Amp for Quad ESL 57

I love my Quad ESL speakers but my intention in this post is to offer some accolades for the EAR 861.

With the Quads, I can say that for the money, this is the best hi-fi that I have had in my home. It is also, now, a musical reference point for me that I judge all other systems by.

The EAR 861 also drives my Wilson Benesch Curves quite nicely too. It has enough grunt to give them life (although they are not too difficult of a speaker to drive).

The flexibility that the amp offers of using XLR or single-ended inputs on the EAR 861 is also advantageous. It is my preference right now to run a completely balanced system with a digital source, and then with a flip of a switch on the amp, I run a completely single-ended system with an analog source.

The EAR 861 is not a very common amp to find in the US (although the Japanese love it). It took me a while to track mine down, but it was worth the effort.

Hello Ggavetti,

That EAR 890 / Quad ESL 57 combo is probably superb. I have thought about building a second system using the 890 with more modern Quads, like the 63 or the 988s.

The advice I can offer on picking a pre-amp is this:

Try a fully balanced pre-amp and a true single ended pre-amp. Toggle back and forth using the switch on the rear of the 890. Right now I am using a Tom Evans Vibe with Pulse power supply for my single ended pre-amp. For my balanced pre-amp, I am using an Ayre-K1x. I prefer the Tom Evans going into the single ended inputs of my 861 (using Kimber PBJ right now) over the Ayre going into the XLR inputs using Cardas Golden Reference. To be fair, the Tom Evans is the latest and greatest, whereas the Ayre does not have the "e" upgrade that I have heard makes it a much better pre-amp (although it is already incredible).

Depending on your sources, and whether or not you can live without a remote, I think you would be doing quite well with a Tom Evans preamp. However, if you run fully balanced sources, I would highly recommend the Ayre.

As an aside, I have always been curious about Tim de Paravicini's pre-amps. If I had a chance, I would try to demo the 912. That things looks killer!

Best of luck on your journey.

-Jake

Hello Mrtennis,

I also use VTL tiny triodes on my Quad ESL 57s. They are a fun little amplifier, and quite worth the price. I would highly recommend them for somebody on a limited budget or somebody that just wants some little amps that they can move around a lot.

As for the sound, I listen to them in triode mode on the Quads exclusively. Why bother with Tetrode mode unless it is a slightly more demanding speaker? Anyway, in triode mode I find that the bass is a bit lumpier than my EAR 861 amp, but it does sound sweeter. The EAR does not shame the VTLs at all (although it should at 6x the price). The VTLs get the job done...I just think the EAR is better.

I talked to Luke Manley about the Tiny Triodes a few months ago while he was demoing some monster Sigfried 750 watt amps. He said that although he liked the Tiny Triodes, the market just never seemed to really have a strong pull for them.

That seems understandable. In this day and age, people either want SET or they want really powerful amps. The manufactures selling 20-40 watt pushpull amps dont have a very big market to chase after.

Actually, that market is basically Quad ESL users, and maybe some 92+db dynamic driver speakers with forgiving impedance curves.

But getting back on point, I would say that a pair of (the later version) Tiny Triodes for $1100-$1400 is really good value.

Happy Listening,
Jake