Solid State Amps for Quad ESL 57?


My system is feeling pretty tube-y and I was looking for suggestions of a solid state amps that people are liking with their original Quad ESLs. Looking for more speed and more of the bass I know the Quads can put out if set up right.
dhcod

Showing 4 responses by geoffkait

I've known Ric for like forever.  He probably got it from me. 😃

bdp24
I, like Geoff, took the metal grilles off my Quads. Big improvement! I also removed the rear grilles with their attached absorptive pads, about which Quad owners have mixed opinions. If done, the speakers must be further from the wall behind them.

One fanatic Quad owner I new went so far as to removed the plastic dust covers from his 57’s! That leaves the ESL drivers free to attract dust, leading to their early demise it is said.

I also removed the plastic dust covers. Another good idea. And guess what? Never had a problem with dust and there was no early demise. Or later demise. When operating correctly sans grills and plastic dust covers the Quads can be placed so there is no toe in, which is really best, and the distance between the speakers can get determined precisely using the speaker set up track on the XLO Test CD.

I had Quad 57s and there was precious little bass until I put them on Arcici stands, removed the metal grills and upgraded the power cords. Then the Quads had excellent solid bass and were much more open and dynamic. I drove the Quads with modded Dynaco tube mono amps with regulated everything and aircraft grade tubes. At that point in time I had an isolated air bearing Maplenoll turntable with special 50 lb platter and 500 feet of air tubing and two air flow buffers.

If you haven't done so already I highly recommend removing the metal screens. It's shocking how much of a (negative) impact the screens make.