Electrostatic/Planar Speakers

[jandl100]

I know and agree where Mr C is coming from - Quads give part of the picture. If that part is important to you then they get away with it very nicely, but if you want an all round musical transducer then you do have to look elsewhere imho.

(Quad 63 owner for 7 years, 57 owner for a month or two)

[Mr. C]

On this forum that is without a doubt the biggest pile of pish ive ever read....

I see a hipster craft beer appreciator

[Sherwood]

Marco,

I would suggest a pair of Apogee Scintilla's would cause you some reconsidering even the stages.
Though quality amplification is required due to the rather silly 79dB sens and 1 ohm load lol

Still have a pair of Scintilla's and Calipers for nostalgia purposes, great but not forgotten.

Maggies can be decent to with the right supporting cast, but Quad's sorry never bought the hype ever, too much missing and over indulgent reviewer's tripping over their fornicating postures towards one of the biggest hypes in audio.

Having had all of the models pass through at one point or another, the only one model that did sound ok was the 989 with the Russian cap mod, that was passable, but butt ugly and average.

What? how dare a young whipper snapper criticise a UK audio legend?, what blasphemy you must surely be deaf?

Afraid not gents, dear fire up the slippers and crank up the mogadon chaps. Its just never going to happen, rather have to listen to a all naim 500 system being played through Royd Doublets and naca 4 cable that have to listen Quad static speakers.

Now the Quad big guns will no doubt posture about those legendary four stack 57's that were tweaked with in an inch of their lives on mystical valve amps and wondrous ethereal renderings springing forth from the heights of mount Olympus.

Total Uber Cock spread by the disciples of the cult of 57 (further reinforced by the later improved cult of 63)

Well have been there and so what?, yes they sound better than the stock units, but for the effort? this isn't the psychedelic 60's of Funking 70's boys this is not the land time forgot. Its real here and now reproduction and Quads make great elevator music (Is there such a thing as great elevator music?) with that lovely disjointed bass timing (sorry Bass? hum slip of the tongue there, approximation of lower frequencies with a smattering of phase incoherence).

Quad speakers like LP12's utter hype (nicely done though to fool all of the owners for that long you have to admire the marketing even before Marketing was key in a product success rather than the product actually being any good)

Are you getting the impression I do not like Quads'? you maybe on to something, having to sit through JJ's Quad demo's was like having to fly a Vespa to the moon on 2 star with a head wind on a frosty morning.

Very rare for me to have a rant these days and I am having a ok day as well. Quad can likened to substance abuse once you have been indoctrinated (Who Salisbury must have been watching in the early years!) you are are locked into the cult of Quad where everything else is considered 'Not Quad' though to be fair St Julian of Verker did take this mantra to another level a decade or so later!

Quad static owners should have to have a permit to allow use in a private dwelling between the hours of 4 and 7.30pm much like caravan owners should be restricted to only road travel between midnight and 6am on full moons.

Sorry chaps, Quad statics are like a hipster craft beer, promise so much deliver so little.

A definite case of Quadraphobia!
Quadraphobia.jpg

[wee tee cee]

I see a hipster craft beer appreciator

Tony,
Sorry I bit.

57s IMHO are very like headphones...frequency extremes are lost.

trouser flapping aint in the equation.

My box speakers are very good at what they do but ESLs are the cleanest sounding speakers ive heard apart from listening on cans.

What they do , they do unmatched IMHO.

[wee tee cee]

There ya go Tony, Sitting on that HiFi fence again

57s have brought me so much pleasure over the years they need a bit of sticking up for!

I listen to them and honestly think "im home "....not perfect by any means but gorgeous and magical in theyre imaging quality.

[TheMooN]

Tony,
Sorry I bit.

57s IMHO are very like headphones...frequency extremes are lost.

trouser flapping aint in the equation.

My box speakers are very good at what they do but ESLs are the cleanest sounding speakers ive heard apart from listening on cans.

What they do , they do unmatched IMHO.

Weeeeeeel, Sorry Tony, however I am going to have to put forward a somewhat contradictory opinion there, Yes the 57's are quite magical when not pushed beyond thier comfort zone and I I have owned my own original and in spec panelled 57's , also owned One thing rebuilt 57's, heard QUAD Musikwiedergabe 57's and a pair of Sheldon Stokes rebuilds imported from USA, and listened to a friends pair of origional quad factory 57's that are arguably the most 'musical' of the pack....However my current pair of ML Anniversary CLX to my ears have even more micro resolution performance, musical nuance and importantly, improved dynamic range, over any of the 57's previously mentioned.

Merely an an opinion of course.

[wee tee cee]

My 57s have given way to Reiver acoustic eddingdale mk2s with he the satori tweeter.

plumbed the 57s in last weekend-they are still magical in what they do with vocals and midrange......maybe im just an old romantic!!

[Gazjam]

Get some quality valve amplification in there Tony, the Eddies will show you they can match the 57’s for vocals and midrange.
With the added dynamic grunt and bass its the whole package.

Know your invested invested in Mr Wonfors amps, just an alternative way to skin a cat.
Just saying if your still hankering after that 57 magic.

You’ve still a lot of pain to go through until the new kit has bedded in though, let that pass and see where you are.

[TheMooN]

Not at all, as you say, on close miked singer songwriter or Bach cello concerto they Remain quite magical, I mention later ESL's Viz ML CLX mostly because the extra power handling allows one to pressurise ones room to an extent where micro details can become macro details within a 3D soundstage, should that be ones thang.

[User211]

Lotta truth in these last few posts. What is easy to see is there is commonality of agreement, really, on various Quads and how they perform.

57s just do mid range magic and nowt else really. 2905 did have a go at bass. CLX does good bass but gives up at 57Hz.

MLs and Quads fail at low volume where they turn into a wishy washy ill defined mess. The ML hybrids at least do bass well and sound quite dynamic. I owned MLs for 17 years.

I've never felt any urge to own Quads but I do see the 57s appeal. The other models I don't, really. Dull and muffled sounding I have usually found, with a total lack of meaty low end.

A high performance contemporary Apogee incorporating much of what Graz, Jon and I have learnt will simply amaze in many respects, but also feed you with so much auditory information it can feel like you are on information overload as you are literally assaulted with detail delivered at apparently blinding speed and with stunning levels of resolution. It is bloody addictive and highly exhilarating but coping with it will certainly not be everyone's cuppa as you sit there literally awestruck. But unusually for a planar they can do bass with more apparent definition and speed than the best cone speakers, and certainly lower and with more impact than any large ESL I have ever heard. But they do have excursion limitations so volume capability cannot approach a Wilson in the bass dept.

I do appreciate those who have heard older Apogees and smaller models than the ones I own might find it difficult to appreciate what I have said above, as I too have heard sub-optimal Apogees.

What's best then? Whatever you like, really. That simple.