Newly retired, new house, rekindling an old flame (music)

[hifi_dave]

+1 from me for Dave at Radlett Audio.

Thanks lads for the support.

[User211]

Having owned (and still use) Quad 57 speakers for the last 50 years, I would endorse your recommendation. However, since they are unlike any other type of speaker (apart from other planar speakers), they need to be heard if your experience has been with cabinet enclosure speakers.

Quad 57s are not without their limitations:

They have a limited frequency response, ~ 40Hz - 15kHz.
They don't play loud: ~ 83dB/W, so a maximum of 100dB (which ought to be loud enough, unless you live in a forty acre field, or are a real headbanger).
Can only fed by an amplifier that is stable with largely capacitance loads.
They will be damaged if overdrive with more than 50W.

They also 'beam' badly in the vertical plane, and being a doublet design, are sensitive to room placement: requiring a minimum of 1m between the rear of the speaker and any parallel wall.

That said if you can accommodate these limitations you will be rewarded with a neutral, accurate sound free from colourations.

I had the clipping lights of a 600Watt class G amp on trying to drive Firebottle's 57's at a bake off.

I think they survived.

[Barry]

The quoted maximum voltage that can be applied to the Quad 57 ESL is 33V RMS. Any more than 45V peak will cause arcing between the stator panels, which will burn a hole in the plastic diaphragm. This is a simple matter of geometry and the dielectric breakdown strength of air. You can't translate this to power in Watts because the effective input impedance of the speaker varies between about 40 Ohm at low frequencies to less than 2 Ohm at high frequencies, so is frequency dependent.

You might well get away with higher power on short transients, but I wouldn't depend on it. One can fit a voltage clamping bridge on the secondary side of the input transformer, but some claim it affects sound quality.

[Jimbo]

Hi and welcome to AOS Alistair.

I have some experience with a fair bit of the equipment you are looking at.

I own the Wiim Pro plus and can certainly recommend it as a streamer and the AKM DAC it uses is excellent. I would recommend buying a straight forward integrated amp such as the Rega Brio, indeed I am going to try its bigger brother the Elex Mk 4 today as this will be the basis of a set up I have currently.

I use Spendor speaker and would say they always sound great with most front end equipment and indeed run SP2s with a Wiim Pro plus so I expect other Spendor models you maybe looking at will work well.

I have heard the Wharfedale Lintons and they are great. Big bold, rich sound with fairly detailed top end. I really like them and would even consider a pair myself. Should work well in your room size.

[User211]

The clipping lights were on for quite a few tens of minutes, almost permanently, Barry. Witnessed by others, too.

I'll send you a PM we're off topic really.

[Maelstrom]

The clipping lights were on for quite a few tens of minutes, almost permanently, Barry. Witnessed by others, too.

I'll send you a PM we're off topic really.

Morning all

Off topic is not a problem!

Any and all discussion arising from my posts is welcomed, and enjoyed. It's all part of the experience.

Alistair

[Macca]

The clipping lights were on for quite a few tens of minutes, almost permanently, Barry. Witnessed by others, too.

I'll send you a PM we're off topic really.

Barry was there at that meet!

Yes it did happen

I like the ESL but you me and Barry have very long rooms which are ideal for dipole speakers to work well. Plus I don't think they're the best choice for someone just starting over after a long time. Just too 'experimental'.

[Barry]

Yes I was there, but I don't remember the class G amp/Quad 57 combination. The demo might have been during the time when Marco, I (and I think Justin) plus a couple of others, went out for lunch.

I do remember Firebottle's Quad 57s being driven by my pair of Quad 510 monoblock amplifiers driven by a Mark Levinson ML26 preamp that I had brought along.

It has just occurred to me that Alan's Quads had been modified by him - they had an led fitted which showed if the speaker was being overdriven, and it flashed almost constantly, yet the speakers continued to perform well. So, curiouser and curiouser.

[User211]

Barry was there at that meet!

Yes it did happen

I like the ESL but you me and Barry have very long rooms which are ideal for dipole speakers to work well. Plus I don't think they're the best choice for someone just starting over after a long time. Just too 'experimental'.

Nah I disagree.

The first speakers I ever bought were a pair of Wharfedale Lintons. I definitely cannot recommend those, but I have never heard the reworked versions.

A retired man deserves better.

In a 16 by 13 I'd stick the 57's on the short wall.

I lived with Duettas in a 17 by 11-12 for years. That was crazy and intense. I can still almost re-create that just by sitting closer in a 35 by 14.

The Quads won't do the Apogee thing and will be way more relaxed in that sort of space.

Rabski from the Wam had a good pair of 57s that I thought were great at a Wam show, augmented by a ribbon super tweeter of some kind. The thing that fucked me up about that pair was walking from side to side. The change in frequency response was absurd.

I wonder whether that's what Barry meant by vertical dispersion being odd. Or whether that ribbon tweeter was doing odd things when combined with the ESL panels. I will probably never know.

The drink any power capability of Alan's Quad 57s though? I am stopping myself from posting AI assertions, but it did have some interesting ideas I was going to post to Barry.

Barry I just can't remember you. Sorry. I remember Martin like it was yesterday. And Alan. And Marco. And Ali.

[Firebottle]

The clipping lights were on for quite a few tens of minutes, almost permanently, Barry. Witnessed by others, too.

I'll send you a PM we're off topic really.

I had fitted the protection boards so I think that helped!