Drop a line to Roger Sanders at www.Innersound.net and ask how he thinks his EROS would perform with them. He might not even try to sell you one of his amps, he is a very kind and helpful person. The Ja-30 is a bit underpowered for the Quad 63 unless you do not listen at high spl and are not in for big orchestral stuff. All the Sound Labs are rather power hungry in my experience, The smaller Martin Logans are hybrid jobs, which also would need more power, I feel. Of course, if you are not a fan of deep bass, the original Quad ESL and your Jadis would be a match made in heaven in my opinion, although they are more wide than tall in size, sort of like oversized old fashioned electric heaters. They don't play loud, but they have the best midrange rendering to this very day, they say! Haven't heard the Finial, so possibly that could be an option too, also the smaller (narrow and tall )Audiostatics from Holland. Cheers, |
Two other options to consider would be the Martin Logan CLS II. Again, not much in the way of deep bass--they are a pure electrostatic design. The only downside, is the foot print is not very small. Another option, and this would be where I would head, would be bi-amping a pair of martin logans (perhaps the re-quest). The bass can be handled with a relatively inexpensive class B operating amp, but your tubes on top would sound fantastic. This would give you the bass, dynamics, and pretty much everything for a great 2 channel listening and still be very very respectible for home theater--still not as dynamic as your B&W--but I don't think any electrostatic will be. |
I recently reread an old Stereophile where Dick Olsher reviewed the JA-30s and felt they were made for the Quads, particularly if you don't need to listen at high spls. I'd give them a try if this matches your listening tastes. |
Here's a good link with more links: http://www.amasci.com/esloud/eslhwto.html
Tubes are really only best with electrostats once the transformers are removed. I.e. no impedence matching transformer on the panels and no transformer on the tube amp. This does mean the amp has to be optimized for the panels. But that's the best and most cost effective way to do it. I wouldn't rip up your JA-30, but for aftermarket amps with aftermarket speakers its alot tougher to get it great. I think the old acoustats were designed like that. |
I am aware of the Quads(I heard a used pair at a friends) and thought thier highs were faint, thier mids were amazing and bass I could live with. After all I have two Valodyne 12" subs to add as much bass as I need. What about a panel of ribbons, Aogee,Magnepan,Carver? Again thanks for the inputs, this is very helpful in narrowing my options. |
I think you're likely to be disappointed with any of those ribbons, as my experience in listening to them at friends' and at dealers (we're talking Apogees and Maggies) has been that they need lots of power to come alive (the joke was Carver designed his huge Silver 7 tube amps so he'd have something able to drive his speakers). An exception might be the smaller Maggies (1.6 and below), although I've only heard them with solid state amps of 100+ watts so couldn't tell you for sure. Nice thing about the JA-30s is that they're relatively portable, maybe you could take them to a Maggie dealer or to someone who owns the Apogees and Carvers to find out in person. There are Apogee and Maggie user groups on the web, I understand, maybe you could check those sites to see if anyone has tried your amps on those speakers. Good luck--those are great amps (with a lot better bass than you'd expect), I wouldn't give up on them. |
Rcprince is right, they are wonderful amps. Maggies and Apos are more power hungry than one might think. They need power to make them shine, ALSO the SMALLER Maggies! The highs on the Quads are better than one might think, though the sweet spot is perhaps small, if you talk the old ESLs. It depends on the speaker cables to some extent. Cheers, |
I think 30WPC push-pull tube amps are the perfect match for the Quad '57s. Haven't heard the Jadis, but certainly the McIntosh MC-225 and the Berning EA-30 are great. |
I would cast a vote for the Quad 57's and your amps would be a great match. Be sure to get a pair with proper panels. The diminished high end output you experienced could be a bad bass panel. When right and when in their tiny sweet spot the 57's are amazing. |
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Congratulations! I know, uncalled for advice is a pain in the xyz, however... try to place them about 1/3 into the room along its longer side and then play with toe in. If the room is narrow, don't be afraid to go near the side walls, planars can be placed much closer to them than cone speakers. Leave power on at all times and give them some time to break in. I'm sure you'll love them and if all goes well, they should give you at least 10 years of trouble free operation. Happy listening! |
Detlof, I must have missed something, what did Tateb get, Quads? |
Oops and thanks Rcprince, in a bout of Alzheimer I thought it was Tweekerman's thread and he had bought the 988s. Its Tateb's of course. So my apologies and thanks Rcprince for making me set things right. Regards, |
Tateb since you have the best only the best speaker will do. so the quads don't fully do it for you with another amp. have you heard the quads on your amp? if not the quad988 then you might want to call Daryl at digital systems in austin tx. 512-335-6019, Daryl is a distributor for a australian speaker, has a full ribbon with a woofer. he likes them better than quads , he sells kora amps. and as you know kora is second best only to the jadis. go ahead and bragg about your jadis, do they channel the music as close to live as possible? |
My first reaction would be to recommend a pair of Original Quads, perhaps rebuilt by the Electrostatic Doctor with lighter panels and separate power supplies for the bass and treble sections. Given the "small footprint" criterion, though, hybrids come to mind.
You might consider the InnerSound Eros with InnerSound's amp driving the bass, and the Jadis on the panels (assuming Roger Sanders gives it a thumbs-up). If you want the Jadis to drive the whole shebang, then I suggest the Sound Lab Dynastats, which (unlike the full range Sound Labs) are fairly efficient (about 88 dB) and a rather easy load to drive, especially for an electrostat. I have a fair amount of experience with the Dynastats, having owned them and being a dealer, so I could help you out with set-up tips and a few tweaks. I don't think the little Jadis is beefy enough for the Quad 63/988/989 type.
I'm afraid your lovely little Jadis doesn't offer you a whole lot of options when it comes to driving electrostats. Nor would it work well driving a full-range ribbon or planar magnetic speaker.
How about the Kithara, from Heil? It uses a modern incarnation of the famous Heil driver from 700 Hz up and has a reasonably small footprint. It's a 4 ohm load, but it's 94 dB efficient, so your Jadis ought to drive it quite well. The bass is a little on the fat side (or so it seemed in the room I heard it in), and it does like plenty of breathing room around it. But at four grand retail, it has few rivals. In fact, it has few rivals even at twice the price. Nope, I don't sell 'em.
Just my $.02. |
Thanks for all the input from everyone. There had to be some compromise in dynamics that the 801's produced. I have decided on the Quad 63 USA Monitors with the Arcici stands. I will start the resistor & capacitor tweeks on them soon. My interconnects are Straight Wire Crecendo and my speaker wires are Sonora Desert Cable. I am satisfied with the interconnects, but I'm not sure if the speaker wires are the right match for the Quads. Has anyone experienced the right speaker cable for them? Thanks in advance. |
Tateb, the speaker wire, which you can buy through Roger Sanders (www.innersound.net) are very nice for Quads and they don't cost a packet. As for the tweaks you've mentioned, please take the Quads off the line current 24 hours or so before. (You could also shunt the transformers to ground, if you know the right points) They store power for a long time and touching them can be deadly. I've used two Solen caps at 100nf each for the mod and placed them outside the speaker, next to the binding posts, glueing them securely down, to prevent vibration. The resistor is a 1.5 ohm, which I soldered inside. The result was very nice, slightly more open midrange and a tad sweeter highs. The parts quality Quad uses is quite shocking, considering that the signal goes right through the cap and resistor, straight from the amp. Cheers, |
