When Mrs Pinkie is not at home (I reckon!).

I may bottle getting ESL's at this stage.  There is only so much "I told you so" that a boy should be expected to endure in a life in HiFi, and there is a serious risk that they don't sufficiently outperform the Ventricals to justify the intrusion in a small living room.  Or worse - that the Ventricals outperform them.  In a decent size room, 6-8 feet off the rear wall, with a good 8-10ft to the listener, I would be pretty confident they would do something magic and special, and something the Ventricals could approximate but not match. 

In a small room, close to the rear walls, close to the listener - this could backfire! 

Now calm down dear (in best Michael Winner accent)

Let me explain.  This speaker business has been a bit of a saga - kicked off by Sue objecting to my "big ugly speakers".  Having played with R900's LS50's and Lowther Fidelios they are now those "lovely little speakers" and she is an evangelist.  If they went back into production, she is first pick for salesperson.  She has learned (and with the cartridge) just how good my HiFi is.  She knew it was better than her ex-husbands tower system, but through visits to Arthur and Owen, Sevenoaks Hifi (Dacs and headphones), Maidstone home media (cartridges and speakers) she has come to realise just how cherry-picked and special some bits are.  Particularly the speakers.

From my point of view, I realise I have moved from trying to replace or mend broken and flaky stuff (cartridge, then arm, then pre-amp, then power amp, and now bloody turntable)

I have moved from that to pursuing a sort of Elysian fields fantasy to reproduce a sound.  2 sounds.  One in my Dad's living room, when I bougt the reference system home for him and his mate to listen to their classical collection on, and one being the Sidcup factory system. 

I suspect that long standing champ of the ESL's that you are, you have never heard systems work like that.  The Sidcup factory is the biggest challenge.  I may stop short of 8 foot firedoors, and the 6 foot rat snake which used to bask on them, but we had stacked 57's in a room, which had carpets curtains and sofas, but was a light industrial unit with 10 foot high ceilings and probably a room 30ft by at least 20ft.  Various sources.  The imaging was jaw-dropping

Even the system in Dad's living room (ESL63's Quad 405-2(mod), Pip2, PT Anni, Helius Orion, Technics U205 was jaw-dropping.  The living room is about 15ft by 15ft, and on the wall opposite the sofa is an 8ft wide opening into a dining room.  The speakers were just inside and in front of this.  The Orchestra were playing on the patio - 20ft behind.  Never mind the natural tones, crystal clarity and realism of the ESL's - its that "audio stunt" I realise I am trying to recreate.

Is it an illusion?  A romantic memory?  I had convinced myself it was.  Until we went up to Owens and heard it reproduced very nearly as well there (by a fairly modest CD player and Dac).  So Sue has heard it too.  And knows what I am trying to recreate.  But you don't recreate it with the speakers close to a rear wall

And when the speakers have to be close to a rear wall - the Ventricals excel

Like I say - it could be a shot in the foot 

Well.....every room is different of course.

The best I've heard them was in the music room I had in Suffolk. The barn to the right in the pic was the room. 16 metres x 6 metres with the ceiling going right up to the apex at about 5 metres. Sitting 10 metres away certainly gave a totally different 'view' of the music than sitting up close. I still found a single pair adequate though and they seemed to drive the room pretty well including fairly deep into the bass.

OK, I'm slightly enthusiastic about the 57s but clearly they suit me and my expectations. One of my mates around the time I got the Quads had a full active Meridian system and he was blown away when he came round. Over the years I've listened to so many speakers that were obviously extremely good but somehow........

Anyway, as ever, its the room and the ears that count. I'll have Ronnie have a few words with your wife. When I suggested that my nephew was first in the queue for the 57's, she said he will have a long wait as, even if I go first, he will have to prise them out of her cold, locked mits

Though not metal by any means, Mike Oldfield is rumoured to have approached Quad with the idea of using two 8 x 8 arrays of Quad 57 ESLs for his live gigs.  128 Quad 57s - that's a lot of dosh!

Oh well, just means your'e deaf then

Well, the bits arrived, the work is done, to the accompaniement of "your not keeping 3 bloody pairs of speakers you know"

Captive nuts and M5 allen bolts, proper banana plugs on the connections to the drivers, working EX3's - no prizes for spotting the new one



Oh OK - heres a close up to help you



The new driver arrived with a sheet warning that it contained strong magnetic fields, was not to be handled by people fitted with pacemakers, to hoover the surrounding area before placing on a protective sheet (not the carpet) as the magnet sucks debris into the voice coils, and to hoover the grills before fitting and keep them fitted.  Fortunately it is the only speaker I can think of that sounds better with the grills on



It also warned that they needed to be switched on with the volume at zero for at least 5 minutes before playing music.  All instructions duly followed.  Erm - they're quite good.  This may prove embarrassing later, since I have a pristine beautiful pair of ESL63's in the wing, and we like the bloody Ventricals.  They are SOOOOO much better than the pile of poo I first listened to at Owens.  I could live with these.  I may not, when we start the head-to-heads, but I could.  That glare, that "forwardness" of the Audio Nirvanas (even with proper terminals) has gone.  So has the tubbiness.  And although this is a word I loath when used by others, they are really fast.  It makes you appreciate what the term means.  Drums in particular have a real instrument feel.  On simple program material (our reference track 1 - Katie Melua "Down and Out", but also Joan Armatrading "Love and Affection") they are holographic, and very rich and natural.  I know Sue is going to fail them on the swirling brushes on the snare drum test, so they clearly miss that last shaving of treble detail, but the ride cymbal rings out true and clear.

On more complicated stuff - it had to be "any colour you like" from DSOM - since that's what I first heard them playing 25++ years ago - they cope MUCH better than the Audio Nirvana version, but maybe get a big confused.  Not bad at all though.  Don't go running away with the idea that they are last nights Brazil team.  These speakers would taking Germany all the way to 90 minutes.

This could be embarrassing - since, although bigger than the Ventricals they are still fairly domestically acceptable compared with the ESL63's (which demand more floor than the Lowthers and Ventricals side by side). 

But these speakers now show how they can sell for around £5000 - and by a no-dealer network distribution method to boot! 

I'm not having bloody great horns in a bedroom.  No.  Surprising result.  Mrs S approved the Lowthers for the first 3 records, and then , as predicted , they failed the snare drum brushes test (also the big arm sweep test - an apparant soundstage arcing over the speakers).  She wants to put the Ventricals back in to prove to me they are better, but we are both impressed with these Lowthers now.

She's gone out with her parents - I feel some 63's coming on...