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ESL-57s (newcomer Qs)

B

BIrksworks

Member
Dear PFM forum,

A friend has offered to sell me his father's old ESL-57s, bought new in the 70's. I have set them up with a CB Nait ii and and Arcam CD player. When they work, they sound heavenly.

The issue is they are sometimes silent or noisy-- so noisy that there is little actual signal. Also, sometimes one is brighter or more bassy than the other. Turning the balance from one speaker to the other reveals these differences some more (assuming that this is not causing a problem itself!).

I got new speaker cables yesterday and they sounded great all afternoon (5-6 hours). Today, they started off noisy and not making a full spectrum sound, but improved a bit. (Yes, I had the power off overnight. Perhaps, I should leave them on all the time and today's problem was that they were cold...)

The friend wants £700 for them. I feel like getting someone in London (Graham's?) to check them out and see if all the bits are working or at least give me an idea what might be involved in servicing them (ie cost). The friend doesn't want them moved from my place. = Dilemma.

If they sounded great all the time, I would go for it. I dont want to end up with large non-functional radiator look-alikes.

Thoughts gratefully received!

- Birksworks
 
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I think he’s asking over the odds, possibly because of sentimental attachment. You can pick up fully functioning ESL57s for less than that, they probably won’t be cosmetically flawless, but still. If you were going to go down the road of getting a pair fully serviced, you could pick some up for a fair chunk less than that. Don’t feel backed into buying them, or paying his asking price because he’s a friend.

As for how ESL57S sound, they’re fabulous, the best sounding ESL I’ve heard by a long stretch, I’ve heard various other Quad models and wondered what they hype is about, but a well sorted pair of 57s are rather special. I think the main reason they’re as affordable as they are for the performance they offer, is because they’re not a practical speaker for the majority of domestic environments, they really need a dedicated space, and one where you can allow plenty of room behind them at that... so they’re out there for the picking.
 
I think £ 700 is a little steep for unserviced ones that clearly don’t work properly at all.
They should produce correct sounds in about two minutes after being plugged.
I let mine on all the time (4 years now).

I would only grab them if they were absolutely mint. Then have them serviced.

Otherwise, £ 300 would be more like it.
 
chartz said:
I think £ 700 is a little steep for unserviced ones that clearly don’t work properly at all.
They should produce correct sounds in about two minutes after being plugged.
I let mine on all the time (4 years now).

I would only grab them if they were absolutely mint. Then have them serviced.

Otherwise, £ 300 would be more like it.
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Yep, that sounds about right in my experience.
 
Thanks for your comments so far.

misterdog: not sure if they have ever been seviced.

That price information is very helpful. The friend looked on eBay at the time (3 weeks ago or so) and saw a range of prices from £550 up and chose £700.

On the one hand, his father was the 'one careful owner'. On the other hand, I know they dont always sound right.

I left them on all night and will report back.

Does anyone thing that changing the balance from speak to the other on a Nait would somehow bugger the ESL's sound?
 
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Way too expensive unless they’re working flawlessly. I’d say £250 and factor in the same again (or more) for a refurb.
 
I bought my pair for £400 in perfect working order and with a reasonably recent refurb. I did have to gave the power supplies rebuilt and some rewiring, but that was just bad luck. I sold them and covered my costs, with theM being absolutely perfect and with additional custom feet, for £700.
 
BIrksworks said:
Thanks for your comments so far.

misterdog: not sure if they have ever been seviced.

That price information is very helpful. The friend looked on eBay at the time (3 weeks ago or so) and saw a range of prices from £550 up and chose £700.

On the one hand, his father was the 'one careful owner'. On the other hand, I know they dont always sound right.

I left them on all night and will report back.

Does anyone thing that chaning from right to left speaker on a Nait would somehow bugger the ESL's sound?
Click to expand...

Be careful, they don't like switch-on thumps too much. At all, in fact. Quad amps don't have any (just faint switch-on noise).
 
Weds 2pm update:

Thank you for all of the suggestions.

I have left the ESL57s on since Monday. Listened to them after lunch today and there was only one noise incident: when panning from R to L on the Nait. It was very short.

They do tend to bring out the flaws in individual recordings--I am listening to small group jazz--or so it seems to me. The other possibility is that some components (eg corresponding to particualr frequencies) are not working. Since I have never listened to ESL57s before, it is hard to know what to expect.

Q's:

1. Is it safe to assume that the noise and dropping out problems were due to not leaving the power on? (methinks: hard to be certain)
2. Worth trying have them checked by an engineer?
3. Despite this, not worth £700 in any circumstances (ie w/out a service history etc)?

NB HiFi hanger recently sold a pair with a recent service history ('recent' = 1998, 2002) for £595, and a different 'good' pair without a service history for £285.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts!

- Birksworks
 
You need to factor in the price of a full service.
The EHT units will need servicing and if they sound different then you will need some replacement panels.

I would be looking at the low end of the prices above.

Pete
 
Further update:

Rob in the service dept of Quad said a normal service would cost £600-700. He also said they should work well immediately when switched on, but that some of the panels would sound better after 30 minutes of being on. Thus, he said they must have a problem, would need to be serviced, and one should stear clear of them.

Case closed.

...but...it would be nice to find a serviced pair!

Thanks for everyone's help~
 
Says it all, the comments above. You could happily offer your friend the £700 provided he pays for a total refurb. (one way out of a dilemma?). Although Naits have been used to feed 57s, they are not going to do them justice. If you're going down this route AND have at least 1 metre space behind (and preferably a bit of width as well), factor in amplification in due course which will be more synergistic.
 
Which raises an interesting question: what would drive the ESL57's better?

I (and will) also try out an NAC 62/NAP 90 and report back!
 
sq225917 said:
£300 unserviced with issues, absolute top price.
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This. I bought a working pair to use as spares for less than this a couple of years ago. They work perfectly but are unserviced. One careful owner means nothing after 45 years without a service. I don't care if he has wrapped them in cotton wool and only played them once a year, after that long they won't work without a service. If you are having to have them serviced then you may as well get the cheapest possible non working but undamaged pair, because the working parts will need to be replaced either way.
 
BIrksworks said:
Which raises an interesting question: what would drive the ESL57's better?

I (and will) also try out an NAC 62/NAP 90 and report back!
Click to expand...

Small valve amps work well with the ESLs - Leak Stereo 20, Quad II, Radford STA15, Dynaco Stereo-35...
 
Quad 303 supposed to be good too, and you can get a serviced one with a new modernised back panel for £350.
 
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