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In Reply to: Quad Speakers posted by carpenter3 on April 25, 2007 at 06:36:20:
Those comparisons have been going on for decades now. I had to laugh when I read your post. Before I could afford good audio gear (while in university) I compensated by reading every stereophile/tas magazine 2 or 3 times, plotting and planning for the day I'd have some money. During that intense reading, I found no other speaker was as "compared to" as the quads - whenever the imaging was limitless or the midrange was utterly effortless/transparent, it was inevitably described as "almost quad-like". Of course it was always "almost" because a cone/box can never be as fast and free.I believe through the 80's and onward, most if not all comparisons are to the ESL-63 because stereophile/tas really (really) like VOLUME - and although not loud, the ESL-63 could play MUCH louder than the ESL-57. Remember too that the ESL-63 (and it's later variants) is a true "point source" speaker so perhaps it was even more pure on those counts (hard to believe) - but I've never owned them. Plus you can use virtually any amp with the ESL-63, whereas ESL-57's have a much shorter list.
Reasons everyone doesn't own them are (I guess) lack of ultimate volume and related dynamics, as well as lack of home-theatre bass and supertweeter highs. They ain't cheap either. But in my opinion far more important is the lack of a good room for them - 4' from rear walls (I vastly prefer 8') and 4' from side walls (I prefer more there too - others may disagree). And although they can be used nearfield to great success (I have) I find the granduer of sitting in a 13' equilateral triangle with them completely addictive - I could never go back! In either case though, they (ESL-63 or ESL-57) completely disappear as sound sources - and until you hear the positive effects of their speed on the music, you really can't understand just how much more real music can sound in a home environment.
Finally - although many will tell they require mega-expensive components to make them sing, it's not so. To make them sound their absolute best - maybe, but many Quad owners get away with far less than state of the art electronics (god knows I do, and I have no desire to upgrade). Ask for budget electronics for the ESL-63 or ESL-57 to get you started, and you'll get lots of responses on the planar asylum. But in my opinion if you don't have the room to have a minimum of 4' to side/back of them, you're wasting your money.
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Follow Ups
- For decades now... - longtimequadowner 18:34:54 04/25/07 (0)
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