On Dec 26, 12:49 pm, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:
In article ,
tony sayer wrote:

In an attempt to improve both the LF extension and spl stacking is
sometimes used and I can see that that would be fine with the 57
variety. What about your 63s? Presumably you would have to arrange them
such that they form part of an outer circle otherwise their concentric
rings and imaginary point source behind the speakers will be rendered
useless?
Unless you must have it louder there wouldn't be any point and as said
the point source will be sodded up....

I've oft wondered about that. My actual experience of electrostatics is
limited in depth to the original Quad design. And those had perhaps the
most critical sweet spot of any speaker, but when in it had excellent
imaging. I never did have an opportunity to live with a stacked set up to
really decide how well it worked.

Well, I had stacked ESL57 for years, and perhaps everyone should
experience them once but stacks are not the end-all and be-all of
stats; I'm just explaining to Poopie how it is done with the round-
form diaphraghms like the ESL-63 because he doesn't appear to have the
brains to work it out.

The 57 is tricky to stack right; you can as easily muddle your sound
as boost its volume. You stack ESL-57 one on top of the other, the top
one turned upside down and angled towards the bottom one, the entire
assembly pivoted around the joint towards the listening chair, ditto
for the assembly on the other side. Each assembly is also angled
inwards in relation to the side wall to face the listening chair
squarely (line from the listening chair to the radiating face hits it
perpendicularly). Now you're looking at four imaginary lines making a
pyramid towards the listening chair. It helps to get the four lines
the same length if you raise the assembly on each side several feet
and tilt it over towards the listening chair. As by now you suspect,
stacking ESL57 turns your music into a perfectly lonely pastime; the
sweet spot becomes hypercritical in three dimensions. I kept stacked
ESL for years because mine was aimed at my work chair in front of my
computer, in which I sat in the sweet spot for hours. Visitors to my
study had only a partial experience of the music...

For years I also had a singleton 57 from some old chappie who read my
music column; it came complete with correspondence in Peter Walker's
own hand which I still have. Sometimes for months on end I would play
just the single 57, and not because I was moving around, quite the
contrary: I was sitting at my desk for 16 hours every day grafting
away on a big book. I remember that as one of the sweetest musical
experiences ever, a really good reason to go mono; that is still my
reference of the purest, most angelic sound I ever heard. Soundstaging
is really a rather trivial trick, and the only one stereo offers for
what is often a very high price in its associated downsides; it is a
party trick for "audiophiles" who have no real interest in the
enjoyment of music.

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