I could not resist using the above title for my query. I have recently
purchased all Quad equipment, i.e. 99 CD player, pre-amp and 909
amplifier.
Up to now I have been using B and W Speakers but have now bought a
second hand pair of Quad ESL 63's which are also owned by a friend of
mine who raves about them.
Having got used to the different sound of them, especially in my first
love, classical music, I have been puzzled by the lack of volume, some
distortion and also the need to run my 909 at a higher level.
I have now discovered from Quad my 63's have lost sensitivity and may
have a panel problem, (please excuse my layman's description). I have
about half the volume of my friends speakers and my 909 which is usually
hot even on standby, seems to get exceedingly hot when using the 63's.
I have decided to send them back to the dealer so that he in turn can
deliver them to Quad for a complete check-up.

My queries really are, first of all, why is my friends Quad amplifier
quite cold in operation and standby, I understand its an older and
smaller powered 303, (or some such number). Quad tell me its normal for
the 909 to be hot, but how hot, as mine is almost untouchable when under
power and I can smell the new paint on it.
Has anyone any idea why my friends ESL's are so powerful and punchy and
mine are not and with a 3 months guarantee on my speakers just starting,
where do I stand, I paid £1295 for them and I feel that especially the
ESL's should not be sold by a dealer supposedly in good working order,
when they are quite obviously in need of servicing. I am certain that
they "will" give me a good service when I go back to them but should
they not have done so before selling them in the first place. Only I
have a knowledgeable friend who owns 63's that I can use as a benchmark,
I might never have discovered their faults and how for they fell short
of their full potential.
Your views would be greatly appreciated.
--
Derrick Fawsitt

A lot of 63's are in need of servicing now since they are approaching 20
years of service powersupplies fail and panels go leaky(with current that
is)you may need new panels and power supply boards John Hall here in
Melbourne does heaps of them along with the 57's his number is international
613 9772 6293

cheers Trevor Lees
" purchased all Quad equipment, i.e. 99 CD player, pre-amp and 909
amplifier.
Up to now I have been using B and W Speakers but have now bought a second
hand pair of Quad ESL 63's which are also owned by a friend of mine who
raves about them.
Having got used to the different sound of them, especially in my first
love, classical music, I have been puzzled by the lack of volume, some
distortion and also the need to run my 909 at a higher level.
I have now discovered from Quad my 63's have lost sensitivity and may have
a panel problem, (please excuse my layman's description). I have about
half the volume of my friends speakers and my 909 which is usually hot
even on standby, seems to get exceedingly hot when using the 63's.
I have decided to send them back to the dealer so that he in turn can
deliver them to Quad for a complete check-up.

My queries really are, first of all, why is my friends Quad amplifier
quite cold in operation and standby, I understand its an older and smaller
powered 303, (or some such number). Quad tell me its normal for the 909 to
be hot, but how hot, as mine is almost untouchable when under power and I
can smell the new paint on it.
Has anyone any idea why my friends ESL's are so powerful and punchy and
mine are not and with a 3 months guarantee on my speakers just starting,
where do I stand, I paid £1295 for them and I feel that especially the
ESL's should not be sold by a dealer supposedly in good working order,
when they are quite obviously in need of servicing. I am certain that they
"will" give me a good service when I go back to them but should they not
have done so before selling them in the first place. Only I have a
knowledgeable friend who owns 63's that I can use as a benchmark, I might
never have discovered their faults and how for they fell short of their
full potential.
Your views would be greatly appreciated.
--
Derrick Fawsitt

In message , Trevor Lees
writes
A lot of 63's are in need of servicing now since they are approaching 20
years of service powersupplies fail and panels go leaky(with current that
is)you may need new panels and power supply boards John Hall here in
Melbourne does heaps of them along with the 57's his number is international
613 9772 6293

cheers Trevor Lees

Thank you so much Trevor, unfortunately I am in the UK and have just
bought them and was led to believe they were working perfectly. I am now
going to get the retailer to take them back and do what he should have
done before he sold them to me as working perfectly, namely get Quad to
service them and bring them back to One Hundred per cent.
I am just lucky that I had my friend with his 63's to be able to compare
them with my faulty ones.
Once again, all my thanks,
--
Derrick Fawsitt

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 21:49:32 +0000, Derrick Fawsitt
wrote:

I have been puzzled by the lack of volume, some
distortion and also the need to run my 909 at a higher level.
I have now discovered from Quad my 63's have lost sensitivity and may
have a panel problem, (please excuse my layman's description). I have
about half the volume of my friends speakers and my 909 which is usually
hot even on standby, seems to get exceedingly hot when using the 63's.
I have decided to send them back to the dealer so that he in turn can
deliver them to Quad for a complete check-up.

