Valves and electroststics !

[Audio Al]

despite their obvious shortcomings

Humm , I must have hearing problems as mine sound mighty fine

[Gordon Steadman]

Humm , I must have hearing problems as mine sound mighty fine

Yup,

Some shortcomings seem more obvious to some than others. What I get is very clean and quite extended bass when the 57s are up on 10" high, very solid oak stands. They even make a very fair stab at Bach organ music without the usual bloat. I did borrow a pair of supertweeters once and found that I preferred the 57s without.

Glad you're enjoying them. Purists, of course, would suggest that all those other speakers in the room are doing the sound no favours. Who cares if they make music?

[Marco]

See what happens when I use the Ortofon ST-80SE moving-coil step-up transformer and the Croft Phono stage...

Audio nirvana, baby!

Marco.

[Ninanina]

I am absolutely NOT a jealous person .......... but the closest I ever get to it is wishing I still had room for a pair of 57's...

I had a pair of 57's for many years when I had room for them and they are one, of maybe only two, pair of speakers I would own twice and the other is the Klipsch I have now

I think the best I have ever heard music at my home were through the 57's... I just simply don't have room for them now though, which is a real shame

I did try the 57's in my last property but could not get them away from the back wall enough to sound their best so unfortunately had to sell them; a moment I have always regretted... even though I got a good price for them from someone in Germany (packaging was a nightmare!!)

If I ever have a property again where I can position them correctly then I will probably have another pair, as long as I cannot afford a pair of Klipschorns at the time that is.... which is maybe the only other speaker (or the La Scala's) I would try

Like I say I'm NOT jealous but maybe just a little sad I cannot have my speaker of choice

[Audio Al]

What I get is very clean and quite extended bass

SaMe HerE

[Audio Al]

Bev

I dOnt have RooM for them eiTher , I MAKE rooM for theM

[Barry]

Humm , I must have hearing problems as mine sound mighty fine

"Obvious shortcomings":

Lack of deep bass below 40Hz,
Cannot be played loud, so cannot fully reproduce the dynamic range of orchestral symphonic music,
High directionality, so tend to 'beam' - resulting in optimum listening conditions for one listener only,
Very high frequencies (> 10kHz) are rolled off (though that no longer matters at my age!)

To balance this, one can list their obvious advantages:

Accurate, natural and detailed midrange,
Fast attack and superb reproduction of transients, with freedom of 'hangover',
Precise focus and realistic 3-D represention of the soundstage,
Tonal purity across the frequency range,
Excellent phase integration between 'drivers'.

As I have said on a number of occasions, I have used and enjoyed the Quad 57s for more than forty years and would not change them for anything else. They are not perfect (far from it), but what they do well, very few other speakers can match, and what they do well is sufficiently important to me that I forgive (and put up with) their limitations (or as I said "shortcomings").

[Ninanina]

Bev

I dOnt have RooM for them eiTher , I MAKE rooM for theM

Unfortunately they just won't fit in my present room... I really WISH I could make room for them but it's just not there....

The only way I could fit them in is to have nowhere to sit..... now thats an idea....

[Barry]

Unfortunately they just won't fit in my present room... I really WISH I could make room for them but it's just not there....

The only way I could fit them in is to have nowhere to sit..... now thats an idea....

I wish I room for stacked Quad 57s!

[Marco]

You do - you're just too 'house proud' to allow it!

Look what I manage to sqeeeze into my little hovel, speaker-wise: and it works!!

I'd rather make room for stacked Quads and lose, say a sofa or a cabinet in my lounge, and revel in musical nirvana, than fret over the loss of furniture or how 'crowded' things look...... It's not as if you've got a wife to moan at you! Quite simply, life's too short not to indulge one's passions.

Take a leaf out of the book of the Japanese, who shoe-horn Tannoy Westminsters into a postage stamp-sized flat, shared by 15 of their relatives!!

[Advice given with the best of intentions, mon ami]

Marco.