Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

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pre65
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#1 Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

Post by pre65 »

Has anyone here any personal experience of the Quad ESL-989 speakers ?
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IslandPink
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#2 Re: Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

Post by IslandPink »

I never owned them myself, but my mate Lenny in N.Wales owned a pair for a while in the early 2000's and I listened to them a number of times.
They were pretty impressive, had very natural tone and were uncoloured, but they didn't deliver realistic ( ie. crisp ) guitar notes with the amps we had at that time, that was my main gripe.
The best amp we used was the Aurora PP 300B , the results on some vocals were stunning with that.
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#3 Re: Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

Post by JamesD »

I worked with a college who had a pair - actually was on the design team at Quad that developed them so they were well setup and driven by his own custom amps. They were superb on most small piece music but didn't go very deep in the bass and the sound tended to breakdown on large music pieces such as Beethoven symphony No. 8 or Metallica S&M for instance. Incomparable on music and levels that they handled well though. Alan is a folk music specialist and they were superb at that and small orchestral ensembles excelling with acoustic instruments including voice - they benefit from really good transparent amps with good controlled current pulse delivery into reactive loads.

ciao

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#4 Re: Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

Post by ed »

You've described the strengths and weaknesses of my full rangers really well, although the m.o is totally different.
I bought a pair of mint esl63s some time back and they were a serious disappointment in comparison, so I'm not really sure how quad upped their game betwwen the 63s and the 989s. Having said that I've only heard the 989s once or twice, but I thought them nice, although not as open as mine..

If you're thinking of buying a pair I'd say go ahead, if the price is right and you don't like them..well, just move them on.


*** shouldn't this be in the speaker thread?
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#5 Re: Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

Post by JamesD »

The 989 have a different arrangement of electrostatic panels that mimic a point source more accurately than the ESL-63 or other speakers and have more control of the panels for better bass extension and dynamics compared to the ESL-63s. A better speaker all round than the 63s but still not to my taste either and they are fussy of the driving amplifiers sounding relatively poor with amps with insufficient transparency and ability to drive them...
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#6 Re: Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

Post by ed »

not exactly sure what you're alluding to James, but....

the 63s have a resistor timed array driving the concentric circles on the diaphragm, to mimic a point source. I assumed the 989 was just a later progression of the same principle. I found the 63s consistently dull with a variety of amplifiers, the 989s I didn't have a lot of experience with and the ones I listened to weren't mine, but i found them slightly more musical than the 63s.

I tried to give a balanced appraisal but admit there may be some emotional investment.

as you say, very amp dependant, at least in my experience. I started with a Meridian modular which was just about bearable. None of my single ended valves have been able to drive them. Nicks WAD 6550 was v.disappointing but my Williamson kt88 faired a good bit better. The F4 and F6 are listenable but marginal, but the TPA3116 really shines with them.

I had ideas that I might eventually try something more powerful and exotic but in truth I'm happy with what I've got. All other speakers I've had/tried have been lacking in some area or other.
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#7 Re: Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

Post by JamesD »

Not really alluding to anything in specific - the 989 use a LR network for the delays and, I believe, that they are more accurately trimmed than the 63s were. One of the reasons for the LR network on the 989s is that it worked worked with the capacitive panels to produce an easier speaker to drive than the 63s but they are still more demanding than 'normal' speakers. The original 63 were very hard to drive as they developed a significant phase angle between their voltage and current drive requirements that few amplifiers are happy driving. The 989s are better in this regard but still relatively difficult...

As you know I share your delight in fullrange dynamic drivers...
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#8 Re: Quad ESL-989 electrostatic speakers.

Post by IslandPink »

I should think that Nick's P6's or the latest 100W monoblocks would be great amps to try with them.
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