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Electrostatic Speakers

I have been lusting after a pair of electrostatic speakers for my entire life. When I was a kid the Infinity Servo Static was the big dog in town. I heard a pair of stacked (4) QUAD electrostatic when Mark Levinson was saying they were the only speakers up to his standards.

So, It was with great excitement when I ordered a pair of QUAD ESL-2912 speakers. I set them up in my listening room and they were fantastic. Even the bass was impressive, tight and went very low. However not the bass output one would get from a big powered sub-woofer. One night I was playing internet radio and I heard thunder. I walked outside and there was no rain. The thunder was coming from the speakers! Not loud but deep and tight.

I have owned lots of speakers over the years. I sold stereo systems for years when I was younger. I worked for AR for a few years. In all those years I have never heard any speaker that came close to the QUAD ESL-2912 for clarity and transient response.

Then one day the party ended. One of the speakers made a loud single CLICK, just one and then back to normal for days. Then it got much worse. It clicked and thumped every few hours. Then it clicked and thumped every few minutes.

I sent an email to the Distributor asking what to do. No answer. I sent a few more emails, no answer. The clicking was making me nuts so I removed the back cover and disconnected the panel, there are five, that was making the noise. All was back to wonderful except the left speaker was a bit softer in volume than the right speaker.

Over the next few months I sent more emails and my tone turned angry. Finally they sent me a replacement panel. Before the replacement panel arrived more panels went bad in the first speaker and then the second speaker.

Next we shipped both speakers to the factory repair center. Six months they returned with banged up cabinets, torn speaker cloth and one speaker still not working!

So my $ 13,000.00 dream speakers have bitten me. Years ago I had KLH 9 speakers (also full range electrostatic) and never had trouble with them until they died and couldn’t be rebuilt.

Any of you have experience with QUAD electrostatics? Some people say a rebuilt pair of the old ones are way better than the new ones. I assumed that new modern manufacturing methods would have made the new speakers super reliable.

Thoughts?? Am I within my reasonable rights to sue these guys?
davidclarke
bond-san
12 posts
 
You might try posing your problems at diyaudio.com under the planers and exotics forum.  There are several very experienced Quad wizards there who may have some helpful suggestions for you.  Good Luck!

BTW, my dream system of the sixties would have been Bozak Symphonies powered by a Mac 275.
jaws's avatar
jaws
2 posts
 

Hi, guys. I have owned Quad ESL 63's can't tell you how many times I sent them back to the distributor for repairs. Then I bought Wayne Piquet 57 rebuilds and they have never failed. He lives about 100 miles from me in Florida, so I have had them upgraded and retuned a couple of times since then. I own a pair of 988's that have also failed panels. He says it is the Chinese glue that fails to hold the panels together. When all is working well, I still prefer the 57s, despite the limitations of range, image, etc. I have added Enigma Sopranino super tweeters and they have improved things. PK,s speakers play plenty loud and I have never blown them or tripped the protective circuit.

However, and this is a big one, PK is an eccentric dude with poor health habits who has had two heart attacks and is always late with stuff. He still has my 988s for repair and is several months late, but that being said, he is a guy with a tremendous heart and soul for what he does and would never screw anyone over. After all these years I consider him a friend who would never let me down, but I have know him for almost 15 years.  His rebuilds are the best by far. A true master, but I fear for a meltdown. He's the best, but approach with caution. He has trouble with his website so call him direct would be the best approach.

 I have never found a speaker to replace the sound of the 57s. If I were looking for a more mainline speaker, I would be looking at the Maggies.

chesterdad
7 posts
 
Don't be so quick to recommend Martin Logan these days.  The high end and mids on my Requests began to disappear.  I wrote to ML and they told me I needed to replace the panels at a cost of $1995/pair!!! .  They said the panels start to loose it after about 15 years, something they never revealed in their literature.  I have been a loyal ML customer for years, also have a pair of Quests and the Descent subwoofer.  I realize the market isn't what it once was, but this is not a cost effective repair under any circumstance.  Really disappointed.  
thehorn
34 posts
 

"cerrot" - - - "sbank" ...woh mule!!!

davidclarke, before you take the plunge for S/L’s, Maggies, or M/L’s, if planners are your thing you owe it to yourself to audition a pair of MURAUDIO, Domain Omni PX1’s.

These speaker are to kill for (& I do like ML Requests). A couple years back I was at the TAS show in Toronto and the PX1’s were head and shoulders above any other speaker that year. Head and Shoulders.

Quad’s .... I just never quite tipped my hat to them, as for the Sound Labs - - - jezz they’re big.

Check out the MURAUDIO’s davidclarke, you will not be disappointed.

https://www.muraudio.com/ Tel #: 1.855.955.0360 (Toll Free US & Canada)
dpl1
6 posts
 
OP, I too am sorry for your troubles with the 2912's. I have a pair of 2905's that I bought used back in 2009, and the only problem I have had is with the protection circuitry that on occasion in the first year would interfere with normal operation, making them sound muffled. At the time I thought the panels were going bad, so I unplugged them and started searching for repair options. The owner of Quad, IAG, had no presence in the States at the time. Wayne Piquet (PK) and a couple of other places only dealt with ESL57, ESL63 and perhaps 988/989 repair., but I found this in the D.C. area, factory authorized at the time. I spoke to the owner and he sounded very competent:

https://hifiheavenrepairs.com/#/services

However soon after that on a whim I tried the speakers out again, and straightaway the sound was great. Somehow the circuitry had reset; I have no other explanation. They have been fine ever since and I am careful with the volume knob.

BTW I have heard the Sanders Reference hybrids for a short while at my b-in-law's, and I thought they sounded excellent too.
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