A "properly" designed tube amp is really the way to go with the ESL 57. Roger Modjeski designed his Music Reference RM-10 amp specifically for the 57, using the speaker as the amp's load during development. If one can't use such a tube amp, perhaps another speaker would be a better choice. The speaker/amplifier symbiotic relationship is, along with the cartridge/tonearm one, the most influential in the chain.
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with a much higher DF-that is, with a relatively high impedance, like many tube amps have.Damping factor has little to do with how much bass you get! - but it has a lot to do with how much distortion you get with that bass. IOW low damping factor does not translate to lack of bass! Nelson Pass has an interesting article on one of his sites regarding this fact and demonstrated it at the RMAF using a set of open baffle loudspeakers and his amps a few years ago. In the case of a Quad 57, the S-30 has a much higher damping factor in the bass simply due to the impedance of the speaker. Its far more likely that your friend simply hooked the S-30 up out of phase. The problem you run into with tube amps on ESLs in general is not that they don't make bass, its whether or not the amp can make highs on the speaker due to the low impedance at high frequencies. The J2 does look like an amp that might do the job. When using a solid state amp on the Quad 57s, due to the impedance curve an amplifier that does not use loop negative feedback is likely able to do a better job than one that does use feedback. |
I've run ESL57's both single, stacked and with sequerra ribbons Dover, what are the Sequerra ribbons? Did you get these tweeters from here? http://www.sequerra.com/common/data/ribbon.html http://www.sequerra.com/ Are they still available? How did you integrate them with your Quad 57s? Did you disconnect the Quads’ own tweeters? Is entire system still passively crossed-or are stock Quad 57s actually crossoverless? Or did you now have to bi or tri-amp it all? Sequerra ribbons $$$? If beyond my budget, are there one or more tweeters that you might recommend?
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I had Quad 57s and there was precious little bass until I put them on Arcici stands, removed the metal grills and upgraded the power cords. Then the Quads had excellent solid bass and were much more open and dynamic. I drove the Quads with modded Dynaco tube mono amps with regulated everything and aircraft grade tubes. At that point in time I had an isolated air bearing Maplenoll turntable with special 50 lb platter and 500 feet of air tubing and two air flow buffers. |
Amplifier Requirements This speaker is designed for operation with a standard Quad II amplifier and it is essential for both proper performance and reliability that it be used only with this amplifier or one designed specifically for the Quad loudspeaker. Speaker Specs https://mniec.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/quad-esl57-user-manual-page0010.jpg The above information has been taken from the Quad owners manual. Also it is my opinion, based on current personal experience, that anyone needing to add external tweeters to this speaker is doing so because of one or more of the following factors, which could be affecting the setup and causing problems. This assumes no hearing issues. - Physical condition of the speakers themselves. (are they functioning at 70% ) - Room size and positioning - Room Dampening - Humidity levels - very dry or humid. Especially if speakers are not kept "on" plugged in. - Amplifier compatibility ***************************************** For information here is the Quad II amp http://www.quad-hifi.co.uk/product-detail.php?pid=20 ***************************************** Hi Ajant - how did your audition go ? I never heard back. Cheers |
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