I recently bought a pair of Quad ESL 57, Wayne Piquet modified. They are simply amazing. I am currently using my McIntosh MA2275, and it does a good job overall. However, I wonder whether the new Quad II-Forty might a better choice. Any idea?
I currently have a Berning EA-230 which pairs great with the Quad ESL 57. The VTL TT-25 is another very good match. Lots of EL-84 PP amps should work well with Quads.
Roberts4152, FWIW most of our customers who run the 57s seem to prefer the M-60s. I think there are a variety of reasons for this, not the least of which the M-60 is a monoblock, allowing for shorter speaker cables. Usually people operate them with 6 power tubes rather than 8, so it does not seem to be a power issue over the S-30.
I hear the Bedini 25/25 is a great amp for the Quads. I bought a 45/45 awhile back for my Maggie 3.6s and it's one of the nicest SS amps I've had on them and I'm a big tube fan, especially SETs. Good luck.
I have a friend who is using the Red Wine Audio Signature 30.2 to drive a pair of ESL 57s and I have never heard the 57s sound so good and he has tried many amps - tubed and solid state, some costing many times the price. He saw this comment about the combo in this review http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/redwine8/302_3.html and decided to try it out and was equally amazed and so was I. Only 30 watts per channel, but lots of current from the sealed lead acid batteries and the strange impedance of the 57s does not seems to bother the 30.2.
The sound is warm rich and tube like but with very accurate bass response and nice dynamic range. I also recently received my 30.2 and am equally impressed, but I don't run Quads but I am thinking of getting a pair of Waynes ESL 57s now! FWIW...
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