FS: Quad ESL63s, £450

[montesquieu]

I've been asked by a friend in the Hull area if I could assist the widow of a friend of his in selling a pair of ESL63. They are in the ash black/black cloth finish. According to the (consecutive 0235xx) serial numbers they are 1988 production and were purchased new by the current household in 1990.

Although she has a recollection of her husband acquiring boxes from Quad to send them for service, the lady hasn't been able to locate any service documentation so we have to assume they are all original. The asking price is £450, a remarkably small amount for what these can do. I haven't been able to get up to Hull to have a look at them, but I'm told they are in lovely condition and in full working order; they can be heard working in situ before purchase.

Anyway I'm able to put people in touch if they are interested in these, just PM for the lady's phone number.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/esl2_zps1943ebe4.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/esl2_zps1943ebe4.jpg.html)

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/esl3jpg_zps88696ca9.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/esl3jpg_zps88696ca9.jpg.html)

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/esl1_zps0aa83422.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/esl1_zps0aa83422.jpg.html)

[walpurgis]

They look lovely Tom.

[struth]

Ah, to have a bigger house.

[Gordon Steadman]

Ah, to have a bigger house.

It's a myth. I've had Quads working well in a 10' x 8' room. Still better than any other box - not that I'm biased you understand:)

[Andrei]

It's a myth. I've had Quads working well in a 10' x 8' room. Still better than any other box - not that I'm biased you understand:)
Gordon, is this in a damped room ( lots of carpets, heavy drapes, flies on the ceiling etc) or bare walls, or something in between?

[Gordon Steadman]

[QUOTE=Andrei;588442]Gordon, is this in a damped room ( lots of carpets, heavy drapes, flies on the ceiling etc) or bare walls, or something in between?[/QUOTE

Full of junk:lol:

Books and CDs behind, bed in front, cats everywhere, couldn't afford carpet. Basically, we lived in a cupboard when we were in London. They still sounded bloody wonderful.

A stitch of the room attached, you can see that the corners were only about a foot or two from the Quads. The cupboard door in the corner just missed.

[Andrei]

Now that is my kind of room - if I was in that room I would only need watering once a day.

[Oldpinkman]

Gordon mate

They work, but they don't shine. Not at their true best. A dipole needs to be clear of walls. A long way clear of walls. I use mine in situ (where I have them in photos I have posted) but for a "proper listen" they have to come a good 2 feet further into the room. At that point I am nearly wearing them like a pair of headphones. Ideally I would want them another 2 feet from the rear walls again, and me a good 10 feet from the speakers (I'd settle for 8 feet). They still have that revealing detail, the dry lack of colouration, but they get a bit dull at the top anywhere off axis, and they can't create the illusion of depth that they do in more suitable rooms. I love mine to bits, but if I were staying put, or if when we move we have a similarly small room, then they will be moved on and I will go back to the Ventricals, which do a better all round job in a room of that size.

And it takes a very tolerant Missus to allow speakers bigger than the curtains in a room. The kids take the piss out of me mercilessly on Facebook - with posts of my speakers and whether they reflect any particular size complex on my behalf

But if you have a suitable room, £450 is just a silly silly price, and someone should bite his hand off at the shoulder.

[Gordon Steadman]

Gordon mate

They work, but they don't shine. Not at their true best. A dipole needs to be clear of walls. A long way clear of walls. I use mine in situ (where I have them in photos I have posted) but for a "proper listen" they have to come a good 2 feet further into the room. At that point I am nearly wearing them like a pair of headphones. Ideally I would want them another 2 feet from the rear walls again, and me a good 10 feet from the speakers (I'd settle for 8 feet). They still have that revealing detail, the dry lack of colouration, but they get a bit dull at the top anywhere off axis, and they can't create the illusion of depth that they do in more suitable rooms. I love mine to bits, but if I were staying put, or if when we move we have a similarly small room, then they will be moved on and I will go back to the Ventricals, which do a better all round job in a room of that size.

And it takes a very tolerant Missus to allow speakers bigger than the curtains in a room. The kids take the piss out of me mercilessly on Facebook - with posts of my speakers and whether they reflect any particular size complex on my behalf

But if you have a suitable room, £450 is just a silly silly price, and someone should bite his hand off at the shoulder.

Cupboard, baronial hall, I've had both and in either case, the music....and I'm talking the music here, not the technical performance, came through 100%. It depends what you expect from your hi-fi, I don't give a stuff about the hi-fi but I need to get lost in the message.

As you say, that price is just plain stupid and anyone close to them should be round there this instance - no matter what size room they have.

By the way, I found that the 57s were far more forgiving of position than the 63s - don't know why, but then, as you know, I prefer the 57s anyway..

[Firebottle]

'....someone should bite his hand off at the shoulder.' :lol:


By the way, I found that the 57s were far more forgiving of position than the 63s

Now that's very interesting, I've never had the opportunity to hear '63s in a domestic environment .

