Planar Speaker Asylum

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Planar Speaker Asylum

RE: Quad ESL 57

100.1.131.65

In Reply to: RE: Quad ESL 57 posted by kentaja on November 26, 2023 at 09:53:11

I heard a pair of ESL 57s without back damping. They sounded good. I mentioned that the designer wanted the damping there. The exhibiter answered that wasn't as much for control of sound as for problems interacting with small British listening rooms and the larger American rooms usually didn't have the problem.

Follow Ups:

RE: Quad ESL 57 - kentaja 05:26:33 11/27/23 (1)
The Absolute Sound commissioned Keith Howard the editor of Hi-Fi Answers to interview Peter Walker in 1981. It appears in issue 23. The subject came up.

KH: Some people have taken to removing the felt damping from the back of the speaker--what effect does that have?

PW: Of course, it makes it more of a doublet, it has that advantage, but the treble unit will now resonate at 260 cycles with a very high Q which will show as a coloration. You might like it--it's about middle C on the piano. And the low frequencies will go woomp at the bottom end which many people like, but it's a high Q woomp. I don't think I would like it.

I love PW's last comment. I get to hear it both ways almost daily and I most certainly don't care for them without the rear wave damping the speaker sounds just as PW describes. If one likes the sound this way certainly remove the damping it is after all their speaker their enjoyment.

Objectively it is a step in the wrong direction just do a FR sweep and look at the differences in the panel resonances. This hobby certainly has people that fall in to the 'if I like it it's good' camp nothing wrong with that approach. PW was certainly not of that belief and neither am I.
- RE: Quad ESL 57 - hahax@verizon.net 20:41:32 11/27/23 (0)
  I heard this modded ESL 57 a few years ago at the Capital Audio Show. Needless to say it wasn't a long audition but I definitely was impressed. I can't recall the modifier's name but I know he has experience working with Quad speakers over many years. And I suspect he did more than just remove the rear damping. It certainly called for more auditioning if it was a product being considered for purchase.

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