The world's best-sounding stereo system?

Finding a good used pair can be tricky. There are lots of things that go wrong inside old QUADs over the years — some of which require hundreds of dollars in repairs. And even if you find a pair of great-sounding speakers they’ll still need expensive overhauling every 10 to 15 years. Many loudspeakers could use some servicing after maybe 20 years of service.

In February, I found a pair of 1962 ESL-57’s that were for sale in Canada. The owner wanted about $1,000 and said they were in perfect shape. After much soul searching I bought them online and drove to Ontario to get them.

QUADs are different from most other speakers in that they plug into the wall as well as your amplifier. Instead of conventional woofers and tweeters, QUADs have drivers made of stretched Mylar (a special plastic sheet) that are moved back and forth by high-voltage electrical force fields.

QUAD I love this photo.  If you can get past the wall covering, you'll see a single hi-fi speaker, captured in this pre-stereophonic setting.

Mylar is very lightweight and reacts to electrical fields very quickly — the speaker can react instantaneously to changes in the electrical field brought about by changes in the music. What comes out is truly amazing.

When I finally sat down to listen I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  It was the best sound I’ve ever heard in my home — and I’ve had some unbelievable sound systems in my living rooms over the years.

It took the speakers a few more weeks of constant use for all the parts to loosen up and mesh together. That means the amplifiers and other equipment might have been turned off at night but the speakers were never unplugged from the wall.

As you might expect, QUADs need special amplifiers to sound their best.  That means they need low-powered amplifiers able to handle the QUAD's unusual power requirements.  At the same time, they have to be of the highest sound quality. 

I got to audition some absolutely amazing sounding stuff — both tube and transistor designs.   Prices ranged from a few hundred dollars for some to a system of amp, preamp and tuner which will set you back more than $13,000.  I'll let you know in future columns which ones sound best.

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