Opinions of Quad ESL 57's

[RDSChicago]

I just found an RM-9 MKii that was totally restored and upgraded by Roger himself this past January. Based on Jack and Rob's glowing endorsement of this amp, particularly with the ESL's, I pulled the trigger! Can't wait to compare it to the Quicksilver's. I'll report back when I have the amp in house in a few weeks. A friend of mine going to St. Louis is picking it up for me when he drops off his son at Washington University. Should be fun!

I would highly recommend any of Roger's original three amps if you can pick them up at a "fair" price. You won't lose money if it is not what you expected. My mint RM-10 is worth almost ten times what I paid for it on the used market 15 years ago but I won't sell it because it is that good. Like Mike, Roger's amps are classics.

[Jack]

Congrats on the new amp. I hope you agree with us. But if not it would sound great with Joe's Strad's.

[joeinid]

+1

Huge congratulations. Roger makes awesome gear. Can't wait for your opinion.

Congrats on the new amp. I hope you agree with us. But if not it would sound great with Joe's Strad's.

[Randy Myers]

Congrats Rob... nice talk with you earlier... the Quads sound awesome!

[RDSChicago]

Reviving an old thread. I'm missing those QUicksilver's on my Quad 57's!! Although I have this inexpensive Melody SP3 integrated 38 wpc push-pull tube amp driving them while I'm contemplating a replacement amp (the Music Reference RM-9 mkii I bought was defective and returned to the seller) and they are being driven and sounding surprisingly quite good! I have a 40wpc Bel Canto SET40 845 tube amp but I was told SET amps don't match well with the Auad's. Any thoughts?

[Dizzie]

Reviving an old thread. I'm missing those QUicksilver's on my Quad 57's!! Although I have this inexpensive Melody SP3 integrated 38 wpc push-pull tube amp driving them while I'm contemplating a replacement amp (the Music Reference RM-9 mkii I bought was defective and returned to the seller) and they are being driven and sounding surprisingly quite good! I have a 40wpc Bel Canto SET40 845 tube amp but I was told SET amps don't match well with the Auad's. Any thoughts?

My thoughts? Buy my ARC Ref75. It was great on my ESL-2805s.

Did I misunderstand your question? Do you have BCs but have not tried them on the Quads yet? Inquiring minds need to know.

[puroagave]

Reviving an old thread. I'm missing those QUicksilver's on my Quad 57's!! Although I have this inexpensive Melody SP3 integrated 38 wpc push-pull tube amp driving them while I'm contemplating a replacement amp (the Music Reference RM-9 mkii I bought was defective and returned to the seller) and they are being driven and sounding surprisingly quite good! I have a 40wpc Bel Canto SET40 845 tube amp but I was told SET amps don't match well with the Auad's. Any thoughts?

My fall-back position for 57s has been PP amps based on the EL34/EL84 pentode. I like SETs (esp on horns) but not for 'stats because of the disparity between the low impedance/reactive nature of the 57 and high output impedance of a SET amp. I have used the airtight ATM211 on the 57s and it was kinda meh, same for the highly regarded Graaf GM20 OTL.

[RDSChicago]

I read somewhere that quad 57’s and 845 SET amps were incompatible, so I never bothered to try the Quad’s with a just-restored Bel Canto SET 40 power amp I have until yesterday. Well, using my Pass XP20 preamp with the 845 tube amp sounds wonderful with the Quad’s. I was using Shuguang 845 tubes and today switched to a pair of 845b Shuguang’s. They seem to separate and make more distinct the various instruments and voices a bit more than the plain 845’s.

Has anyone experienced 845’s with the Quad’s and if so compared these two 845 tube variants? Would love to hear other opinions and experiences.

[puroagave]

Rob, We talked off line before about the Bel canto, John Stonczer is a tube guy at heart and only builds class D amps to pay the bills. Im not surprised you like the SET40 its a special amp, regardless... (its on my proverbial want list ). that said, to my ears a good ol' PP tube amp sounds better but you probably have more recent experience with more tube amps on 57s than I have (my 57s are in storage). When I heard ATM211s on 57s it was middle of the road--sonically speaking. YMMV and all that.