Craig Sawyers

Hmm - I'm suspicious. If you look at the AK Audio Labs website, there are some nice things listed (MM pickup cartridges, SE tube output transformers etc) but the website does not inspire confidence. The seller just lists AK stuff, so possibly the eBay organ for AK? And what does this attenuator offer over eg a DACT? Switch on the website is available separately for $155, FWIW. Craig

Oh yes - they are abso-fucking-lutely superb. Took my son (25) to see them in Birmingham UK last year when they were doing The Wall, and then some other stuff from UmmaGumma, Echoes, Dark Side etc to finish off. Rob has been a regular rock festival and concert goer since he was 16, and he chalked this APF gig as the best thing he had ever been to. Second row in the middle. Awesome.

I've worn contacts off and on for 25 years or so. But I've worn specs since I was 4, so am used to the convenience. The thing that permanently killed my enthusiam for contacts was maybe two years ago, when I was in the car and convinced that one of them was scratching. I poked and fiddled with my eyeball so much I scratched my cornea - the damned thing had actually popped out on the car floor, so it never was in my eye! Made a real pigs breakfast of my eye by poking it with my finger while driving, and that more or less did it for me. So I'm back on specs. Just another stitch in life's rich tapesty. Life, don't talk to me about life...

It's the wrong list, but these puppies were launched when I was one, and the pair I'm listening to right now were made when I was eight. Essentially two new treble panels (

That it great news! Lots of listening coming up in Mobile, I suspect.

I didn't catch that - but I clearly need to get hold of a copy! Cheers Craig

Yeah - I was surprised too. And suprised that being Japanese they haven't fixed it. I can't seem to find it now - but earlier today I found a Japanese high end retailer who had them on for 11KYen - hence my comment about cheaper. But for some inexplicable reason, it is significantly cheaper to buy a DACT from Justin, and get it shipped across the pond than it is to buy it in the UK. The damned things come from Denmark - so Denmark - US - UK is cheaper than Denmark - UK. Go figure, and good on Justin. The four-gang DACT sits in front of me, accusing me of not getting on and populating the T2 boards.....

I had some problems with TKD. In fact I'm looking at the part now - 2CP-2511, a 100k stereo unit. There is no good and solid electrical connection between the metal shaft and the grounded fixing bush, so you get a really irritating whoosh or crackle as you turn the pot. I though it was faulty, so I returned it (HiFi Collective - they are a good bunch) and they cheerfully replaced it. The replacement did precisely the same thing - so it looks like a generic "feature". Just replaced it with a DACT, which is a source of joy (and a bunch more expensive than TKD). Could certainly be overcome with a spring leaf bearing on the shaft and connected to ground - I've seen this done in Tektronix 7000 series plugins before, presumably for the same sort of reason - and there is certainly room in the T2 to fudge this in if it turns out to be a problem. Craig

And how much tequila?

Dragged my sad ass around a 13 mile run. Winter has come back to the UK with blizzards in Scotland. Even in the soft South I had to contend with driving sleet from time to time - so was pretty miserable and cold most of the way. Consoled myself with a decent listening session in the evening in the dark. Pulled the piano stool in and fiddled with listening position, with good effect.

This all looks great Kevin - thanks for looking at this!

I do like the LS3 - it isn't really an Audio Research purist amp, since it is a discrete FET circuit - and it sounds really good. The real killer for heat is the D125. There are eight 6550's in there with two upward facing fans. Quiescent power is 400W - so on a warm summer's day it can get a bit much! I'm about to add to that thermal overload - I'm building KG's T2 clone. You'll notice that the rack is full, so I have a bit of a space crisis for that monster. Craig

When I was 21, IC's were difficult to get and the 4040 was a shiney new thing. Pass the walking frame.

