Tír Na HiFi

Hi folks

Looking for a low cost way to amplify a pair of soon-to-be-mine Quad ESL 57s One Thing refurbished speakers.

Any thoughts from the Tir community would be very much appreciated.

Obviously Tony's Jadis would be ideal but unfortunately it's completely out of my budget at present!!

I've always had a soft spot for the Nait 5is and Rega Brios of this world but no idea if they'd be suitable.

I previously had a Primare I30 which I really liked but not sure if this or it's more affordable predecessor the A30.1 would be suitable.

Something like a >10W valve amp would work well here. Something with EL34s - jadis orchestra, primaluna maybe.

Yep, personally I wouldn't try budget solid state with ESLs as the amp needs to be very good to deal with the impedance curve. Fran had good suggestions there. A used Audio Innovations perhaps? Used GRAAF GM20 if you can find one!

yep, I'd be looking at affordable tube amps rather than solid state. They just sound right together in my very very humble opinion!

there was a lad on adverts with an audio innovations 500 amp there recently. It was around 800 or so I think.


edit: yes 800

https://www.adverts.ie/home-audio/audio ... r/15125896

A Series 500 was exactly the amp I was thinking of. I have one at home that I don't think I'll ever manage to part with. I see the one advertised is the better version than the one I own, which makes it a bit of a hifi legend. Definitely worth considering.

Here is a list of suitable amps ..

http://quadesl.org/index.php/hard-cor ... ngruber

[Its a bit old ..]

--

Its used to be that the speaker could blow certain amps if they could not drive a capacitance load. I think modern amps are better but be careful that any amp you pick is suitable. I don't really know how you can find this out but maybe contact the amp manufacturer. (I suspect quad will just tell you to use a quad amp).

Your 100% right James but Mick will have no problem with the amps he has already. The speakers were sold with the OTA widgets which are designed to deal with that very issue.

james wrote: ↑Thu May 24, 2018 6:52 pm Here is a list of suitable amps ..

http://quadesl.org/index.php/hard-cor ... ngruber

[Its a bit old ..]

--

Its used to be that the speaker could blow certain amps if they could not drive a capacitance load. I think modern amps are better but be careful that any amp you pick is suitable. I don't really know how you can find this out but maybe contact the amp manufacturer. (I suspect quad will just tell you to use a quad amp).

Unfortunately my Quad dreams lie in smouldering ruins.

All was fine until I showed my wife what ESL 57s actually look like........

Gutted to miss the opportunity to own such a wonderful set of speakers but grateful to Tony for being so understanding.

Yup, that happens. Sorry to hear it all the same, Thor.