I am not Mr A., but perhaps I can help, as I have owned a few pairs of ESL57 (one of my high-end glories was meeting Peter Walker at the factory entrance hall, as I was buying ESL57 replacement panels to built speakers at the Huntingdon factory when I was still a student) and still own ESL63.
The midrange of the ESL57 is very clear and transparent, can even sound crispy with some electronics, but unhappily it is not easy to integrate in a system. Many people modify them from stock, changing geometry , stacking them and removing the back absorbers, but IMHO they only manage to kill the beauty and magic of their sound. They are very limited in dynamics and again IMHO they have more coloration than the ESL 63 (many people, most of them who never listened to both Quad ESL's will disagree ).
Contrary to popular belief, that tells us that placement of the Quad's is not critical, as they are dipoles with a figure of 8 radiation pattern emitting very little sideways and with a very controlled decrease of angular radiation with frequency, I have always found that placement and room acoustics were very critical with them. In the wrong room they sound thin and lifeless, in an adequate one they sound big and lifelike, to the point you will often risk their integrity for the pleasure listening to large symphonic orchestras or the dramatic intensity of "Un bel dì vedremo" of the Puccini "Madama Butterfly" opera.
I once had the pleasure of listening to opera in an all Quad system using the ESL 63 setup by Peter Walker - this great man really knew his speakers!
And yes, Davey, I also have been told that most music lies in the midrange. But other people tell me that you will need to have great bass foundation to have a proper system and I can not support unpleasant treble. It is really a terrible hobby!
Hello fellow audio people. I just joined the forum. I know several people here from other fora.
"What is the best speaker I have ever owned?" After 40 years of audiophilia I "have come home": to Apogee Divas. Frankly, I never knew recorded music could sound so real. For several decades, I have made a point of touring the audio shows and the audio shops around the world as I traveled. I have heard countless systems at friends' homes. I have heard most of the contenders to the throne: the big Wilsons, big MBLs (which are my second bests), the Sound Labs, big Maggies, Magico Q7 ... you name it. But I must say that none of them can capture the essence of music quite like big Apogee ribbons. I'm sure I would love the Scintilla and the FR too, but the Divas seem balanced just right in my room, driven by big ARC tube amps. I may be set for life in the speaker department (famous last words), although a long-term electrostatic DIY project keeps calling to me...
Hello fellow audio people. I just joined the forum. I know several people here from other fora.
"What is the best speaker I have ever owned?" After 40 years of audiophilia I "have come home": to Apogee Divas. Frankly, I never knew recorded music could sound so real. For several decades, I have made a point of touring the audio shows and the audio shops around the world as I traveled. I have heard countless systems at friends' homes. I have heard most of the contenders to the throne: the big Wilsons, big MBLs (which are my second bests), the Sound Labs, big Maggies, Magico Q7 ... you name it. But I must say that none of them can capture the essence of music quite like big Apogee ribbons. I'm sure I would love the Scintilla and the FR too, but the Divas seem balanced just right in my room, driven by big ARC tube amps. I may be set for life in the speaker department (famous last words), although a long-term electrostatic DIY project keeps calling to me...
What do you use to drive your Apogees? I know some of them the scintillas?...had a 0.5ohm impedance load in some areas.
they were an obvious match with krell, I never heard them with tubes. the consensus back then was only SS need apply.
I use two modified Audio Research D-250 Mk II Servo amps. I doubled the power supply energy storage to about 1100 joules per amp. I use one stereo amp per channel for vertical bi-amping arrangement. The Diva, unlike the 1-ohm Scintilla, has a nice 3- to 4-ohm impedance so I can use the 4-ohm taps on the ARC amps. I have extensively modified the Apogee DAX 3 crossover (not the crossover frequency choices, just mods for sound quality). The combination works very, very well. The sound is effortless, immense, neutral, detailed yet subtle.
The Grand is certainly interesting, but it is chock full of old opamps in all the electronics in front of all the drivers (I have the full set of schematics), so it would need some work, even if the electro-mechanical parts are the best.
Fantastic...How is the bass on the Divas? I am a bit of a bass freak...not necessarily loud, but always trying to get it tighter and also able to really punch hard. I found the Stages very good in the upper bass with almost too much punch at the time...casual observation not lots of intense auditioning...just wondering if it evened out with the Divas...and also if it packs a wallop down below. Would love to hear a pair. Still remember the Stages.
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