The original 57 was designed to be used with 15 to 20 watt amp, because the early production did not have protection circuitry and people fried the speakers. Later versions, came with protection circuitry. There are new protection boards you can buy. With them installed, I've heard people using 150 to 200 watt amps without frying them, but I guess they are careful not to play cannon shots through the 57s.
Power handling capability of original Quad esl 57s
After many years of hearing about how wonderful the original Quad esl 57s are, I finally found a near mint late serial number pair. I'm in audio heaven! I used to own the 63s and the 989s, and these are much better ( in the sweet spot).
Now my question: what is the power handling capability of the 57s? There seems to be some confusion here. According to the original manual, it is safe to use any amplifier as long as it does not produce more than 33 volts at any impedance. This is an interesting specification because it does not differ from the 63s.
Ok, let's do some math. At 8 ohms, 33 volts into 8 ohms gives us
33^2/8 = 136 watts! At higher imoedances, power must drop, so at 30 ohms, the speaker can only take up to 30 watts.
Now my question: what is the power handling capability of the 57s? There seems to be some confusion here. According to the original manual, it is safe to use any amplifier as long as it does not produce more than 33 volts at any impedance. This is an interesting specification because it does not differ from the 63s.
Ok, let's do some math. At 8 ohms, 33 volts into 8 ohms gives us
33^2/8 = 136 watts! At higher imoedances, power must drop, so at 30 ohms, the speaker can only take up to 30 watts.
Showing 2 responses by dracule1
Here is a recommended and not recommended amp list for the 57. http://www.quadesl.org/Amplifiers/AmpList/amplist.html |