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Electrostatic Speakers

I have been lusting after a pair of electrostatic speakers for my entire life. When I was a kid the Infinity Servo Static was the big dog in town. I heard a pair of stacked (4) QUAD electrostatic when Mark Levinson was saying they were the only speakers up to his standards.

So, It was with great excitement when I ordered a pair of QUAD ESL-2912 speakers. I set them up in my listening room and they were fantastic. Even the bass was impressive, tight and went very low. However not the bass output one would get from a big powered sub-woofer. One night I was playing internet radio and I heard thunder. I walked outside and there was no rain. The thunder was coming from the speakers! Not loud but deep and tight.

I have owned lots of speakers over the years. I sold stereo systems for years when I was younger. I worked for AR for a few years. In all those years I have never heard any speaker that came close to the QUAD ESL-2912 for clarity and transient response.

Then one day the party ended. One of the speakers made a loud single CLICK, just one and then back to normal for days. Then it got much worse. It clicked and thumped every few hours. Then it clicked and thumped every few minutes.

I sent an email to the Distributor asking what to do. No answer. I sent a few more emails, no answer. The clicking was making me nuts so I removed the back cover and disconnected the panel, there are five, that was making the noise. All was back to wonderful except the left speaker was a bit softer in volume than the right speaker.

Over the next few months I sent more emails and my tone turned angry. Finally they sent me a replacement panel. Before the replacement panel arrived more panels went bad in the first speaker and then the second speaker.

Next we shipped both speakers to the factory repair center. Six months they returned with banged up cabinets, torn speaker cloth and one speaker still not working!

So my $ 13,000.00 dream speakers have bitten me. Years ago I had KLH 9 speakers (also full range electrostatic) and never had trouble with them until they died and couldn’t be rebuilt.

Any of you have experience with QUAD electrostatics? Some people say a rebuilt pair of the old ones are way better than the new ones. I assumed that new modern manufacturing methods would have made the new speakers super reliable.

Thoughts?? Am I within my reasonable rights to sue these guys?
davidclarke
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 
Products that I have reviewed and had very good experiences with are Kings Audio Kingsound ESL and Sound Lab. I reviewed both for Dagogo.com and would recommend them based on use/performance. 
I have heard the Sanders hybrid ESL several times and it also is very good. 


davidclarke OP
43 posts
 
Sbank - very nice of you!

For the moment I have all the $$ I can spend in the QUADS.  I like them when they work!  I am thinking of selling the QUADS after they are repaired and have been working for a while.  Hopefully the new glue will hold on correctly.
stevermanjohnson
18 posts
 
The distributor for Quad is MOFI and they suck.  Total losers.  I’ve heard of many problems with these guys.  They should stick to records.

As for current model Quad’s, I heard it takes three pairs to make one good working pair.
davidclarke OP
43 posts
 
stevermanjohnson

I hear you.  MOFI had me ship the speakers to the only place in the USA that services them - it took them six months to fix them.  When they returned to me they were dinged up, torn grill cloth AND one didn't work.

My fear is that I will get them working and they will fail again in a year.  Perhaps I should give Magnapans a try they don't cost all that much.  So sad, QUAD was one of those brands of my childhood that represented something very special.  " The closest approach to the closest approach, to making me nuts"


atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,566 posts
 
Relationships between distributors and manufacturers are a funny thing and have an often dark life of their own. If all your communication has been through the distributor, perhaps talking directly with Quad would be worth a shot vs. I'd hate to shell out more for repairs given the circumstances.
If you throw in the towel, besides Sanders, no discussion of great electrostatics is complete without consideration of Sound Labs. Sound quality exceeds everything I've come across and support is excellent, even for thrifty guys like me who bought >25yr old pair. Cheers,
Spencer
+1
Recently (in the last4 years) the Sound Labs are not only a lot more reliable, but they are also a lot easier to drive (and as a result, sound better). IMO they are the SOTA of ESLs.

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