George J
Herefordshire member
I have had ESL 57s for a good ten years. First, a pair [dated 1960 and 1968 when the owner bought his second speaker to go stereo], and more recently a single example made in 1957, which surely is one of the oldest gramophone speakers in daily use on PFM.
If I were you, I would send them back and ask for a full refund.
It seems the seller does not know the remotest thing about what he sold you or else he would have removed the little feet. These are really nice but certainly not up to loading in anything but the normal use position.
Dinged aluminium covers can be improved, but never will they be as good as not being dented in the first place. Your pair seem to be both basically non-functional and not good cosmetically.
Find a pair that are cosmetically very good, but may require servicing or rebuild work. Or find a pair that are tidy enough to live with that you can audition. Then collect them yourself, even at the cost of hiring a small van for a day. I have found that with the feet off, they transport quite happily laying down on their back on top of pillows and a duvet. No damage will be done this way if you drive sensibly. Or get hold of the proper transport boxes, which are probably not cheap. My 1957 speaker has its original transport box, and is a minter. I suspect that it was very much cherished by its previous owner. It came to me via a now retired Quad dealer, and it was serviced at Huntingdon immediately prior to me buying it, for a low price I promised never to reveal. The dealer liked me, and single ESL is much harder to rehome than a good pair.
Get your money back and start afresh. They are marvellous speakers, and even better with mono!
Best wishes from George
PS: I power mine with a relatively modern Quad II Forty [mono-block valve power amp], which is a larger version of the original Quad II. In theory driving on the high [speaker] impedance tap for output it should not be capable of causing damage to the venerable old ESL! I don't play loud anyway, so chances are my 64 year old will survive to be a centenarian!
If I were you, I would send them back and ask for a full refund.
It seems the seller does not know the remotest thing about what he sold you or else he would have removed the little feet. These are really nice but certainly not up to loading in anything but the normal use position.
Dinged aluminium covers can be improved, but never will they be as good as not being dented in the first place. Your pair seem to be both basically non-functional and not good cosmetically.
Find a pair that are cosmetically very good, but may require servicing or rebuild work. Or find a pair that are tidy enough to live with that you can audition. Then collect them yourself, even at the cost of hiring a small van for a day. I have found that with the feet off, they transport quite happily laying down on their back on top of pillows and a duvet. No damage will be done this way if you drive sensibly. Or get hold of the proper transport boxes, which are probably not cheap. My 1957 speaker has its original transport box, and is a minter. I suspect that it was very much cherished by its previous owner. It came to me via a now retired Quad dealer, and it was serviced at Huntingdon immediately prior to me buying it, for a low price I promised never to reveal. The dealer liked me, and single ESL is much harder to rehome than a good pair.
Get your money back and start afresh. They are marvellous speakers, and even better with mono!
Best wishes from George
PS: I power mine with a relatively modern Quad II Forty [mono-block valve power amp], which is a larger version of the original Quad II. In theory driving on the high [speaker] impedance tap for output it should not be capable of causing damage to the venerable old ESL! I don't play loud anyway, so chances are my 64 year old will survive to be a centenarian!