QUAD ESL 2905 / 2805

There are two comments about failures of the new Quad speakers on Audioreview.com Is that where you have seen/heard of the reliability issues, or from some other source?

Quad dealer Sound Hounds in Victoria, BC, reports no reliability issues with these from their customers. Then again... they sell A LOT more AN-Es than ESLs...

Has anyone had success pairing 18wpc SETs with 2805s in a small room at moderate volume levels?? Thinking of trying that...

I loved my 2805s and used a McIntosh 275 (75wpc) and McIntosh C2300 preamp. The match was great with plenty of power in my 12 X 24 X 8 room. Over the years I used other lower power tube amps which also worked well.

But in the two years I owned them (bought them new), I had them in for repair 3 times, even though I never drove them beyond 80 - 85 db. It was not panel failure, which is common from over-driving them, but electronics failures. Poor soldering, shoddy workmanship, etc. It is a real shame, because they are great sounding speakers. The warranty is only one year.

The dealer I bought them from has since dropped the line due to so many reliability issues with both the 2805 and 2905. I've since moved on to other electrostatic speakers with a much better reliability record.

If I was to do Quads again, I would get some rebuilt 63's or maybe even 57's, from one of the reliable companies here in the US that does the rebuilds.

Dave

FWIW, have decided to drop the idea of the QUAD ESLs ... and go the way of the Advantgrade Duos ...... maybe this will even render my bat vk55 w more than sufficient power ...