Best Tube Amp/Preamp combination with Quad 2805s

Ralph, this comment is obviously coming over a year since the last post. Nevertheless, if you catch my comment, perhaps you could respond to my question.

You mentioned that the Quad ESLs have impedance curves that vary a lot as a function of frequency. So, rhetorically speaking, why is that diffrent than most speakers?

My question goes to a point that you and Al (Almarg) have made on numerous occassions. Specifically, in order to know what type of amp matches best with a speaker, be it conventional, electrostat, etc., one should try to determine what the designer had in mind when he/she voiced the speaker in question.

So ... in the case of Quad ESLs ... do we know whether the designer intended that the model in question be driven by a Power Paradigm amp or a Voltage Power amp? My sense is that your posts above permit the inference the answer is Power Paradign amps -- not Voltage Paradigm amps. Is that correct??

Perhaps a match involving an ARC type tube amp, which as you observed uses negative feedback to lower output impedance, might be a better match if the Quad ESL is hooked up to the 16 ohm tap (higher output impedance and higher gain too). However, you might point out in response that using the 16 ohm tap might achieve a smoother sonic presentation, but using the 16 ohm tap might be a non-optimal impedance match. That is the back impedance presented to the output tubes off the primary windings of output transformer might be outside the optimal range of the output stage, possibly causing increased distortion?

Your thoughts??

Thanks

Bruce

Thanks Ralph. Your explanation is pretty clear. Just curious -- while ESLs behave like a giant capaciter, do they also have capacitive negative phase angles?

Also, as I asked above, does the amp/ESL match again come back to what the designer had in mind when he/she voiced the ESL in question? Working with your example, if the Quad ESL has an impedance curve that looks like it was a giant cap (i.e., high impedance in the bass and tappering off to low impedance as frequency increased), and if the ESL was voiced to be driven by a SS amp, plugging a Power Paradigm tube amp would make it sound like a tuba. Conversely, as you posited, if the ESL was voiced to be driven by a Power Paradigm tube amp, driving it with a SS amp or low output impedance tube amp like my ARC amp would make it sound like Mickey Mouse.

So my point is ... don't we gotta know what Quad or any ESL company had in mind. Otherwise, you're gonna have a great ESL product that sounds like a tuba or Mickey Mouse on estrogen if the wrong amp is used.

Do you know in fact what Quad has in mind with its current ESL offerings? I surmise that since you think one of your OTL amps would be a match made in heaven, an inference is permitted that my tube amp would not sound very good - (like Mickey Mouse on estrogen).