I have a pair of fully refurbed Wayne Piquet 57's. Yes, the 57's are one of a kind. If I didn't have room for them I'd probably go with Harbeth P3ESR's and a small sub.
I'd love to hear the Stirling Broadcast modern version of the LS3/6. I think it would be a similar sound without the maintenance and limitation issues of the 57's.
The sad truth is that no box speaker will sound like a great panel....different radiating patterns into the room for a start.
Full Range Ribbons. Not electrostatics. ESL57s always seemed to lacked dynamics and drama to me. Scintillas combine the transparency and midrange of the ESL57 with the dynamics and engagement that the Quads lack. They also do low bass at high volumes .....
The Apogees sound like most cone speakers, then, where you've got to wind the wick up to get decent bass impact.
Well, there are lots of Apogees so hard to generalise, but no, not really Mike. My Scintillas do live acoustic music at natural levels brilliantly. In fact, my wife hates them because of the creepy naturalness of the sound on good live stuff. And they also do studio rock at silly levels brilliantly. The drawbacks are practical rather than sonic; they are very hard to drive, very difficult to shift, very easy to break (mine have been boxed away since my children started to walk, and won't come out again until they are old enough to be sensible), stupidly expensive now and very domestically unacceptable. For me though, they completely unsurpassed in terms of sound
Maybe try some Harbeth M40.1 or Spendor SP100R2.
100% agree. Spot on. I have heard hundreds of speakers, and owned a lot too. That includes Quads, Maggies, Martin Logan, Sumo, Audiostatics, numerous boxes (none any good for me). Nothing, Nothing, begins to approach a Scintilla with great big Krell monoblocs. Once you have heard them for a good few days you are ruined for 'normal' speakers. When I read all the threads about ATCs and Epos and so on, I have to smile. For me, they fall so far short of what is possible that it isn't even funny.
Yes. My wife and I made the 4 hour return drive to Leicester one evening with my Avondale M2 monoblocks and Linn DS and were won over. I was originally interested in the Prince after reading the review in Hifi World but the King was even better. It took another 2 years and a house extension before we were able to buy them but at least my wife had heard them and understood what the fuss was all about!
I compared my 57's to P3ESR'S and LS50's the other day.
It was true then and it's true now: Either Quads are wrong and every other speaker is right or Quads are right and every other speaker is wrong.
I suspect the latter is true.
Why isn't someone making a modern version of THIS EXACT DESIGN? Only easier to take apart and put back together?