Quad ESL 57 legs

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burgunder

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Joined 2006
#1
I have a pair of Quad 57s that needs legs.

Has anyone found some prefab legs that fit, or has anyone got some simple idea for legs?

And what are the dimensions of the original legs?

The height seems to be 13 cm.

But what about the top and bottom of the legs and the distance between the screws on the mounting plate? I seem to get 6,0(1) and 3,4 cms
 
#5
Zung said:
Yes.
Even the great P. J. Walker Himself suggested at least 12" or so off the floor.
And according to the Quad book ("Quad: The Closest Approach"), the first auditions
at the factory were done with the Quad on a chair!
Click to expand...

The difference is quite large, and all in favor of stands.
The old Arcici stands would be easy to copy.
 
#6
Here's Mr. P. J. Walker's hand drawn "blueprint".
 

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#7
Splendid!
So he want the speaker 30-40 cms of the floor and with a solid "wall". I wonder if that will improve bass? Other that that it seem to be perfect for two 12" or 15" open baffle subs.

Also thank you for the other suggestions. It seems a bit difficult to drill new holes for Sheldons legs without taking the whole speaker apart tough.
 
#8
I also have more questions than answers on this topic.

I have my ESL-57's sitting on top of the subwoofers with some odd pieces of wood to shim them to the right angle; that's my temporary measure for the last half century or so, still working on it.

My thoughts, in no particular order:

  1. Stands: removing only the back panel gives you pretty good access to the bottom plate. You can even use wood screws from the outside without removing anything at all; just be careful, but that's not the problem.
  2. Removing the low frequencies to the ESL is always a good thing, from an electrical and vibrational point of view. I bi-amp mine, X-Over is at 80Hz, hi-pass is a first order single capacitor, and lo-pass is a 4th order Linkwitz style.
  3. The construction of the ESL is not exactly a masterpiece of mecanical engineering: when driven full range, they shake like mad. Removing the lows helps a lot, but what about rigidly coupling the subwoofer to the ESL? That'll surely inject at least part of the vibrations back to the ESL, no?
  4. Because of the extreme directionality in the vertical plane, you need a way to aim the "laser beam" to your ears, and that rules out screw-on stands or subwoofers.
  5. I've tried the HQD thinggy, but that's not practical at all, plus the angling of the original design is WAY off. I guess Mark Levinson used it to hit the reflections of his room, à la Bose 901, but that didn't work for me at all.
  6. I've been thinking about the Arcici stands rayma mentioned, but haven't got around to anything concrete yet. Ideally, some sort of "A" frame with a flat top that lets you tilt the panel while coupling the whole thing as rigidly as possible to the floor. The subwoofers are coupled separately to the floor, which becomes some sort of "common ground". Anybody?
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with the current state of my mess, but I'm always on the lookout for improvements.
 
#9
ChrisP said:
I'm in the same position myself, I bought a pair off ebay a while back with no legs... There are some basic instructions for a stand in here www.quadesl.com/pdf/quad_book.pdf But it's nothing like the original legs.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the plug of my modest website.

Here's the link for the PDF of the stands that I used for years with my original quads. I've suggested that people get a local cabinetmaker to build them in whatever wood you'd like.

http://quadesl.com/origRefs/eslstand.pdf

I drilled two holes through the bottom of the frame and install t-nuts on the frames, which the stands bolt into.

Sheldon
quadesl.com
 
#13
Like most here, you must get the Quads up off the floor if you want them to give their most transparent capability.

I made these to fit over the 988 base without the sheet steel base plate.
I actually use a squeeze clamp in back to secure it tight.
Sand filled tubes.

11” works out in my room with the 57 and 988CC7EE861-181D-4B8A-865D-6530908AD24B.jpg

E814AD13-3C04-4CD5-B784-5342E94CB322.jpeg

Regards
David
 
#14
AVWERK said:
Like most here, you must get the Quads up off the floor if you want them to give their most transparent capability.

I made these to fit over the 988 base without the sheet steel base plate.
I actually use a squeeze clamp in back to secure it tight.
Sand filled tubes.

11” works out in my room with the 57 and 988View attachment 703147

View attachment 703148

Regards
David
Click to expand...

Great work the flimsy ESL 57 will probably benefit from the extra weight and rigidity.
 
#15
Thanx
Since I have torn down both models to their bones the 57 actually has better damping in how it’s made overall.
The 988/989 has a very flimsy and resonant aluminum frame with many ways to flex and creak against its connection points

The steel base plate and the small plastic posts of the base are a disaster.
The base volume is a resonant cavity and should be left off or allowed to breath in some way . With every bass note this frame construction leaves me shaking my head
Maybe the reason they put all the panels in rubber mounts to isolate the cheap frame.
Tightly coupling the panels to this frame would excite this mess
The best you could do is replace the “L” channel with a thicker one since the stock one flex’s like crazy

A new frame design is somewhere in the works down the road for my 9xx series..,

Regards
David
 
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