Acorn speakers

Hello! I am newly-subscribed to this forum. I am a 76 year old retired Professor of Art living in the USA. I am an obsessive audiophile and music lover. I mostly listen to classical music and especially opera. I have owned two pairs of Quad ESL-63s at different times and a pair of ESLs. All the speakers were serviced by Kent McCollum at Electrostatic Solutions. I currently have two Quads in my home--one pair of ESL-63 USA Monitors on Quad's Stand and Deliver stands and one pair of ESLs on their original little legs. My ESLs were purchased with a pair of bespoke stands that elevated the speakers about 9 inches off the floor. The speakers sounded a bit better on the stands, but they were ugly and didn't really fit the bottoms of the speakers as they ought to have done.
Everyone I know who is a Quad lover says that the 63s are "the better speaker". I think I understand why they say that, but for me, the ESLs win out in those areas that mean the most to me. I think I am what is often called "a midrange listener". Human voice is the acid test for speakers for me. When I listen to recordings of operas the onset of voices, whether spoken or sung, are cleaner and more articulate on the ESLs than on the 63s. Orchestral strings retain their resiny bowed sound and do not squeel or screech as they tend to do on dynamic speakers. Closely played groups of woodwinds are more cleanly and clearly reproduced on the ESLs, and it is far easier to tell which instruments are playing what notes. For me, the 63s, good as they are, slightly blur these sounds. When I listen to the 63s, I feel I am listening to excellent speakers. When I listen to the ESLs, I feel I am listening to music. They do a better job of disappearing and leaving the music simply hanging there in the room, utterly open and transparent.
With regard to the oft-expressed opinion that Quads do not play loudly enough, I can say that either pair of Quads I own will play louder than I listen to music. They produce plenty of volume for me.
With regard to the "no bass" complaint, I understand that the gut-punching bass of big dynamic speakers is not something Quads can do. The bass that is there is seamlessly integrated with the overall sound of the speakers and is adequate for my listening. I am not interested in head-banging rock or traumatizing sound pressure levels.
The rest of my system consists of a couple of preamplifiers (Schiit Saga, Audio Research SP-, a Pass Labs X-250.5 solid state power amp, a Carver FM tuner, and a Thorens TD-124 turntable, SME 3012 tonearm and Shure V15VXmR cartridge. I bought the Pass Labs amp when I owned a pair of B&W Matrix 801 Series II speakers. The power amp sounds so good to me, I see no reason to change it.
So that's my short self-introduction.

G'Day George,

Very good to have you here. The place is newly rebuilt, the paint is still wet and the denizens thin on the ground, but hopefully that will change in time.  I felt like I was reading about a significant fraction of my own feelings and opinions on the original Quad .et cetera.  We could swap systems and live happily ever after I suspect, but for the turntable.  I don't run the 63 at all.  My choice of a bigger speaker (in all regards) is the ER Audio Acorn Mk 2.  The waffle on the Acorn is contained on this site under the "Home" menu if you would like to take a look.  The original Quad ESL?  I still run them and I concur with your experience completely. I haven't run The Quad ESL site for 20 odd years without actually liking the speaker )   I listen to a large proportion of chamber music/ensemble/solo voice and instrument, so there is no better speaker than the original ESL.  I will add though, that the Acorn is its equal (even the mid range!) and that is a very big declaration for me after two years of running them and the ESL off and on in the same room.  Just the same I won't sell my ESLs.  I have down-sized my "habit" in the last 10 years from 5 pairs to 2 though!!   Again, good to see you here and I hope to hear from you regularly, especially if you have any ESL related questions.

 

Good morning!
I read your article on the ER Audio Acorn Mk II loudspeakers. I tried to look up the ER site online just now but my browsers reported that the server could not be found, So I was not able to get further along.
In none of the material I was able to access was the cost of these kits mentioned. I would be curious to know that.
They are certainly large and imposing-looking.
Thank you for your response to my self-introduction.

G'Day George,

Yes, I noticed that ER Audio is offline. Allegedly "maintenance", but I don't really know. The Acorn is a kit speaker, but you do have to accommodate the large panels. The ones online are my own frame design. The kit can be bought partly assembled, not assembled, or with fully built panels and electronics. Cost of the most expensive option is $AUD 6000 from memory. Quite a bit of work that took me back to the "old days" when nearly all hifi was diy. Only speaker that can match the original ESL but with more (correct) bass extension.