Refurbishing an old pair of ESL '63s

Tuesday, 25 May 2010 16:45

Last Updated on Tuesday, 20 March 2012 00:00

Written by Jeroen

This cheap pair of QUAD '63s were known faulty. Funny detail: I had to collect one of them at Transtec (now New Transtec), because the owner did not agree with their quotation. I had to repair two panels in order to get them working - but cleaned both speakers throughly. These (brown) speakers bases were 'taped' black - left it on for years, so there was no normal way to get the sticky dirt off. I completely removed the base and all electronics in it - put the base in a tub with warm water and soapy soda, and left it for a couple of hours. Then it got off nicely using a sponge.

After adding two new (custom made) bass panels (five panels were already replaced a few years back) they are working like new again. Having these in my study room, which is sonically much much better then my living room, is really a party.

At first i replaced one of the bass panels with a treble panel I had made before. You can just link the ring sections to feed them all the same (bass) signal. Although this works perfectly well i replaced it later with a real bass panel.

The idea i had when i bought them to see if i could make a larger ESL '63 by adding an extra bass panel, some how. I did some listning sessions on the new ESL 2950 and the extra bass fun at first, but a bit overwhelming later on. On the other hand, the ESL '63 in a big room, can sound a bit thin sometimes. I decided to write an email to Manfred Stein - QUAD GmBH - about adding the extra bass panel and he offered me a spare siderails. I could cut that in four pieces and somehow add that to the ESL, he said.

Great idea - and so I did. tbc