Quad 2805 v. Quad 57

Full disclosure: I sell and service Quad speakers so you can take my comments with the proverbial grain-of-salt.

The 2805 is a great speaker. It is a Quad! Basically it is the old ESL63 with an updated frame. The more rigid frame and additional mass versus the ESL63 does give the speaker a tad more resolution and a bit more bottom end authority. None of this is a dramatic. Many people would probably never know the difference.

2805/63 versus the 57. Depends on what you want. To my ears the ESL63 eclipses the original in every area of performance. The ESL57 is more forgiving, more euphonic if you like. For some this is exactly what they want.

The newer Quads are far more neutral than the original, more resolving even in the critical midrange and much better at the frequency extremes. SOTA performance in terms of soundstage/image presentation. It is also more dynamic and plays about 3dB louder than the original. The ESL63/2805 is a more honest/literal speaker.

IMO SET amps are not the ideal match with Quads. Frequency response and clipping problems will most likely be an issue.

I have seen nothing about the new Quads that would make me believe Quad has a significant QC problem. Stats are tempramental by nature. This may not be ideal for some users or dealers. In general the Quad designs are robust and reliable. I have seen many 20+ year old in my shop over the years that are in fine working condition.

If you want the latest and 'best' Quad and can afford the 2805 you can't go wrong. IMO a properly rebuilt ESL63 is about 90-95% of the 2805. Like any company that has been building basically the same thing for 30 years, a few changes/refinements will occur over the years. But the new Quad 2805 is essentially the same speaker as the original ESL63.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Don't worry about Quads and the size of the power amp. The speakers are equipped with protection circuitry to handle any issues. I personally use 280 watt/channel tube amps. Not because the Quad needs that much power, they don't by a long shot. I use that much power because I like what that kind of power does for the Quad, more specifically what the power supply will do in an amp that size.

All electrostats like power amps that have large, stable supplies. This describes the type of supply one will genrally find in large output amplifiers. Some smaller amps will have this type of supply but they are generally the exception rather than the rule.