12 x ESL 57 's + 12 Quad 2 Amps

[Audio Al]

I would love to have had a listen

WOW


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[hifi_dave]

Well, I heard Robertson-Aikman's system at SME, many years ago, when he had 14 stacked Quads and it was horrendous.

[Sherwood]

I would love to have had a listen

WOW


20150513153015_70.jpg

Was that the left or the right channel?

[Barry]

Well, I heard Robertson-Aikman's system at SME, many years ago, when he had 14 stacked Quads and it was horrendous.

Care to elaborate? In what way did it sound 'horrendous'?

[RothwellAudio]

Did Mike Oldfield tour with a PA comprising Quad electrostatics and Quad IIs? Is that pic from a gig?

[Barry]

I would love to have had a listen

WOW


20150513153015_70.jpg

The directivity in the vertical plane would be poor, worse than with a single speaker, and I'm not sure how well the speakers would integrate phase-wise in the horizontal plane. So the imaging and soundstaging could well be poor, though the bass response would be greatly improved over a single speaker.

Mike Oldfield (of 'Tubular Bells' fame) approached Quad to ask if they would build him such an array for his PA system. Not surprisingly, they said the 57s were not suitable for such an application, but I believe they went ahead and built such an array for him. I think I have seen photos of it somewhere. Will have to see if I can find them.

[Barry]

Did Mike Oldfield tour with a PA comprising Quad electrostatics and Quad IIs? Is that pic from a gig?

I don't think so. From memory Oldfield's system used an aluminium(?) frame for the array.

[hifi_dave]

Care to elaborate? In what way did it sound 'horrendous'?

Robertson-Aikman played almost exclusively Opera - that's what he loved. With so many speakers stacked, the voice images were enormous, like giants singing on the stage. On peaks, the stack of Luxman mono block amps were running out of steam and were clipping. So, not very pleasant all round.

The system had 4 per channel ESLs at the front and 3 per channel at the rear. Beautiful room decorated as an Opera House complete with Blackamoors at the entrance and suitable comfy seating. Must have cost a fortune.

[Barry]

Taken from http://www.mikeoldfield.org/index.ph.../1979-exposed/

“Mike asked Tom Newman to go on the tour and put together the PA system with Quad Electrostatic speakers. Quadraphonic sound was then in vogue. Newman told David Porter these speakers "have a lovely sound but have got no projection. We had this enormous row about it and I left the tour. Phil Newell took my place and virtually on the eve of the thing starting forced Michael into a compromise. Everything I originally wanted actually happened but not with me having anything to do with it."

Still looking for any images of the Quad speaker array.