Dave xxxx wrote:
Alan Rutlidge wrote:


Careful Andre. Phil Allison might just accuse you of having stolen
them. After all, how many teenagers (then) could have afforded to
purchase a pair of Quad ESL57s?

Cheers,
Alan

As a teenager (just 18) I was in the forces and I bought a pair of new 57's
Quad 405 and 44 pre with an LP12

Give most had something like Kenwood or Phillips or even Technics my system
got some strange looks lol

I wish I still had it :-( all paid for with "LOA" local overseas allowance
via a Sparkassa ? bot sure about spelling bank loan

Years ago there was a loud salesman on RAHE called Steve Zipser. His
motto was: You demonstrate your commitment to your sound by how much
you spend. Eventually Zip was disgraced when the took up the challenge
of trying to distinguish cables in a double blind test and,
predictably, failed. I imagine he now sells used cars in Podunk.

Taking a loan as a teenager to buy speakers that cost the price of a
car, now that's real commitment. It's a pity Zip's name is so
discredited or we could have a Zipser Award for someone like you (and
like me at the time) who made a real commitment to serious quality
sound.

In fact, about the same time, having totalled my Porsche dicing in the
storm drains on the way to Bulowayo, to get back to college 1500 miles
away in time for class on Monday morning, I bought an ex-police Jaguar
Mk II at an auction for less than half of what a pair of ESL cost,
never mind the Quad II and 22 I bought at the same time as the
speakers. (The Jag did another 100k miles in my hands as a tow car and
a pace car for longdistance records, before I swapped it for a Healey
3000, so it wasn't rubbish either.)

God, I wish I had that outfit today! But when I had to go into exile in
a hurry, minutes ahead of the Bureau of State Security, I just told the
servants they could take whatever was in the house, and then to set it
alight to add to the confusion in which I hoped to make my escape.
Either some servant scored a fab hi-fi or it burned...

I have some correspondence about one of the ESL (57) that I got in the
1990's. It belonged to an old craftsman whose family said after he died
that he wanted me to have it because he liked my record reviews.
Anyhow, the correspondence includes handwritten letters from Peter
Walker, who clearly took such a major decision as seriously as a guy
who saved up for his speaker (mono is good too!). We should have such
courtesy on the usenet today!

That first series Quad ESL was the greatest speaker ever made, and not
only because I first heard them when my ears were fresh and the world
was young.

Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Amps at http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/
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