:cool: Enjoying a 'mix' at the moment, 50:50 Finkbrau from Lidl and Belge biere from Carrefour, smashing taste, about 5.5%

Alan

[Gordon Steadman]

Now that's very interesting, I've never had the opportunity to hear '63s in a domestic environment .
Alan

Yup,

One of my friends in Croydon had a pair of 63s. When he moved in, we spent bloody hours trying to get them to sound right. In out shake it all about, ages it took. In the end it was, as Richard suggested, best half way across the damned room. The 57s, which I had just collected from storage, were playing before we set his up and sounded great just plonked down.

Mine are now about 600mm from the back wall and touching the side walls. It just all snapped into focus there and I haven't moved them since.

What made you try that mix of beers or were finishing everybody else's up (I almost said as usual:eyebrows:)

[Firebottle]

Cheeky bugger.
Now I think you know that we have an appreciation of real ales, so it was lets see what we can do with inexpensive beers/lagers available in France.
The Finkbrau would be described as a lager whereas the Belge bier is a little bland on its own, even though it's 6.2%.

So we tried a few mixes, after all a lot of different wines are mixtures of different grape varieties, so why not?

Sorry for the thread drift to the OP,

:cool: Alan

[Gordon Steadman]

Cheeky bugger.
Now I think you know that we have an appreciation of real ales, so it was lets see what we can do with inexpensive beers/lagers available in France.
The Finkbrau would be described as a lager whereas the Belge bier is a little bland on its own, even though it's 6.2%.

So we tried a few mixes, after all a lot of different wines are mixtures of different grape varieties, so why not?

Sorry for the thread drift to the OP,

:cool: Alan

Why not indeed:)

Thread drift is good for something or other......

[Elephantears]

Yup,


Mine are now about 600mm from the back wall and touching the side walls. It just all snapped into focus there and I haven't moved them since.



Getting them wide apart and close to the side walls did it for me too. Toed in directly at my listening position, so that I have about 1m to the inner corners, but 130cm to the outer corners. Before I got the positioning right I sometimes had this issue where the image would collapse into the space between the speakers, but that's not happening anymore, and the off-axis imaging has improved a lot, so it's not nearly so head-clamp sweet spot. I have them in a room 14'8" x 12, on the short wall, with a good bit of treatment in the corners behind them. At £450 for a working pair it's just ludicrous not to buy them if you can fit them somewhere.

[montesquieu]

Ahem chaps, anyone interested in buying this lady's speakers now?

[Ali Tait]

If I wasn't going on holiday today, I'd snap these up.

[TAD12]

Just a question. have these ever been serviced ?

T12:)

[montesquieu]

Just a question. have these ever been serviced ?

T12:)




Although she has a recollection of her husband acquiring boxes from Quad to send them for service, the lady hasn't been able to locate any service documentation so we have to assume they are all original.

A recently serviced pair accompanied by receipts usually sells for considerably more.

[TAD12]

ok. many thanks.
T12:)

[vtaylor]

Salut

Tempting, especially as there are boxes so I assume collection by a courier would be acceptable.

Question: is it known why servicing was envisaged if they work perfectly ?

Merci

Vernon

[montesquieu]

Salut

Tempting, especially as there are boxes so I assume collection by a courier would be acceptable.

Question: is it known why servicing was envisaged if they work perfectly ?

Merci

Vernon

There aren't boxes - there ***were*** boxes (the lady believes) some years ago but aren't now.

Quad ESLs do need servicing from time to time. Currently I'm told they work well.

Anyway these are collection only from Hull. I suspect if they were able to be couriered they would have sold on Day 1.

[vtaylor]

OK, thanks.

[montesquieu]

These are now reduced to £400, which is a stupidly low price for a fully working, well kept pair of ESL63s, but they have to go .... contact me for the lady's details.

And I'm fed up repeating to people - COLLECTION ONLY from Hull, go back and read the original post if you want to know why. This means they can't be shipped to Italy (two requests), France, Ukraine, Malaysia or anywhere else.

[Audio Al]

My GOD £400 :eek:

Come on people wake up , If I didn't already have a pair I would buy these , ( ORIGINAL OWNER ) :eek:

[Macca]

Yeah it's getting to Hull, though. Rest assured if they where within striking distance of me I would have had them. And I'm not even that keen on them. Thign about Hull is that it isn't near to anywhere.

[Barry]

£400 is an absolute steal! Come on Guys, you don't find a bargain like this that often!

[walpurgis]

Yeah it's getting to Hull, though. Rest assured if they where within striking distance of me I would have had them.

I'll second that and I do like them. Too far. Shame!

[montesquieu]

You'd think these were in Orkney or St Austel the way people are talking. Hull is less than an hour by motorway from Leeds or Sheffield and within sensible hifi bagging/afternoon drive distance of Manchester or the East Midlands. These do everything that a £5k pair of ESL2805s do (indeed they are possibly better). £400? I should get them myself and stick them in the loft.

[SPS]

A friend wants these (Ed Swift) so consider them sold... Please pm me the contact details Tom, and i'll pass the detail on...

Thanks..steve



These are now reduced to £400, which is a stupidly low price for a fully working, well kept pair of ESL63s, but they have to go .... contact me for the lady's details.

And I'm fed up repeating to people - COLLECTION ONLY from Hull, go back and read the original post if you want to know why. This means they can't be shipped to Italy (two requests), France, Ukraine, Malaysia or anywhere else.

[montesquieu]

these are now sold :)