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
Hi Clio09 - the bass impedance hump at 100 hz can be managed by modified placement in the room, especially when it is a fairly large room. See pic 41 on my virtual system. It is roughly 20 x 24 with stairs going up at the back end.
I could never go back to running the speakers in stock mode on the 3 wooden legs. This setup with mid panel at approximately 44 inches, fills the room with sound. and also pretty much eliminates the head vice characteristic of the stock mode.
The preamp has two direct outputs. I am running the Quads full out on the RM10. 
My subs receive a separate direct signal from the preamp and are crossed over at 60 hz. The subs each have Class A/B amps with Linkwitz-Riley crossovers. So with the RM10, three amps are being used in the setup.

Chris,

Sounds like a nice set-up. What subs are you using? My room is 12' w x 18' d and there is a lot of stuff taking up space. So I am pretty limited in placement. I have them about 4' out from the front wall and they are on wood spider legs so they are lifted off the floor. This does make a difference versus the original feet in my opinion, although I'm sure Peter Walker had a good reason for having the speakers so close to the floor.
Clio09
The subs are Dynaudio Acoustics BM12s . In the search to replace the previous sub they were a kind of dark horse for me. Not really known in the consumer area in North America, but well known and used in the recordings studios. For serious listening it’s just me really, so my setup with two works really well with me sitting in the area of the couch position. If I was to extend the seating "around" the room, and needed good sound all around the room, one could just add one or two more in master slave fashion. Each sub has its own 250 Watt Class a/b amplifier. I was given the ability to trial them first.
The subwoofer category in the audiophile world has to be at the top when it comes to # of choices these days ? So many choices. I find the companies like to call the way they control their woofer by a special code name. Dynaudio’s special woofer control is called CEC (Cone Excursion Control) :^)

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Your comments re; RM3 settings on the OTL versus Push Pull amp were very interesting - thanks for that.

There is no significant difference in the RM-3 settings with either the amps. Sometimes I trim the high end a couple dB when running the RM-10 depending on the music. I run the M-60s with 4 tubes each channel so probably about 20 watts. I do use Speltz autoformers with them at 3x setting so that bumps up their power at some frequencies.

My Quad room has an adjacent music room which is really my main room - defined by (where do I go if I need a quick fix) Fwiw the Quad room can not be called my main room because the right sub is placed in very close proximity to where my wife sits upstairs ......anyway.

So I was running 200 wpc OTL’s on the matrix 800 in that room. It was sweet and very nice. Then one day when they were being serviced, I subbed in my modded RM9. It outperformed the OTL’s in the bass department with half the power. That was sort of the beginning of the end for them.

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sorry to digress back to the Quad 57.

The three wood legs allow the speaker to be planted well. This is important. When raised it is important to affix them in a way to allow for the same thing to happen. Stock presentation is like viewing an orchestra from a balcony. I have spent time in the balconies, but it is more the norm to be in a room with multiple tables, and the band/group of musicians on an elevated stage. So the first mod was a 2x4 piece of wood under the rear leg - lowering - the projection angle of the speaker - but - raising - the soundstage. This is one example for me of "Audio Magic" happening in this Audio Hobby. When you experience this the first time, it goes against the way we think. IMO, we don’t generally think about the back wave on an ESL.

From there the speakers were raised onto Arcici stands and moved 7 feet out into the room. This provided the best bass in the space, but I needed better sound dispersion. Raising another foot did it. If you click on the runner and see pic 41 - the last one shows current setup from the last year. The subs are positioned with the woofer cone slightly forward of the speakers with 0 Phase.


That is an interesting set up for the ESL-57s. The Dynaudio subs sound interesting as well. I may look into them a bit more.

The spider legs I have do use a three leg approach like the original. The back leg is affixed in the exact position as the original. The difference is the bottom of the panel is now raised about 14" off the floor and the and panel is no longer tilted back. I am going to try and push them out into the room a bit more. I probably have another foot to play with.

I can say these speakers were a game changer for me in a lot of ways. Even in stock form. I'm regret it took me so long to get there.
Chris (ct0517), a man sharing my point of view, both figuratively and literally! I too prefer to look up at the stage, and find many, many loudspeakers to produce too low an image---as you said, a balcony perspective.

Hello to all Quad lovers! :)
I'm running stacked 57' with JAS super tweeters and with Audio Aero Prestige mono's, in parallel.
Also 2 MJ Acoustics Ref.1 subs with modded cabinet.
Quads were 100% rebuild by Kent and each speaker has Valhalla shotgun speaker cable.
I built the frame from the scratch (not using the original frames) and as much as I wanted to make life easier for myself and have them in the strait line, I always liked when each pair can be tilted separately, facing my ear level. Frame is from maple-ebony real wood and it weights over 200lbs and with adjustable tilt.
Bottom pair is in the similar tilt and position like would be on the original legs and the top pair are tilted downward a bit.
Probably most will not agree with this setup, by this way I got the best detail and transparency and suits my taste.

I'm very, very happy with the sound, but I'm tired of searching for tubes!
I'm looking to  replace my amps with SS. I'm thinking two stereo SS's on each side, one speaker per channel.
The only problem is finding those SS amp's and at reasonable cost! :)

Best,
Adam

If a pair of low-watt Pass amps are too rich for your blood, the old Bedini 25/25 is considered one of the all-time best ss amps for the Quad. They show up from time to time, the last one I saw selling for $795 here on Audiogon.
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.

I don’t have the screens since I build different, much sturdier and heavier frames.
Also removed the felt form the bass panels.

https://postimg.org/image/6vpz9zqm7/



Post removed 
Geoff is SO right about the stock perforated metal screens on the 57---horrid things. Jerry Crosby (known for his QUAD 63 mod) at one time made a replacement for it, with much larger holes and much less resonance.
Thanks noromance......just a bit different way! :)

If no kids or pets, I really don't see a reason to have any kind of screen!
Before the rebuild, in original state, I tried the difference with and without screens and immediately I knew that the screens are out!
Another controversy is on this link:
https://www.cnet.com/news/first-watt-f7-very-special-amplifier-dazzled-the-audiophiliac/

In the end of the review it says that the FirstWatt F-7 sounded better than the ASR Emitter II amplifier!!

Like saburo said, ASR Emitter II amplifier is the amp of choice for 57’s and the best match of Chesky, Wyatt!
And when I wanted to replace my tube amps with two FirstWatt F7 amps (one amp for each side) and speaking with Marc from Reno HiFi, he said that the F7 can’t drive a pair of 57’s.
He recommend PASS XA-30.5, or 30,8 at list!
Just to clarify if I was misunderstood with my post from above!
The way I want to run my stacked 57's is with two stereo amps and each amp to run one side of the stack! Each amp needs to be bridged and use both amp outputs, for each speaker from the stack!
That is the reason for the Pass Labs would be a better choice!
Also my point was that I trust Mark from RENO HiFi more than the reviewer from that link above!
Mark knows his stuff and would never sale you what is not right product for you!
Only if you insist! :)
We've had a number of customers running stacked Quad 57s. They used our M-60 amplifiers, and the Quads were wired in series. David Magnan of Magnan Cable fame ran this combo for years prior to his retirement.