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Jadis JA30 - Quad ESL63 .. 4,8 or 16ohms?

Hello guys ,

I have a friend who owns a pair Quad ESL63 and he drives them with two Jadis JA30 KT88 monoblocks
He always used his JA30 with 16 ohms internal setup .. but we have read somewhere he could get better result setting his JA30 for 4 ohms
Do you agree or did you have better results with other settings?

Thanks to EveryOne for your opinions/suggestions
128x128curio
newbee
4,751 posts
 
As I recall the '63' has an impedence droop to 3.5 ohms in the bass. If so using a 16 ohm tap sould seem counterintuitive. I used a 4ohm taps with mine, but I never used a 16 ohm tap so I can't comment on any real differences.
microstrip
180 posts
 
Sorry to disagree, but the ESL63 has an impedance that increases with sound level in the bass. At levels over 100mV the impedance never drops bellow 8 ohm in the bass. People usually measure impedance with a 1000 ohm series resistor, using levels between 10 and 50 mV, and assume that impedance does not depend on level. This is not true for the ESL63 and was published in the original HIFI NEWS review in 1981.
I have owned (and still keep) ESL63 and always used them with the 8 ohm tap of jadis, conrad jonhson and audio research tube amplifiers.
sbrown
148 posts
 
I believe the impedance of the 63's is north of 16 ohms in the bass and about 2 at 20k. That's why many amps roll over and play dead with'em.

Which tap to use is amplifier dependent. Experiment with your amp and make your own assessment. My ARC D115MkII sounds best with the 16 Ohm tap by far. I get tremendous bass response with this setup.
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