For what it is worth, I can give you my experience. I have the 909:s
older cousin, the 606 driving a 16 year old pair of ESL-63. I think
that the difference between my 606 and your 909 are quite small, so
they should be comparable.

My QUAD 606 does not get hot at all at idle, and mildly warm at high
levels, as in you can put your hand on it and let it stay there. It
does not seem right that they should be hot at idle. Disconnect the
speakers and turn on the amplifier again to check that.

One of my 63's lost volume a couple of years ago, and was roughly some
3-5 dB weaker than the other. I serviced them and it turned out that
it needed a new electronics unit. It was clearly only one of the units
that had this problem.

Don't you have any other speakers that you can test the amp with?
Could you find any difference between the two speakers? Between the
channels in the amplifier?

More questions than answers perhaps, but we could help you diagnose
the problems if you perform some experiments according to the above.

Per.

PS. You can find a service manual for the ESL-63 at
http://www.euronet.nl/users/temagm/audio/esl63.htm , if you you want
to really dig in!

In message , Per Stromgren
writes
On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 21:49:32 +0000, Derrick Fawsitt
wrote:

I have been puzzled by the lack of volume, some
distortion and also the need to run my 909 at a higher level.
I have now discovered from Quad my 63's have lost sensitivity and may
have a panel problem, (please excuse my layman's description). I have
about half the volume of my friends speakers and my 909 which is usually
hot even on standby, seems to get exceedingly hot when using the 63's.
I have decided to send them back to the dealer so that he in turn can
deliver them to Quad for a complete check-up.

For what it is worth, I can give you my experience. I have the 909:s
older cousin, the 606 driving a 16 year old pair of ESL-63. I think
that the difference between my 606 and your 909 are quite small, so
they should be comparable.

My QUAD 606 does not get hot at all at idle, and mildly warm at high
levels, as in you can put your hand on it and let it stay there. It
does not seem right that they should be hot at idle. Disconnect the
speakers and turn on the amplifier again to check that.

One of my 63's lost volume a couple of years ago, and was roughly some
3-5 dB weaker than the other. I serviced them and it turned out that
it needed a new electronics unit. It was clearly only one of the units
that had this problem.

Don't you have any other speakers that you can test the amp with?
Could you find any difference between the two speakers? Between the
channels in the amplifier?

More questions than answers perhaps, but we could help you diagnose
the problems if you perform some experiments according to the above.

Per.

PS. You can find a service manual for the ESL-63 at
http://www.euronet.nl/users/temagm/audio/esl63.htm , if you you want
to really dig in!
Thank you so much, a lot for me to digest and a bit of worry about my
909. I will be putting back my old B and W's today and will check the
heat of the amp. I will revert back if and when I get any definite
results, thanks again.
--
Derrick Fawsitt

On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 09:16:34 +0000, Derrick Fawsitt
wrote:

In message , Trevor Lees
writes
A lot of 63's are in need of servicing now since they are approaching 20
years of service powersupplies fail and panels go leaky(with current that
is)you may need new panels and power supply boards John Hall here in
Melbourne does heaps of them along with the 57's his number is international
613 9772 6293

cheers Trevor Lees

Thank you so much Trevor, unfortunately I am in the UK and have just
bought them and was led to believe they were working perfectly. I am now
going to get the retailer to take them back and do what he should have
done before he sold them to me as working perfectly, namely get Quad to
service them and bring them back to One Hundred per cent.
I am just lucky that I had my friend with his 63's to be able to compare
them with my faulty ones.
Once again, all my thanks,


Try this option www.eraudio.com.au offer repair kits for quad ess, as
well as kits fortheir own Er audio ess. If this does not work, try an
email to Rob@ eraudio.com.au. They are based at Roleystone in Western
Australia, but have recently appointed agents in US and UK.

