Quad ESL or Soundlab?

Dear Mrmb: In my friend's case the advise was specific on those amplifiers.

Now, for what I heard through it are very good match and of course not the only amplifier alternative.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

A note to Tennis : A friend of mine had BOTH an original pair of 57's in great condition and a pair of Wayne's rebuilds bought on A-gon, also mint. He was driving them with a Marantz 8b. We both expected the rebuilds to sound better (?) in some way, but they felt harsh and in-your-facewere (compared to original 57's that is! it's still a decent stat) and they were no match for the originals in terms of smoothness, flatness of response, etc. Just a heads up FWIW. I'd be more inclined to buy a working original 57 and service it as necessary (rather than a complete rebuild with new panels etc.)

I know the "57" may be a dated design,but "MY GOD",hearing one well driven can be SO much fun!!

I remember hearing a gorgeous pair,playing Steely Dan's-AJA awhile ago.Driven by a Classic Audio Research amp.I just "got lost in the presentation"!!Maybe a bit rolled in freq extremes,but I did not care at all.It was uniquely great!!

It is kind of like loving some "amazing attribute on a sexy woman,whereas she still may not be womanly perfection...BUt,you don't care.You simply like the "it" SO much!

I had Quad ELS 63's and Gradient SW63 Subs. for more than 20 years, which were superb & lived with me until I moved house and finally got a big dedicated room. They don't work too well in a big open space.
I now have Sound Lab U1-PX's with which I initially had some problems driving with ARC Ref 210,s. I took some advice & now traded and have ARC 610T's.
I am home back off an extended business trip in a couple of weeks and hope to get it all together and running. Will post my impressions then.

I had CLS 11,Sequel, Quad 63, stacked 57's and now Acoustat monitor X(includes the tube servo amps).

The stacked 57's were very nice.The xtra panel doesn't give more bass, as in going lower to 20hz.
It just fills more of the room up with the bass that it can deliver,so you do feel like you are getting more bass, just not deeper bass.I wired the panels so they stayed at 15-16 ohms.

I drove the stacked 57's with an AtmaSphere s30.
Very nice,and not much chance of overdriving the panels.

I also used an old 1960's tube integrated from Bell,using 6V6 power tubes.
Those 18 tube watts off the 16 ohm transformer were really something also.

One of my audio friends commented that this system "drew you into the music"

I have a friend who has the SoundLab Ultimate Ones driven by a pair of CAT amps, also tubes.

This system is one of the best I have ever heard.

But ,not everyone can afford the Ones and the kind of amplification they need.

I was very fortunate to acquire the Acoustat's ,got the amps modded and I feel I have ended my journey.

I have no regrets in selling any of my other systems.