Originally Posted by
montesquieu
Quad ESLs do some things superbly - that micro-detail, the left-right placement (though it's 2D ... they can't really do 3D), fine expression and accurate timbre. It's hard to get these elements at that quality elsewhere even if you spend a lot, lot more. I loved mine, my second pair in particular which were quite special in the improvements made to them. So sweet, so intimate, so pure.
However, it all fell apart when an old schoolfriend came round - a guy who was a close mate in the 70s, we went to our first concerts together (at the SNO Proms at the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, when we were both in our mid-teens) but who I had hardly seen in 30 years. He was impressed at the look of the hifi and wanted to hear it .. I said go for it and he looked at my record collection and pulled out a Mahler symphony.
To be frank, it was underwhelming. And at that point I realised that my listening had shunk over the previous 2-3 years of having ESLs, to the point where I was only playing stuff that sounded good on them - string quartets, baroque trios, small jazz combos, Lieder. No big rock, big orchestras, no full monty piano music, no full-scale organ. Half my record collection was going unplayed - though because the other half was sounding lovely, I was reluctant to admit it.
I went back to Tannoys .. the wife loved their ability to fill the room, the fact that she could sit off to the side marking essays and exam papers and not lose the treble (ESLs beam badly and have a tiny sweet spot), that they sounded great from the next room too. It took me a few years, experimenting with cabs and crossovers and over 30 different amplifiers to breed out the Tannoy weak spots, but it **is** possible with a bit of effort. It's not possible to do that with ESLs because, to coin a phrase, ye cannae change the laws of physics.
If you are looking for Tannoy or JBL versatility and impact, then ESLs (or, frankly, most other panels with the exception of Apogees) will not get you excited. (And Apogees require serious amplification). I bought some ESLs not so long ago to try them again out of curiosity but I couldn't live with them now, despite re-experiencing their charms. They went again pretty sharpish.
So .. what are you missing? Depends what you are looking for in a speaker. Could be - not a lot.