No Limit Sound Productions: Why have a pair of speakers when you can have a quad (literally)?

Company Founded	2005

Overview	Our services include Sound Engineering, Audio Post-Production, System Upgrades and Equipment Consulting.
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Monday, June 18, 2012

Why have a pair of speakers when you can have a quad (literally)?

If your living room is dominated by a gigantic pair of speakers, then why not dominate it some more?

By David Mellor, Course Director of Audio Masterclass

I have written about electrostatic loudspeakers before. Not to bang on too much, if you haven't heard electrostatics, then you should. You will realize immediately how colored moving coil loudspeakers are in comparison. But hey, that's the way the world is and we live with it.

Probably the best-known electrostatic loudspeaker is the Quad ESL-57. The '57' stands for 1957, the year when it was designed. Despite their design being more than half a century old, examples in good condition still sound great.

But...

The problem with the ESL-57 is that it doesn't go very loud. So what do you do if you want more volume? Why, simply double up. And that's what you see in these photos - stacked electrostatics. In very nice cabinets as far as I can see.

These particular examples are up for auction on Ebay at the time of writing (June 15, 2012).

This actually wasn't all that uncommon a thing to do. I remember other references to stacked electrostatics from years gone by. The boss of SME (of pickup arm fame) had a set.

Of course, desirable as such a set-up might be to have in your living room, you won't get far without the approval of your significant other. So do consult before you bid. Or just bid and, if you win, tell us what happens...