Recommend an amp + pre for ESL 57s and a new turntable (way out of my league)

I worked for Roger Modjeski for 5 years and we restored my pair of ESL 57s together. There are some things that you would need to understand before selecting the approprate amplification for the speakers. First @peter_s made a good recommendation for the Music Reference RM-10. Although the story about the amp being designed by Roger for the 57 is more myth than reality. It just so happened he owned 57s and Vandersteen 2s at the time and he originally tested the amp on the latter but then put the amp on the 57s and found it worked well with them too.

Do your speakers have the "clamp" board. This is very important to know as without it your choice of amps is going to be very limited. The ESL 57s were designed to be driven by voltage, and as mentioned previously their voltage limit is about 35V. Exceeding this limit can cause the panels to arc and eventually fail. Even with the clamp board I wouldn’t go over board with amplification, or play them too loud. These speakers if operating optimally will be full of detail, even at lower listening levels. Another note as pointed out by @pindac is that the speaker presents a capacitive load to amplifiers. Very different than the resistive loads boxes and planars present to amplifiers.

You have a unique pair of speakers. It is best to learn as much about them as possible before making an amplification decision. There are good resources out there to learn from. My advice would be to be learn before you buy.

Thank you all for your responses!

@clio09 -- I am fairly certain that my speakers have the treble unit protection from the factory. It is my understanding that that's what you mean by Clamp Board? They are SN36228 and 36260. I know that this part, as well as the ETH unit, might need to be replaced? Do you have any advice on determining when to replace, which replacement parts to use, and other parts that might need replacement? I still have not actually listened to them as I'm worried about plugging in my HK.

@elliottbnewcombjr -- I appreciate the sentiment and see your point of view swapping the whole system out. At the very least I must keep the quads, they are of sentimental value to both my friend and I. I would like to try to keep the whole thing together, but if it turns out that the tt+cart aren't great for me, what should I be looking at instead? any MCs that come to mind? Turntables? Not sure how easy it is to sell this stuff and it would pain me to downgrade. Will definitely have someone check it out and inquire as to the hours on it. I don't have a ton of specific info, but I do know that all of these things have been well taken care of (not sitting in a hot storage unit or in an attic).

@pindac -- I am very, very interested in this neurochrome route. Is the model you're referring to the Modulus 86 (65W)? Can you provide any more information on what you mean by "a increased Power Output build of a N’chrome used A/B"? Sorry for the newb question.

@peter_s -- Thank you for the rec, the rm10 also seems like a great potential option.

It's not just the treble panel you need to be concerned about but it's good you have the protection circuit. My recommendation would be to reach out to one of the Quad experts, either Kent McCollum at Electrostatic Solution or Sheldon Stokes. I know Kent sells both the clamp and EHT boards and if you are handy and can DIY, they are not difficult to replace. Personally, when I bought my first pair of 57s I sent them to Kent to have them checked out. When I knew what I had to work with I was able to understand what it would take to restore them. 

Lot’s of advice, I have owned multiple pairs of 57’s over the years.  These aren’t starter speakers and do require some attention to detail to get the most out of them.  These are not an easy load for a lot of amplifiers out there and I would recommend tubes for the amplification, based on your limited budget for separates I would highly recommend an integrated, I would look for something vintage thats been updated or would also recommend the Quad amp/preamp combo the Bourne mentioned as those do sound good with the Quads and you can find the amps that have been updated for not a lot of money.  I have used integrated amps and gotten very nice sound from them with the Quads.  Kent from Electrostatic Solutions in KC likes to use ARC amps with his and he is not wrong with using higher powered tube amps with the 57’s and I ran ARC Ref 110 with my highly modified pair I got from Kent/Robin Wyatt and the sound was some of the best I have had.  I would recommend not to rush in your purchase and take advice from actual owners not forum surfers so you don’t wast the limited funds you have and buy the wrong piece(s) & not get the sound your looking for, also make sure you have the room for these as you need to get them out off your back wall for best results.

@pindac 

That article was an interesting snippet for me, especially as I am fettling a Garrard 301 turntable my dad gave me years ago.

The article contains a quote 

This is where we think the original designers, Peter Walker and D.T. Williamson, might have ended up as an ultimate statement product

I beg to differ.  Peter Walker knew the limitations of the original ESL, now known as the 57, and six years after its introduction started work on a completely new design, the ESL-63 which was finally released into production about 18 years later.  The ESL-63 has evolved through a few models up to the ESL-2912X released some weeks ago.  Not bad for a 60 year old design!

Major changes included: flat panels, not curved; integral dust covers; incipient ionization detection; protection from high input voltage; far kinder impedance characteristics; oriented for stereo not mono playback.

By far the biggest difference, and something that still differentiates from all other panel speakers, is the creation of a virtual point-source of sound about 1-ft behind the panel.  To visualise this, imagine a sound wave radiating from such a source.  The wave first intersects the centre of the panel, then expands outwards in a circular pattern.  Pater Walker's design creates eight concentric stators which approximate rings.  The signal to the outer rings is delayed according to the speed of sound to give the uncanny effect that the sound is coming from1-ft behind the speaker.

The result is that the sound is almost perfectly coherent, allowing the ear-brain to perceive a huge soundstage even in the presence of wall, ceiling and floor reflections.  By contrast, the ESL-57 has a very small sweet spot!