My father no longer needs his ESL63's. They date from the 80's, not serviced, sound ok, no boxes and located in the far SW of Cornwall. I've seen tidy serviced pairs hang around here for ages at very reasonable prices compared to service costs. They are not for me, and I'm at a loss as to what to do with them short of ebay with ultra low start price, any better suggestions welcome. No sign of arcing when played in the dark, but I'm no expert on what to look for in terms of faults on these.
What to do with my father's Quad ESL63's
- Thread starter jon l
- Start date
misterdog
Not the canine kind
Just plug them in and listen, there should be no pops or crackling sounds. the red LED at the back should blink, more at first switch on, then slow down.
Any pops or crackling indicate a required service, 'faulty' pairs fetch around £200/230, non faulty fetch more, though rough handling in transportation can cause problems.
Why are they not for you ?
Treated correctly they sound sublime.
Any pops or crackling indicate a required service, 'faulty' pairs fetch around £200/230, non faulty fetch more, though rough handling in transportation can cause problems.
Why are they not for you ?
Treated correctly they sound sublime.
- I'm sure I've not heard them to full potential, my father ran them from a 306 in an un-ideal room situation. I surely appreciate them for Mozart/orchestral/chamber/acoustic jazz but currently they don't do justice to Aphex Twin or heavy guitar stuff... if they can I'd consider running them myself but I live in SW Germany and getting them here not so straightforward. Encouraged by £600-800, perhaps I can find a friend in London to host them until sold.
sq225917
Bit of this, bit of that
You'll struggle to get 600-800 for them unserviced and with collection. Collection only will seriously harm the resale potential, check out ebay sales to see the hit it incurs. I have a visually mint pair currently undergoing a full overhaul, all new pcbs and components, I doubt they'll do £800 even with delivery, but they were only £180 collected and with a few damaged panels.
You can buy boxes and packing from Quad, but they are not cheap, and you have to pay to get the big empty boxes delivered. And to be honest I wouldn't trust a courier with my speakers in Quad boxes.
Quad speakers are things I really wouldn't want to ship by courier. I would accept a lower price for collection.
Finding suitable alternative safe packing will not be easy.
You always take a risk with couriers unless exceptionally well packed.
Good packing increases the volume which increases delivery cost. And it takes a long time to pack really well.
If you have a friend in London willing to act as collection point, you would be better offering collection from there.
I would agree £600-800 is optimistic for an unserviced pair.
Quad speakers are things I really wouldn't want to ship by courier. I would accept a lower price for collection.
Finding suitable alternative safe packing will not be easy.
You always take a risk with couriers unless exceptionally well packed.
Good packing increases the volume which increases delivery cost. And it takes a long time to pack really well.
If you have a friend in London willing to act as collection point, you would be better offering collection from there.
I would agree £600-800 is optimistic for an unserviced pair.
Tony L
Administrator
I suspect you just haven’t heard them at their best. They are superb on electronica IMHO, in fact Berlin techno/trance producer Oliver Lieb (LSG, Spicelab, Ambush etc) lists a pair as his monitors and his stuff is amongst the best recorded techno out there. I’m anything but a heavy metal fan, its a genre that has always sounded naff to me, but I’d happily listen to Amon Düül, Sonic Youth, MBV etc through a pair. They are amongst the best speakers ever made. Not the last word in dynamics and certainly limited in maximum volume, but they ace everything else. Unmatched.
You may be very pleasantly surprised by the 47 labs and ESL 63 combo. I tried the shigaraki 47 with my 63s for a few months and it was a surprisingly punchy and very transparent combo. I don’t listen at high levels though.
mandryka
pfm Member
I think, but I'm not sure, that One Thing supply relatively cheap boxes.
I had to go to a Krell to really understand what the fuss was about with these speakers. Prior to that I'd used various Quad things -- 520 and 306. Both fine, but not special enough to justify the size and the expense (in terms of servicing) for such enormous speakers.
Quad's advice to me was NOT to get them serviced until they start to arc. When mine do, I'm not sure what I'll do.
awkwardbydesign
Officially Awesome
I asked Steve, and he said I would have to get them from Quad. But ask him anyway.
mandryka
pfm Member
Packaging comes up on ebay sometimes. I can see now that emporium have boxes which he's charging £50 + £50 for delivery, the polystirene damaged. That's a rip off -- £50 is what I paid for mine, with delivery and perfect inserts. But there'll be others.
Then you have the problem of storing the boxes and inserts!
Then you have the problem of storing the boxes and inserts!
Yank
Bulbous Also Tapered
TdP had a direct-drive valve amp for the 63s.
david ellwood
Kirabosi Kognoscente
Why not just freecycle them?
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
If you can get them to Quad, they’d probably ship serviced items to Germany and pack them properly into the bargain.
Copperjacket
pfm Member
Isn’t there a quad repair specialist in Germany?
Why not pick them up yourself and take them back to Germany and get them serviced over there if needed?
Why not pick them up yourself and take them back to Germany and get them serviced over there if needed?
Rug Doc
pfm Member
Oh god Tony, why did you have to go and write that!.... I’ve always had a desire to hear a pair of quads (never have) and now you write that (Electronica is my music of choice) I HAVE to hear a pair..
So, (and I’m sorry to take this O/T momentarily) which ones? I can’t go without bass, (I run subs atm with my 12” woofers) so like to hear everything, so please realise that I’m not adverse to adding subs to whichever quads I try, but I don’t want to buy a set and then hanker after a ‘better’ pair for my tastes, so where should I start??
Tony you git!!
If you do decide to sell them I would be interested. I have just started looking for a pair in order to scratch a long standing itch as I now have the space in my listening room, which is 5m x 7m with 4m high ceiling, to set them up properly. I'm in Somerset and have a mate who lives in Truro so travelling down to Cornwall would be no problem.