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Classique ESL 57

Darren

So gentle when he tries to understand.
I note with interest the fab looking Quad 57, rebuild by Classique Sounds, featured in this month's Hi Fi World. New electronics, proprietry, trick treble panels and great polished wooden frame.

Yummy I want some..... NOW!

Does anyone have any experience of this or other Quad rebuilds?


Darren
 
Yep, I bought the rag because of that picture on the cover.

When mine start to sound tired I'll certainly contact Classique for a rebuild. I probably buy the stands before then as I still haven't seen any other suitable stands for sale.

I'm not so sure that I swallow the reviewers ravings, Mr Price does admit he was comparing a fresh rebuild against his memory of listening to a tired old pair of ESLs a few years ago. Would have been good to have unmodded pair to hand for comparison.

(this will be my first post on the new forum!)

AB
 
I have a friend who uses a pair that were rebuilt by Classique some years ago. If you like what they do there is nothing in this world to touch them, every other speaker will leave you disatisfied.

The downside is that they take weeks to position just right, and are very critical of matching equipment.
 
Maybe next year I will have mine rebuilt. I've only had them six months but I don't think I will be changing them anytime soon for anything else.

They seem to work well with the DNM.
 
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. However I must now confess that I have just ordered a pair of
Magnaplanars.

"Mary knows he changes his mind more than a Woman."

- Johny and Mary : Robert Palmer - RIP


Darren
 
I think Classique are agents for One Thing Audio?

Paul Ranson is right.

I had my 57's refurbished via Classique/One Thing about 9 months ago. They needed two new treble panels and had the 'full Monty' re-wiring/clamps/serviced and cleaned bass panels etc:

It is obvious that it was a really thorough job and that the speakers had been completely stripped down and even the black bits were re-painted.

I use them as an alternative to my SBL's on the end of a Naim system, and they do indeed make all moving coil/box speakers sound 'wrong'.

I am in awe of these speakers that were designed the best part of 50 years ago, when the available source equipment was unable to do them justice.

I also bought a pair of the pillar stands available from 'Classique' which lift them about a foot off the floor.

A truly remarkable loudspeaker.

A friend was interested in buying a fully refurbished pair of 57's from 'Classique' recently and was told by Paul Greenfield that they have become somewhat scarce, since the said rave review in the Hi Fi mag mentioned.

Get 'em while you can. A real classic.
 
The Hifi World article is available here

I recommend browsing the remainder of the site!

(Big fan of ESL63, currently available for relative peanuts.)

Paul
 
I've left them standard. I had to replace the EHT boards and Quad are happy to sell them to anybody who asks.

If I keep them I'm tempted to change the protection boards, probably to the One Thing option and obviously the input capacitors which are pretty horrible and probably suffer from their age.

Paul
 
Trouble with doing that is that there's only a thin piece of Mylar between the outside and a potentially lethal voltage. This would seem to be not very sensible in the presence of children and animals and domestic servants. It's a shame though.

Paul
 


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