Transformer for QUAD ESL57

[owenhamburg]

Due to a house move I lost my quad esl 57 step up transformer. Does anyone have a broken ESL 57 speaker I could buy a step up transformer?

I have postal address in the Uk (My Parents) and Germany. If I had this part I would ship my old broken ESL's to Germany and try to get the lovely things running again.

Alternatively (because I have multiple quad 303's and 306's) I could go active on these speakers. Do people have suggestions for suppliers of treble and bass transformers that could do the job as well or better?

Quad no longer stock ESL 57 step up transformers, and the German supplier parts cost is too high considering the cost of broken quads in UK ebay (usually wont post even in UK).

[arend-jan]

I can sell you an original step up transformer, contact me if interested.

[owenhamburg]

Dear Arend-Jan,

I have now received the transformer, thank you for your kind service.

Now I have to look at shipping the Quad ESL 57 speakers to Germany. I hope repairing my ESL 57's will be as pleasurable experience hearing them going again as I remembered from all these years ago, something that has made me think all magnetic coil speakers are inaccurate. The industrial 1950's radiator looks great even if the speakers do sound better without the metal grills if memory serves me right. I do remember them being big but light enough to move easily with a moderately convenient handle, which is important when you have limited space.

[kavermei]

I often heard people say that the Quad ESL sounds much better on a pedestal than on the floor. Maybe something you could try!

Kenneth

[owenhamburg]

Originally Posted by kavermei

I often heard people say that the Quad ESL sounds much better on a pedestal than on the floor. Maybe something you could try!

Thank you for the suggestion.

I have already tried it, and it is definitely true, but the bass output also goes down. Still I do feel that the Quad ESL 57 has magic in imaging and the presentation of acoustic music and not in its ability to play Dub reggae.

[tmblack]

Is there a separate transformer for the woofer/midrange/tweeter sections or is it just one transfomer?
I haven't seen the ESL-57 crossover diagram, if someone has one that would be helpful.

[Fabien Lefebvre]

Originally Posted by tmblack

Is there a separate transformer for the woofer/midrange/tweeter sections or is it just one transfomer?
I haven't seen the ESL-57 crossover diagram, if someone has one that would be helpful.

Here it is: http://www.quadesl.com/pdf/quad_schematic.pdf
Thus just one transformer with several windings.

[bolserst]

Originally Posted by tmblack

Is there a separate transformer for the woofer/midrange/tweeter sections or is it just one transfomer?
I haven't seen the ESL-57 crossover diagram, if someone has one that would be helpful.

ESL57 uses one transformer core, but has separate secondary windings for the midrange/tweeter closely coupled to the primary and an additional set of secondary windings on the other leg of the core to provide the additional voltage step up needed for the woofer panels with their larger D/S spacing.

[moray james]

Lets see if I can attach this picture which is the inside view of a Quad ESL 57 step up transformer. I rebuilt thes some years ago. The outer cans were beat with some weld broken had them welded back together hammered them smooth filled the small dents with bondo and had them powder coated. Had access to a vacuum oven to remove and then replace the potting wax. They looked new again.

[Fabien Lefebvre]

By the way I have one with broken wire. Does someone have details on how many turns & gauge for each winding ?
Is it do-able by hand or does it require a machine (if too many turns or needs to be very tight) ? Thanks