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PK Rebuilt ESL-57 in the house

153.2.246.31
Posted on April 4, 2014 at 04:46:22
fin1bxn@msn.com
Audiophile

Posts: 2215
Location: new jersey
Joined: November 15, 2005






All, after playing around with equipment for 40 years I finally own a pr of mint ESL 57's. I intend to use these in a second system in a 12 x 13 room with either my Manley Snappers or modded Dynaco ST70 and bottlehead preamp with a rebuilt thorens TT.

I am currently using them with my main rig a PASS system with VPI TT.

My first impressions are very positive, they meet all the accolades people mention. After a 2 hour initial charge up I powered up the amp, clarity is the first word that comes to mind, more bass and treble than I expected. I had to play around with placement to make them disapear. My room is 13 deep by 28 wide, 10 of which is my dining room to the right. It is a treated room with panels at key points.

I have the speakers out about 50" from the front wall and 4 feet apart toed in a little (Tweeter panel points to my ears). I also tilted them forward.

I only spent about 2 hours last night and will play / listen to them all weekend.

As a loud Classic Rock and Roll 85% of the time guy, these surprised me how loud they can play. Because they are so clear, when I was listening and then trying to talk to my wife and had to yell, I realized how loud it must have been.

I'll provide more info / comments after the weekend

Note: I have had Magnepan 3.6 with mye stands in the past.

 

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Oh yea....., posted on April 4, 2014 at 07:56:17
StevieRay
Audiophile

Posts: 359
Location: Virginia
Joined: September 7, 2000
 I'm waiting for the return of refurbished bass panels from Wayne; they're in transit right now. I got refurbed treble panels from him about 3 or 4 years ago, and am finally getting bass panels. Although the old ones "worked", they date from the late 50's and have their share of problems, of course.

Now I'll have the whole thing working properly for the first time; woo hoo! All I've got to address now is I need a good EL84 based tube amp -- seriously looking at used Music Reference RM-10 / RM-10II. Been using c-j SS and believe it or not a recapped and metal-filmed resistor modified (but no circuit changes) NAD 3020B! 'Never imagined how sweet this little cheap amp could sound!

 

RE: PK Rebuilt ESL-57 in the house, posted on April 4, 2014 at 09:21:47
Joe Backer
Audiophile

Posts: 1033
Joined: July 10, 2011
 You will see a huge increase in ESL-ness over the next month. I found with mine that it's really a much longer charge process for them to be really cooked. I'm always amazed that when there's a power outage, it takes the same amount of time before I'm happy again.

Never heard the Pass with them but I understand that it's a fantastic sounding amp with the Quads. You are a lucky man.

 

RE: Oh yea....., posted on April 4, 2014 at 09:24:58
Joe Backer
Audiophile

Posts: 1033
Joined: July 10, 2011
 Don't forget to consider the KT120 equipt Rogue Atlas as an option. I owned a dozen or so amps (including Music Reference RM9 and RM10) with my Quads and outside of amps costing over $5K, the Atlas was the best I heard by far.

 

I've had my pair almost two years, posted on April 4, 2014 at 14:55:17
mbnx01
Audiophile

Posts: 7956
Location: Eagle, Idaho
Joined: October 22, 2004
 I'm still getting used to them.

And they still shock and surprise me with how good they sound.




'A lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on'. -Mark Twain

 

RE: Oh yea....., posted on April 4, 2014 at 14:57:01
mbnx01
Audiophile

Posts: 7956
Location: Eagle, Idaho
Joined: October 22, 2004
 I had the Carver el84 amp on them and it was nothing special.

My Croft is way better, so was my Heed.

They really like more than 20wpc.







'A lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on'. -Mark Twain

 

+1 on the Rogue (NT) , posted on April 4, 2014 at 14:57:37
mbnx01
Audiophile

Posts: 7956
Location: Eagle, Idaho
Joined: October 22, 2004
 .




'A lie is halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on'. -Mark Twain

 

Quad PK ESL-57 Follow up, posted on April 7, 2014 at 04:58:57
fin1bxn@msn.com
Audiophile

Posts: 2215
Location: new jersey
Joined: November 15, 2005
 Ok after a weekend of listening, I’ve come to the conclusion that these are speakers I could live with forever. Something I never thought I would say about any speakers. For the 10% of what they don’t do, the 90% exceeded my expectations. This is just a sample of some of the music I used.

Burt Bacharach - Reach Out
Cat Steven - Tea for the Tillerman
Billy Joel - Piano Man
Joni Mitchell – Blue
Jackson Brown – Running on Empty
BBking and Bobby Bland – Live
Eagles – On the border

I was speechless with the sound of the Horns on Burt Bacharach Reach out album and Joni Mitchel Blue made the hair on my arms stand up. The realism, texture and full sound was better than anything I have had in my life. Another point, I think these speakers are very revealing, I don’t find that they make bad source material sound ok or good. If its bad upstream you will hear it. I do have a somewhat high end system driving them. They even played loud enough for me all day.

So in conclusion for now, they were well worth the investment to have them. I like the way the sound, look and present music.

 

RE: PK Rebuilt ESL-57 in the house, posted on April 8, 2014 at 08:58:38
Norman M
 So why then is there any desirability/need for stacking 3 or 4 pairs of them? ;-)

http://quadsunlimited.us/#/photo-gallery/4534267353

 

RE: PK Rebuilt ESL-57 in the house, posted on April 8, 2014 at 10:03:46
JLindborg
Audiophile

Posts: 1037
Location: Uppsala
Joined: April 26, 2010
 The more the merrier!? :)


The one who succeeded was the one who didn't know it was impossible.

 

RE: PK Rebuilt ESL-57 in the house, posted on April 8, 2014 at 10:35:25
Norman M
 Well, it was written mostly in jest (after all a winky face was included). In trying to fill the likes of Carnegie Hall with sound, a set of 4 pairs might be insufficient, OTOH for any den or smallish listening area, a single pair could easily be sufficient or even perhaps overwhelming.

I auditioned a single pair many, many years ago, using LPs in the pre-digital era and those Quads were outstanding in every way.

I also auditioned a HQD system (Hartley subs, stacked pairs of Quads and Decca ribbons (IIRC). The dealer was also a Mark Levinson (the man) merchant and used a ML pre-amp, ML X-O and ML amps (+ even ML speaker wire). At that time audiophile speaker wire was unheard of, and lengths of ~20' to 30', costing about 2K USD was considered to be exorbitant.

 

RE: PK Rebuilt ESL-57 in the house, posted on April 8, 2014 at 10:52:46
JLindborg
Audiophile

Posts: 1037
Location: Uppsala
Joined: April 26, 2010
 Yeah, I know. hehe

Yes, the 57 are quite ruthless to bad recordings and would be outstanding with added bass output.
That would be taken care of by stacking them.
As with all electrostats that have good bass output, they tend to get big in size and for a good reason.
Not because the reason is GOOD but rather obvious considering the design.

cheers!




The one who succeeded was the one who didn't know it was impossible.

 

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