. The first model is the most limited, with the larger later models (989 and 2806) being least limited, but none will play at live rock levels. To be fair, even the first model will play at live classical orchestral levels as measured by an SPL meter, but many audiophiles don't believe that quite reproduces the impact of an orchestra at full bore, preferring louder than real levels to get that impact (IMHO). Nevertheless, sound producing capability is a major limitation of all the Quads. Certainly, there are many, more expensive speakers which will go lower, higher and much louder than the Quads and many cannot live with the Quad's limitations in those areas. However, within their limits, many audiophiles feel that Quad's slogan, "for the closest approach to the original sound" is more truth than hype.

They are also considered quite amplifier sensitive, especially the first model, which has been known to cause amplifiers to go into oscillation, damaging themselves as well as the speakers. Also, the ESL-57's treble panels will actually arc with an electrical spark if they are driven with too much power (maximum 100 watts peak into 8 ohms or around 32 volts peak) . The ESL-63 and later models actually have a built in protective circuit that will short circuit the amplifier if it tries to deliver too much power, which is not considered a friendly action by the amplifier. :-).

Below is a link to a Planar Speaker Asylum post on amplifiers for the ESL-57s. Note that the David Chesky mentioned in the post is one of the Chesky brothers of Chesky Records, a well known audiophile record company. Gary Krakow, who is also mentioned, writes a technology column for MSNBC and has also written reviews of audiophile equipment on MSNBC. He is also a Quad ESL-57 owner.

HTH.

• Amps for Quad ESL-57s   (Open in New Window)

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