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Recommend an amp + pre for ESL 57s and a new turntable (way out of my league)

Hi all, longtime lurker now starting my semi-serious venture into all of this. I was recently gifted a pair of Quad ESL 57s, a Well Tempered Labs Amadeus GTA turntable, and a Miyajima Labs Shilabe cartridge. I need a preamp and amplifier for the system on a budget of ~$1000 - $1500. I currently have an old Harman Kardon Stereo Festival (TA-230) receiver, which is just a cool piece of old, barely working, shits-n-gigs gear I used to drive some junky speakers with in college. It hasn't been plugged in in two years and even if its still works, I don't think it's a great match for my system. What would you recommend? I am most interested in listening to some old mono blues, jazz, and folk LPs I have, and I imagine most of the records I collect in the future will be similar (I know I have a stereo cart, which I've always understood to be fine for this?).

Some guiding questions:

- Seems like a favorite for the ESLs are a pair of heathkit UA-1s. Another that I'm seeing well recommended is the Dyna st35. Thoughts? Does it make sense to spend ~$700 - $1000 on a nice amp and get something more basic for the pre in the $400 range? (Rega fono??)

- Should I get a nicer preamp to match my cart and go with something more basic wrt amplification? Not sure what is good in the way of cheaper(?) amps to drive these speakers.

- In the event that I stretch my budget and wait a bit between buying one and the other (to save back up lol), would I get more out of a ~$1200 amp and the cheapest preamp that will work, or a ~$1200 pre and the cheapest amp that will work? What would the cheapest preamp and amp that "will work" be in the meantime? What would be in the $1200 range for each, respectively?

Thank you if you took the time to read this! I will be cleaning the dust off the Quads in the meantime.

arg6442
blisshifi's avatar
blisshifi
1,270 posts
 

Invest in good amplification first and improve your phono stage later. At your budget, I recommend looking at an integrated amp instead of separates. The ESL 57 is one of the best sounding speakers ever made so as long as you can find quality amplification to power it. I suggest either a Class A tube amp at least 25wpc (EL34 based ones are quite a great match with Quad) or a high current solid state amplifier. The 57s are very difficult to drive in the high frequencies, dipping to 2 Ohm impedance at 20KHz, so you’ll need a high current amplifier that can handle the impedance dips.

You might want to look into an EL34 amp that you can get for about $1K on the used market and save $500 on aftermarket tubes. That route may net you sonic performance of gear in the multiples of thousands. I cannot stress how important the amplifier quality needs to be for the ESL57 to perform their best. But when they’re controlled properly, you may never need another pair of speakers. Congrats on your gift!

arg6442 OP
2 posts
 

Thank you! Do any stick out? ST70 is the obvious choice, but interestingly enough, it's the one amp that the friend who gave me the speakers said wasn't a great match. Someone local to me is selling a decent-looking ST-70 clone for an excellent price.

jasonbourne71's avatar
jasonbourne71
1,849 posts
 

I recommend a Quad 303 amp and the matching Quad 33 preamp. I have a nicely restored 303 to use with my 57’s. The 303 amp was designed specifically to drive the 57's. The Quad pre and amp is a heavenly match with the 57’s.

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