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57's aging?

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I'm new to 57's. I bought a pair that sound great. I am looking for a pair for a friend and heard some that had been rebuilt about 10 years ago, I believe by Wayne Piquet. The appearance of the rebuild looked excellent, grills were off so I could see quite a bit. All panels worked, no difference in output speaker to speaker, I even did a sweep and the curves were almost identical. They played plenty loud, were charged for 4 days before I heard them, but they didn't have the magic that 57's are known for. This was at a high end ship, driven by some excellent equipment. I've been reading what I can find about coating evaporating, mylar becoming brittle... but also see a lot of conflicting information. Can someone shed some light on what happens when 57's age? Thank-you.

Follow Ups:

RE: 57's aging? - fredtr 10:44:36 07/12/24 (2)
I didn't learn much with these posts, so I decided to try to research it myself. I bought a pair of basket case 57's, turns out their serial numbers are 596 and 600, so first year, 1958. This is them. Next picture with grill off, lots of dust. Last pic dusted, both looked about the same , not bad for 65 years. No indication the grills have ever been off.

I've had one powered up for 24 hours, bass panel is up to 4.3KV. I just powered on the second one. My next step is to measure a grid in front of each panel and compare the results to my other pair. I'll keep posting what I find.
- RE: 57's aging? - 6bq5 11:52:13 07/12/24 (1)
  Fredtr-
  I have a couple of pairs of '57s
  One pair I have used on and off for about 10 years-
  about 4 years ago I became convinced that the EHT PCBAs were not operating optimally.
  I finally got around to replacing them - SDS PCBs parts from mouser & digi-key, assembled and re-installed, along with some additional wire replacements -
  
  They sound wonderful!
  I did not take the front Grills off
  I did vacuum / blow out all dust
  
  I am about to work on the next pair, but was planning on rebuilding the crossover networks (haven't ordered the new resistors yet) first.
  
  The panels work, but new EHTs ensure that there is sufficient voltage
  
  I have worked on other ESLs ('63s & Beveridge) and only rarely seen diaphragm degradation, and that from an admittedly Humid location.
  
  Perhaps I will rebuild the next set w/ original crossover parts and see what happens-
  
  P.S. I have found Sheldon's website quite helpful and detailed for working on Quads!
  
  Happy Listening
  - RE: 57's aging? - fredtr 10:09:34 07/14/24 (0)
    These speakers from 1958 work, slightly softer and brighter than my reference, but have the mid range magic they are known for. Parts to rebuild EHT's will be here in a couple of days, will update and compare again. I'm tending to lean towards what you said that the panels hold up with time.
RE: 57's aging? - Terry 04:09:28 06/10/24 (1)
I'm currently on my third pair of 57s and, with the exception of the EHT boards, they are all original. They just turned 50 years and they sound great. The last pair of 57s I owned, about 15 years ago, did have PKs treble panels installed and I could never really decide if I liked his panels better than the original. In other words, it is just possilbe you like the sound of the older panels in your ESLs to PK's rebuild.
Terry
- RE: 57's aging? - fredtr 10:27:53 06/10/24 (0)
  Thank-you Terry, the difference wasn't subtle, but you gave me a different way of looking at the problem. I'm regretting not buying them, just because I am curious what is going on. If I had I could check film tension and resistance. I won't get that opportunity, but I am attempting to buy a pair requiring refurbishment and try it myself.
I agree with George - 13th Duke of Wymbourne 18:53:45 05/30/24 (0)
I think the first thing to establish is the provenance of your ESL's panels.
I can also recommend Kent of Electrostatic Solutions (inmate kentaja). He has commented that panels age and even never-used NOS panels will not sound as they were intended to due to ageing. I don't know how Wayne built his panels and whether they would age after 10 years or, maybe, yours are aged and you prefer that sound over fresher ones?
RE: 57's aging? - George S. Roland 09:19:42 05/30/24 (1)
Hi!

I'm glad you are a fan of Quad ESLs(57s). I am too.

It sounds as though your ESLs sound better than the Wayne Piquet-restored pair you're looking at? That makes me wonder where you got the pair you have, whether anything was done to restore them, and, if so, how long ago was that work done?

Ten years is a fairly long time, so maybe some parts of the Piquet-restored ESLs need refreshment.

The person to talk to with your questions is Kent McCollum at Electrostatic Solutions. He has restored three Quads for me (2 pair of ESL-63s and my ESLs). He does excellent work, and he is very knowledgeable about all things Quad.

Let us know how it works out!
- RE: 57's aging? - fredtr 15:38:32 07/16/24 (0)
  I posted about this above. I was trying to understand how 57's age, as a possibility of explaining what I had encountered. I decided to buy a basket case pair and restore them. My basket case pair turned out to be serial numbers 596 and 600. They aren't at all what I expected, after vacuuming out the dust, letting them charge 72 hours they sound great. My reference pair were from 1969. One speaker, the legs had never been mounted. The other the legs were mounted, they were the sellers Uncle who bought them in Japan, who told me they were used for a year or two then sat in storage.
  
  The only regret I have is not buying the pair that didn't sound very good and should have. I guess I'll never know why they sounded as they did.

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