About a year ago, I realised my Quad ESL-63 loudspeakers were going to require a service shortly - an expensive service, usually about £1000+. That's not as expensive as buying new, modern Quads ESLs, they run at £6000/pair upwards, so probably quite good value... But it's still a lot of money. Could I replace them or do better somehow? And if so, with what, and what kind of budget?
Anyway, I really love the sounds of the Quads, largely because they don't sound like boxes. That's probably because they aren't - they are based on electrostatic attraction/repulsion, rather than the electrodynamic "electric motor" mechanisms of conventional cone loudspeakers. That means that rather than being in a box, they are a large flat panel, which radiate as much energy to the back as to the front, with very little at the sides due to the mutual cancellation of in-phase front/out-of-phase back radiation at the sides. This is a dipole radiation pattern, and it contributes to the relatively benign in-room diffusion pattern which enables them to sound so open and uncoloured - not like a box!
So any loudspeaker that I were to acquire would have to be as good as or better than the Quads in terms of their realism, imaging and "sonic invisibility" - that remarkable experience where one is joined in the room by the musicians in a recognisable sonic environment, which for me contributes significantly to the listening experience. I'm not a "the music comes second to the sound" person - I can, and do enjoy music on crappy radios, headphones etc., but it sure has more effect when the people are with you, especially on operas, vocal music, chamber music and large-scale orchestral works - oh, that's just about everything...
I became aware of Siegfried Linkwitz, a highly respected name in the "rational audiophile" community (rather than the "flat earth" subjective mob), who has published a number of DIY designs over the years. His loudspeakers are generally dipoles (good plan...) and carefully manage the in-room dispersion characteristics through careful design and appropriate choice of drivers. The fact that he was a great fan of the ESL-63s and wanted to improve on them was quite encouraging.
Anyway, because I only have a (relatively) little house, of SL's current designs the LXMini looks like a good starting point... Here goes!
Anyway, I really love the sounds of the Quads, largely because they don't sound like boxes. That's probably because they aren't - they are based on electrostatic attraction/repulsion, rather than the electrodynamic "electric motor" mechanisms of conventional cone loudspeakers. That means that rather than being in a box, they are a large flat panel, which radiate as much energy to the back as to the front, with very little at the sides due to the mutual cancellation of in-phase front/out-of-phase back radiation at the sides. This is a dipole radiation pattern, and it contributes to the relatively benign in-room diffusion pattern which enables them to sound so open and uncoloured - not like a box!
So any loudspeaker that I were to acquire would have to be as good as or better than the Quads in terms of their realism, imaging and "sonic invisibility" - that remarkable experience where one is joined in the room by the musicians in a recognisable sonic environment, which for me contributes significantly to the listening experience. I'm not a "the music comes second to the sound" person - I can, and do enjoy music on crappy radios, headphones etc., but it sure has more effect when the people are with you, especially on operas, vocal music, chamber music and large-scale orchestral works - oh, that's just about everything...
I became aware of Siegfried Linkwitz, a highly respected name in the "rational audiophile" community (rather than the "flat earth" subjective mob), who has published a number of DIY designs over the years. His loudspeakers are generally dipoles (good plan...) and carefully manage the in-room dispersion characteristics through careful design and appropriate choice of drivers. The fact that he was a great fan of the ESL-63s and wanted to improve on them was quite encouraging.
Anyway, because I only have a (relatively) little house, of SL's current designs the LXMini looks like a good starting point... Here goes!
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