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Re: Hissing from Quad 63s - reason?

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kentaja@yahoo.com

In Reply to: Re: Hissing from Quad 63s - reason? posted by arend-jan on April 16, 2007 at 14:16:47:

I would consider this normal behaviour for the ESL63. It does vary considerably depending on the particular speaker, but get the humidity high enough and they will all make some hissing noise.
Sometimes the noise is low enough that unless you have your head against the speaker you will not hear the noise. Other times it will be noisy from across the room. Again, unit-to-unit variations.
High humidity and stats are not a good combination. Some stats do better than others. The ESL63 would not be one of the better candidates IMO for high humidity environments.
Late versions ESL63 Monitor and the newer 98/05 series of speakers do have some enhancements in the power supply to keep excess leakage under control in high humidity environments. But again, beyond a certain point, even this will not help.
60% RH is very high and most people would find this level uncomfortable. I would be one. When I test ESL63 in my humidity chamber it is very uncomfortable. Test levels are generally 60-70% RH. I feel like I am just dripping!
60% RH maximum levels is just an average. It is the point where I hear some, but not all ESL63 start to make noise.

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Re: Hissing from Quad 63s - reason? - arend-jan 02:07:34 04/18/07 (1)
Hi, thanks for the info.
You say Late versions ESL63 Monitor and the newer 98/05 series of speakers do have some enhancements in the power supply to keep excess leakage under control
Do you know what kind of enhancements that might be? Perhaps lowering the HT? I know the 57 had a lower voltage tap (590 vs 610) on the HT transformer probably for situations like this.
It makes me wonder what factors might control this behavior when you say it varies from unit to unit.
- Re: Hissing from Quad 63s - reason? - kentaja@yahoo.com 14:07:40 04/18/07 (0)
  I can only speculate as to the exact reasons why. The nature of the stator design itself, wide variation on the carbon coating, extremely low surface resistance for a full range stat(the mostely likely cause IMO). Every potential solution to a given problem creates a new and different problem.
  If one could nail down the exact cause, and the exact solution, I am sure Quad would like to know as well. To quote Ross Walker "But of course it was such a mystery....nobody every understood - I don't think we quite know to this day why the plates 'tick', do we?(Laughs)." May 2003
  "....was the most diabolical bit of product engineering you've ever come across. The failure rates?(Laughs.) Depended on whether is was a Monday or a Wednesday and it was wet and all the rest of it - a complete nightmare." Ross Walker - May 2003
  "I don't think we made a penny on the '63. Optimistically, when we were doing '63s, we had between 10 and 12 man-hours of labour in the bloody thing......" "If every one had only 10 man-hours of labour in it, it would have been fine. But it was our fault that they were rebuilt twice before they even got out of the bloody factory." Ross Walker - May 2003
  What is the rebuild Ross is referring too? The panels. The electronics would have been a piece of cake for a company like Quad. If was the inability to consistently build the panels.
  I would love to know what the actual panel drop rate is on the production floor. One day the process works; you do it the same way the next day and the panels don't work. They make noise, excessive charge migration, varying sensitivity.
  I doubt things have changed much with the Chinese produced speakers. The panels are built today exactly like they were 20 years ago. There is absolutely no change whatsoever to the panel itself. With cheaper labor and higher retail prices, Quad can make some money on them, something they never were able to do when the Walker's owned the company. The panels are difficult in the extreme to produce.
Re: Hissing from Quad 63s - reason? - copydex 00:27:58 04/17/07 (0)
Thanks for the very informative reply.
It makes sense to me as they still sound absolutely glorious, even when the hissing is present, so I would have been surprised if they needed servicing again so soon. I hope to get a few more years service free use before I send them away to be done again.
Long live (my!) ESLs!
-dex

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