Stacked Quads

[Jimbo]

Has anyone any experience of stacked Quad ESL speakers and which model would they recommend achieving this with.

Also how do you go about wiring up such a combination?

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi James
The Quad 303 is a very good choice with the ESL57 , but you need 2 x 303
Wire from your attenuator or preamp a cable ending in a 4 pin din for each
channel, making for Left both Left and right at the amplifier input available,
then the same for right this is then monoblock wiring The 303 is 500mv
sensitivity for full output so can tolerate 1 source driving 2 amps

You then have 1x 303 for left and use the Right output for top ESL57 and
left for lower ESL57 - you should have 2 lots of left being driven
then the same for the right.

ESL57's have a difficult impedance swinging 15 ohms at some frequencies
and as low as 2 ohms at high frequencies, so in this case stereo amps as monoblocks
driving 2 lots of left and two lots of right. Other amps can be unstable with the ESL57

Other options would be 2 x 306 with a little too much power but OK in this configuration
particularly with a passive attenuator , but the 303 was and remains probably the best
amp for them. 303's have a really nice sound with 57's

Cheers / Chris

[Jimbo]

Cheers for that Chris. So ESL 57,s and maybe 2x 303 unless I can get some amps suitable adjusted to drive the ESL,s?

I am just scoping this out at the moment because I have seen a fair number of ESL57,s going cheap.

[Macca]

303 is a good match but I don't see why any amp that has a good power supply and is unconditionally stable won't work just as well.

Jim have you considered that the ESL speakers might need a lot of work (which isn't easy to DIY)? Or have you a source for some minty ones?

[Firebottle]

+1 with Martins comments. Any '57 is getting on a bit now, I know my way around them but if you need replacement panels it can get expensive.

I've not actually heard stacked 57s but mine with a well sorted sub do sound rather wonderful.

:)

[Jimbo]

Hi Martin,

Good point, I presumed there would be a good few amps beside 303 that could drive them.

I have seen quite a few pairs going for under £500 so wondering if it could be a feasible possibility and have always liked the sound of electrotats. I believe stacked Quads can sound stunning.

My biggest problem isn't getting hold of them but having the space to place them - I suspect not in my current house.:(

[Macca]

A friend of mine bought some for around that money, they were excellent initially but soon deteriorated. He is a handy chap (built his own house etc) so he bought the refurb kit and dismantled them. There were all sorts of issues hidden underneath, including dodgy electrics, and the refurb was a massive job.

Don't want to put you off as stacked ESL are supposed to be one of the ultimate speaker systems, but buying 2 pairs for a grand and knocking up a frame for them is unlikely to be all you need to do.

[Jimbo]

A friend of mine bought some for around that money, they were excellent initially but soon deteriorated. He is a handy chap (built his own house etc) so he bought the refurb kit and dismantled them. There were all sorts of issues hidden underneath, including dodgy electrics, and the refurb was a massive job.

Don't want to put you off as stacked ESL are supposed to be one of the ultimate speaker systems, but buying 2 pairs for a grand and knocking up a frame for them is unlikely to be all you need to do.

Thanks for the insight regarding your friends experience. Might rethink this one as indeed I expect if there were problems I could soon rack up a large bill and a fair bit of frustration.

I will speak to Firebottle on this matter when I get a chance as he has Quads and will probably have some useful advice.:)

[walpurgis]

The rectifiers were dodgy on mine. I rebuilt them. Messy job, they were potted in tar! :)

[Barry]

The only Quad speakers you can stack are the 57s. The 63s and more recent designs are designed to simulate a point source; making them impractible for stacking.

Even with the 57s, there are two schools of thought about stacking. One (and suggested by Quad themselves) is to mount each speaker so the two fire forward, one parallel to the other. The second is to mount them so that the curvature of the two speakers is continued as a single arc.

There is a third option, whereby the lower speaker of the pair fires upwards towards the listener and the upper speaker is angled and fires downward. This is the arrangement I used when I briefly tried stacking Quads. Quad recommend wireing the speakers in series if using a single amplifier per channel; which was also used by me. Nowadays I would use either my Levinson ML-2s with the speakers wired in parallel, or to use a pair of 303s or 405s are described above.

If you do pursue the idea of staking Quads, carefully check out the provenance of any speaker you buy: many samples on the market have been abused and will need refurishing. And the best people to do that are Quad Gmbh in Germany who own the original jigs, and so will be expensive. If you send them to Quad in the UK, they will simply pass them on to One Thing Audio, who will do a decent job but be advised, One Thing's treble panel is not the same as the original design and sounds different (and IMO inferior).

Even so, stacked Quads sound absolutely stunning: they have better (more weighty) bass and the sense of presence achieved is palpable and uncanny. If only I had the space to keep them ....!

[The Black Adder]

I've only really heard a couple of sets of 57's and always been impressed. But the bass was lacking, no real sub bass. If they could present the same as my Tannoys I'd seriously get a pair.

[Arkless Electronics]

One of the best sounds I've ever heard was from ESL57's driven by a heavily modded (by me:D) Leak Stereo 20. A match made in heaven;)
Alas I have never heard stacked Quads:(

[Jonboy]

I had some fun a while back , doesn't time fly

http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?3341-One-weekend-only-revisited-with-Stacked-57-s

[PaulStewart]

Last time I had stacked 57s I drove them with Art Audio Tempo mono blocks, I have also used a 303 and a 405n neither o which required using one amp per side. The last set up also had a Decca ribbon tweeter per side and a bassette sub, sounded awesome.

[walpurgis]

The last set up also had a Decca ribbon tweeter per side and a bassette sub, sounded awesome.

Which Decca ribbon Paul, the DK30 or London? Both are very good.

Many years ago, I used the DK30 with Jordan Watts Modules. Quite effective.

[Barry]

Last time I had stacked 57s I drove them with Art Audio Tempo mono blocks, I have also used a 303 and a 405 neither of which required using one amp per side. The last set up also had a Decca ribbon tweeter per side and a bassette sub, sounded awesome.

Not too dissimilar to the Mark Levinson HQD ststem, save in your case, it would be the 'BQD' system. :)
'

[PaulStewart]

Which Decca ribbon Paul, the DK30 or London? Both are very good.

Many years ago, I used the DK30 with Jordan Watts Modules. Quite effective.

These were Londons. I think that was what Mark Levinson used in his stacked Quad system.

[stevied]

I run stacked quads with beam echo monos