Sorry you got Pinkie!

Kevin (Wonky Custard) recently heard 57's at a couple of AOS forum members houses - and liked them lots at Alan (Firebottles)

Alan (Firebottle) of course uses them.

Kevin is hopefully coming here to visit so my wife can play with his daughter (I bet she gets the Brio out) and Kevin can hear my 63's (and the rest of my system, pretty obviously)

I have been discussing with him the differences between the 2 and some of their limitations / room demands.

I have used 57's, stacked 57's and the 63's - as have Arthur (and Neil) at PT, and Owen and his brother Andrew (who currently have both)

My wife Sue also heard both at Owens house, and can't understand why anyone would choose the 57's (she is very black and white - no shades of grey - when it comes to HiFi)

If you are planning a trip to the Pyrenees...

You're welcome

I was about to cut and paste some of my email comments to Kevin - then realised they are a bit flippant and refer to people, and so need a bit of sanitising, but happy to share my thoughts further if you are interested - after an essential trip to the pub

But there is not substitute for hearing them

Barry who drops in here from time to time has used these for decades.

Now that is interesting.

I wonder which part of Essex ?

Phil, PM him. He's a very nice man (madam) and is a well respected moderator on AOS. I feel sure he would accommodate you at a mutually convenient time. Personally I wouldn't hold back and simply send that PM.

Greg

Barry a real gent

One thing putting me off a set of ESLs is the servicing costs.
With older speakers like this, you have to take this into account before taking the plunge.

James (Sovereign) has heard my 63's too - although in less favourable circumstances than I hope Kevin will.   The room was smaller - the speakers were too close to the listeners - we were listening across rather than along the room, I was using the Quad 405-2 not the AHB2 and the PT hadnt had its mods.  In spite of that - James quite liked them

A few points

The 63 needs stands.  For years I assumed they were supplied with the speaker




Like the 57 they do not work at their best in a small room.  As I said to WOnky - they work in a small room, like a Ferrari works in a car park - but is that the point?

I understand what Jerry is talking about - it appears to be forum gospel, but in many years of making the comparison I have never met anyone (live) who preferred the 57's to 63's for music listening.  The 57 does have that "purity" -especially around female vocals, but for me  it is a HiFi dem feature.  They don't image.

The following is (slightly doctored) from my email to Kevin

The 57 was the original idea, and is a simple implementation with different panels for bass and treble. The 63 has better power and bass handling, but also the ESL63 uses a unique radiating system. The diaphragm surface is divided into concentric circular areas fed by delay lines. An impulse fed to the speaker goes first to the centre of the circle, then in turn to each larger ring until it reaches the periphery. This produces a close approximation to a spherical wavefront, similar to that radiated by an actual sound source of finite size. In practical terms, the result is a system that is (1) almost perfectly phase-coherent, and (2) free from treble beaming through a very wide included angle spanning the listening area.

It also has better protection - although that demands an amplifier with appropriate protection circuitry (Quad 405-2, AHB2 - by a spooky coincidence). Unlike the original Quad Electrostatic, which had a tendency to break down if overloaded for an instant, the '63 has a sophisticated protection device designed to short out the input signal if its level approaches an amplitude that could do speaker damage (the famous "crowbar"). Shutdown is claimed to occur rapidly enough to provide full protection to the speaker, but some power amplifiers will not tolerate output shorting and may blow fuses or sustain serious damage.

Sonically -, the 63s have more convincing bass and almost holographic imaging. The 57's are "purer" on female vocals but in a really fussy precise way which is lovely when you get it right but so often is not right. The real deal - as you may have heard me mention before - is stacked 57's. Although these are really the most ludicrous oversized headphones known to man, since they are so beamy you have to put your head in a special clamp to hold it on the right axis. They do however have both the power handling and the bass extension the 57's lack

Both are better on the right stands.  Reference to protection is original spec - a lot of 57's are retro-fitted with a protection circuit.

PS - Andrew

I don't think the covers make any difference - if by that you are referring to the lovely chocolate coloured Nora Batty stockings.  I have to roll them down to heat shrink the dust covers - thin plastic sheets in a metal frame behind metal grills

You can play them without the stockings or the grills - but it makes little difference  (They are clearly not toddler-proof in that state)

Playing without the plastic dust covers would be unwise - and only something to try in a dust free environment.  I have never tried it - but it is reported to be better - but of no practical use

They key is to make sure the plastic dust covers are drum tight.  Currently mine are not - and I am unlikely to fix it before Kevin comes round - but they are good enough for a dem.

On the subject of ANYTHING other than used in the manner intended - remember THESE CAN  BE DANGEROUS - there are VERY high voltages inside these speakers