I took my 57's to Paul Greenfield of 'Classique Sounds' Leicester and thence to 'One Thing Audio' where they were fettled.
Both needed new treble panels; dust covers; new electronic bits; 'clamps' and re-wiring.
I also purchased a pair of purpose designed stands. Raising the '57 is very worthwhile and the stands incorporate a virtually essential tilt adjustment, as the vertical and horizontal alignment of these babies is critical.
I have run mine with a Nait2 up to a pair of 135's with very good results. They now 'guest' occasionally, in place of my SBL's and coming down off the electrostatic experience;
any moving-coil speaker in a box sounds just plain weird, artificial and wrong.
This magnificent transducer was conceived and made when hardly anybody had a source to do it justice!
It makes one wonder what speaker designers have been pissing about at for the last 50 years!
The problem is of course (as the originator of this thread has stated) that they are large, unpractical - and ideally need a big room to do their thing. They would also be very expensive to produce today. Naim had a go some years back, and gave up!
I will not part with my 57's - a Hi-Fi 'classic' able to hold its head up, 50 years down the line.
John.
P.S. The dark centre section (treble panel) is an artefact of the flash photography)