regards
Dr Patric Scully

In message , Patric
writes
Try this option www.eraudio.com.au offer repair kits for quad ess, as
well as kits fortheir own Er audio ess. If this does not work, try an
email to Rob@ eraudio.com.au. They are based at Roleystone in Western
Australia, but have recently appointed agents in US and UK.

regards
Dr Patric Scully

Will do Patric, I could do with an alternative for them. On a point of
interest, while they are "in hospital" my dealer is loaning me the big
Bosendorfers to try, that should be interesting as they are getting rave
notices over here.
--
Derrick Fawsitt

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 21:49:32 +0000, Derrick Fawsitt
wrote:

Up to now I have been using B and W Speakers but have now bought a
second hand pair of Quad ESL 63's which are also owned by a friend of
mine who raves about them.
Having got used to the different sound of them, especially in my first
love, classical music, I have been puzzled by the lack of volume, some
distortion and also the need to run my 909 at a higher level.

No chance you could have a speaker cable problem, I suppose? If
you're using something esoteric, try swapping it for ordinary power
cable.

In message , Laurence Payne
writes
On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 21:49:32 +0000, Derrick Fawsitt
wrote:

Up to now I have been using B and W Speakers but have now bought a
second hand pair of Quad ESL 63's which are also owned by a friend of
mine who raves about them.
Having got used to the different sound of them, especially in my first
love, classical music, I have been puzzled by the lack of volume, some
distortion and also the need to run my 909 at a higher level.

No chance you could have a speaker cable problem, I suppose? If
you're using something esoteric, try swapping it for ordinary power
cable.
Ahhhh! And I was persuaded to use the esoteric kind, thanks Laurence.
--
Derrick Fawsitt

Hi Derrick,

If the retailer doesn't live up to his end of the bargain and proves to
be a big hassel. You should be able to bring or send your ESLs back to
Quad as a last resort. I know somebody who drove a pair of ESL-63s from
London to the Quad factory in Huntingdon a few years back for repairing
the panel arking problem, and the work was completed nicely within 2-3
hours. I heard they might have moved since, but you can email them at
", they do respond to you.

Regarding the power amp, none of them should become too hot to the
touch whether its the 405, 606 or 909. As for the tubes on the Quad II
Forty, that's a different story.
When your 909 and ESLs are back at 100%, try the London Decca recording
of Sibelius' Finlandia (conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy) if you are not
already familiar with it. With proper placement of the ESLs, it will
surely put a smile on your face.

Regards,
Kev


Derrick Fawsitt wrote:
In message , Laurence Payne
writes
On Mon, 21 Nov 2005 21:49:32 +0000, Derrick Fawsitt
wrote:

Up to now I have been using B and W Speakers but have now bought a
second hand pair of Quad ESL 63's which are also owned by a friend of
mine who raves about them.
Having got used to the different sound of them, especially in my first
love, classical music, I have been puzzled by the lack of volume, some
distortion and also the need to run my 909 at a higher level.

No chance you could have a speaker cable problem, I suppose? If
you're using something esoteric, try swapping it for ordinary power
cable.
Ahhhh! And I was persuaded to use the esoteric kind, thanks Laurence.
--
Derrick Fawsitt

In message .com, K
writes
Hi Derrick,

If the retailer doesn't live up to his end of the bargain and proves to
be a big hassel. You should be able to bring or send your ESLs back to
Quad as a last resort. I know somebody who drove a pair of ESL-63s from
London to the Quad factory in Huntingdon a few years back for repairing
the panel arking problem, and the work was completed nicely within 2-3
hours. I heard they might have moved since, but you can email them at
", they do respond to you.

Regarding the power amp, none of them should become too hot to the
touch whether its the 405, 606 or 909. As for the tubes on the Quad II
Forty, that's a different story.
When your 909 and ESLs are back at 100%, try the London Decca recording
of Sibelius' Finlandia (conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy) if you are not
already familiar with it. With proper placement of the ESLs, it will
surely put a smile on your face.

Regards,
Kev


Hi Kev.

Thank you for that and apologies for not getting back sooner but my PC
was down.
Yes, I am looking forward to trying them and when I do get them back I
will report back here.
Again, all my thanks,
--
Derrick Fawsitt