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Yet another pair of ESL-57 come alive !

yairf

yairf

Trade: Teddy Pardo Audio
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After a rebuild project that took almost 1 month, I returned them back to their rightful owner, along with their master, a Leak ST-60 (overhauled as well).
I was lucky enough the stators were intact, so I only had to rebuild the electronic parts (EHT, input stage and some of the wiring).
Together they sound so sweet, it brought tears to my eyes, which explains the shaky picture :D
Cheers, Yair
 
ST-60 with big Poly's in the back, and power switch at the front, as it should be :D

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Lovely job
Would you have any headed notepaper and care to quote as I have just had a visitor damage my left hander va liquid on the EHT and a duff left hand panel in the said left speaker

Quote for both as I would need it matched etc. Im in Scotland

Please robustly ignore if this is not your bag
 
Good one yairf, my pair are at One Thing Audio being fettled at the mo and due back in about 6-8 weeks. I 'm going to try them with a Yaquin MC 10L and take it from there until I can justify some Quad amps
 
simeon said:
Good one yairf, my pair are at One Thing Audio being fettled at the mo and due back in about 6-8 weeks. I 'm going to try them with a Yaquin MC 10L and take it from there until I can justify some Quad amps
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Thanks!
Looking at the Yaquin, it has one shortcoming when deployed with the ESLs - no 16 Ohm tap. I would expect the result to be rather lean, but its worth trying - see the ESL's impedance graph below - the midbass range is characterized by high impedance and very low sensitivity:
quad_impedance_graph.jpg
 
My main worry is that this will be in a new room that is acoustically challenging. Ther's not a lot I can do about the shape of the room, but it will sure look fine with ESLs, a valve amp and a Revox. ;)
 
yairf said:
1ld3JbZ.jpg


After a rebuild project that took almost 1 month, I returned them back to their rightful owner, along with their master, a Leak ST-60 (overhauled as well).
I was lucky enough the stators were intact, so I only had to rebuild the electronic parts (EHT, input stage and some of the wiring).
Together they sound so sweet, it brought tears to my eyes, which explains the shaky picture :D
Cheers, Yair
Click to expand...

I've just recently acquired a pair of '57s in need of some work. Coincidently I also have a rebuilt Leak ST60, but have been unable to hook them all up. How did the ST60 work with the Quads; did the amp overcook them as I believe it tops 35 wpc?

Cheers,
TD.
 
Hi TD
They work so very beautifully together !
As for the ST-60, it received a number of mods, giving it a boost in both ends of the spectrum, which the ESLs can cope with very well, as long as you keep the volume under control :)
 
ian r said:
Remind me of the places where 16 ohm option is advised .... it has largely escaped my notice
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TBH I would avoid a 16 Ohm tap on ESL57s as it will react with the falling HF impedance and roll-down the high treble, since amplifier output impedance is higher on the 16 ohm taps than on the 8/4.

Ideally you want them on the 4 Ohm tap since this gives lowest amplifier output impedance and a best match to the ESL load.

Unless you like the top end rolled down of course.

Generally less of an issue with the better vintage tube amplifiers since the designers used maximum negative feedback for any given circuit to improve the overall spec, in contrast to many modern tube amp designs.
 
Hi Rob
The ESLs have plenty of highs, it's the midbass that usually falls short. This is why I preferred using the 16 Ohm taps. As for the Leak, you can bring up the top-end significantly, by reducing the value of the input series resistor (R2 in schematic), which yields perfectly balanced highs with the ESLs.
Cheers, Yair
 
stevec67 said:
Yaqin MC10 is great with ESL57s, PM me if you want more details.
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Oooh! I'm getting excited. My Yaqin has been in storage for 2 years (along with my main system). The room the ESLs will be in has been the subject of some serious building work but will be decorated and carpeted in the next two weeks. We've got a sofa coming in three weeks and then I'll be ready for the ESLs to come back. Now where did I put those Bulgin leads...
 
ian r said:
Remind me of the places where 16 ohm option is advised .... it has largely escaped my notice
Click to expand...

In Quad's first instruction manual for the ESL57 - para c) on page ten here





In later editions this guidance didn't appear, perhaps because with the advent of solid state amps we weren't offered a choice of source matching impedance ?



VB
 
I find my OTA ESL57's sound best on the 4 ohm tap. The 16 ohm tap give me too much bass energy and a recessed top end. The One Thing bass panels have more output than the originals.
 
hey ,
Magnepan came out with cheap but most advanced mini Maggie panels AND woofer panel .
I talked with my old friend and dealer who used to run stacked quads 40 years ago and still thinks that the system was SOTA even by today's standards .Now we listened to mini maggies and one of the panel woofer and I asked if adding a pair of those Magnepan panel sub/ woofers to ole Quad 57 wouldn't be a neat and fairly inexpensive idea and he said that most probably it would sound just great.
 
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