Some pics of the ShivaX2 http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/ShivaX2a.JPG http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/ShivaX2b.JPG http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/ShivaX2c.JPG I must admit that given the price of these beasts, I think I'll buy a second one and try two sealed box subs, and trial a dipole. That should give me an idea of which approach integrates best with the ESL57's. The wood needed is cheap by comparison. Thinking of ESL57's, two pics http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/QUADa.JPG http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/QUADb.JPG And two of the rig. Second one is a close up of the KG tripde E/S heaphone amp, feeding the Lamdbas on the top of the CD player. http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/Riga.JPG http://www.tech-enterprise.com/tekstuff/Rigb.JPG Craig

Forgot to mention that the checking process also found a couple of errors in my version of the BOM; I'll do another check through and then get it across to KG. Craig

Checked line by line, with minor differences on capacitors at board level: 0.47u, 12 off required - 2 extra are used on U8 decoupling both channels 0.1u, 4 off required - 2 extra used for U8 decoupling both channels High voltage power line decoupling not on schematic (and hence not on schematic BOM printout) But that's it. Exceptionally close. Resistors and semiconductors all A-OK. Craig Decoupling on

You're the main man - hats off sir! Helluva job - how you find the time *and* hold down a 9 to 5 beats me!

My dentist is particularly good at extractions - extracting the money from my wallet.

T2 image - Damn, everyone beat me to it - I really really really like it, a winner!

I can't think why not - they will take over at around 100Hz, so peak accelerations aren't so great, at least in loudspeaker terms (5g or thereabouts). The ESL itself has a fundamental bass diaphragm resonance at 40Hz or so (which is the 35 ohm peak in their impedance), so it isn't behaving ideally itself down there. The key thing is a good strong motor and a grunty amp that will put the cone where it ought to be. All the substantial 14.5kg is in magnet and support structures - the moving mass is only 200 grammes (7oz). Gradient do a dipole sub for the ESL63 (called the SW63). That apparently uses custom 12" Peerless drivers (or Tymphany as it is now). No idea of the driver spec. Anyway, I'm a real mug for well engineered product - and the ShivaX2 certainly is that. Exodus do even stoopider drivers, like an 21" animal called the Maelstrom at $647 a pop, with an Xmax of 32mm, a resonant frequency of 16Hz, and weighing 53lbs. But I really don't want to blow the windows out Craig

Wow - that really is hot off the press! The first collisions were only an hour or so ago - thanks for pointing that out. At that energy, the proton mass is 7000 times its rest mass. Truly outrageous.

Include a washed bottle

I've got interested in putting dipole subs on the ESL57's. Gradient in Finland used to do one (with 8" drivers), but no longer do. Since 1995. The guy who has published most on dipole speakers is Siegfried Linkwitz. I've followed his thinking off and on since the late '70s. His day job before he retired was designing microwave test equipment at HP. Anyway, his website sets out design rules. The main issue seems to be aerodynamic noise from the voicecoil cooling vents on the magnet side of the speaker. You don't hear that in a sealed box, but you do on a dipole. He kept finding speakers that were good in this respect, and then they were discontinued by whatever manufacturer. The really superb one was called the Shiva by Adire Audio. Of course Adire is defunct. Figures. So I bought a JL Audio 12" sub for trials, and I could get no more than 6mm excursion at 35Hz before it started chuffing from the magnet side. That driver is due for the dreaded e-Bay, unless anyone in the UK wants one for a car system, or a sealed box sub for the listening room. It would be great in a sealed (or vented) box. Brand new. It turns out though that the Shiva still exists, made by Exodus Audio and called the ShivaX2. By the time it gets from the US to the distributor in Holland, and then to me in the UK, being punished by dollar and Euro rates all the way, this beast comes in at a hefty

That figures. Perhaps that results in the film losing mechanical tension, because most of the dead ones I was looking at at One Thing had torn films - some spectaculaly so.

Awesome! I read somewhere that owning a Quad ESL is a bit like owning a classic MG car - great to own and a pleasure to drive, but you are always tinkering under the bonnet. Certainly the case for the '57s. The really good news is that yours have been re-panelled. I was a bit surprised on my visit to One Thing Audio how many of the '63's suffer panel damage. They rebuild the panels for 400 '63's a year, and can't keep up with demand. And that is just the UK and mainland Europe mostly.