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Re: what's the best Fisher or Eico amp/integrated to drive Quad esl63?

Posted by Chris Spafford on April 26, 2002 at 10:27:40:
JJ; I respect your view on this, but the Quad ESL63, even used is a $2000 pair of speakers that deserve the most trick amp you can afford; this isn't a "you gotta spend big $$ or it'l suck etc" rant, just an advisory about system balance and similar quality of all components. Further, I needed a hot rod McIntosh 275 with an 800 ma Kepco labs tube regulated (16 6L6s!!!)DC supply on the plates, a Tektronix 6080 based 'scope regultar on the bias and cathode folower, and a HP running the "bootstrapped" driver tubes-- it scoped at 125 WPC continuous, and at least triple that on peaks-- to drive them to their full output. Again, respectfully, I don't think a ST70 is sufficient for even the 50s Quads to really "breathe" properly. McIntosh amps, (sorry, Mac owners) with the exception of the tube rectified monoblocks, the MC 60 and 50 W2 in particular, are not especially high fidelity w/o insane mods incl. full DC regulation, top dawg caps etc. Don't get me wrong; I've owned nearly every Mac tube model, and spent MANY hours in audio ecstasy listening to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and my man Jimi, but as I heard other amps like the Heath W3, the Eico HF 60 etc, the Macs lost some esteem for me. However, they are paradoxically pure MAGIC on Quad ESL 63s. They have the unique ability to deliver tremendous power into low Z loads in the 8khz and up band, which is where the impedance of the Quad dips to an amp-strangling 2 ohms. Try a pair of MC 60s, or a Fisher 125, a Grommes 260, Fairchild 255, Leak 50 watt stereo, or modified Dyna MKIIIs if you are on a budget. Chris