One Thing Audio
One Thing Audio
OTA ESL 57 EQ, the Widget
OTA ESL 57 EQ – For
single pair of ESL 57s (identity: GREEN dot)
OTA ESL 57 EQ – For stacked pair of ESL 57s (identity: RED dot)
Introducing: the “Widget”
The One Thing Audio ESL 57 EQ (christened the “Widget” by original owners) is an add-on accessory the purpose of which is to provide a small amount of response correction to the ESL 57 whilst presenting a more ‘benign’ load to solid-state amplifiers which are known (or suspected!) to run into difficulties when driving directly into ESL 57s. Further difficulties may arise when the owner is intending to drive ‘stacked’ Quads. Unless dedicated power amplifiers are employed to drive each pair, each ‘stack’ must be wired in parallel (‘series’ wiring NOT recommended), and this presents the amplifier with an even more complex load. Whereas many modern stable amplifier designs will drive into this load without difficulty (Quad’s own designs are exceptional in this respect) some will blow protection fuses and even suffer output stage failure (regrettably, the sophistication or the cost of the amplifier has little bearing on its ability to cope with ‘difficult’ loads). The use of our ESL 57 EQ device is by no means a guarantee that your particular choice of amplifier won’t run into difficulties, but the ‘risk’ of this occurring is no greater than would be the case if your amplifier was driving into many ‘modern’ moving-coil loudspeaker designs.
Two versions of the ESL 57 EQ are available. The ESL 57 EQ (Green) for a single pair of ESL 57s and the ESL 57 EQ (Red) for use with a stacked pair of ESL 57s. There is no difference in the cost. There is no ‘re-wiring’ to be done: the box merely plugs ‘in line’ with your speaker lead, and can be incorporated at the amplifier end or at the speaker end (If the ‘stacks’ version is used, insertion at the amplifier end would be more appropriate).
Q: Will I hear an improvement:
A: Almost certainly. You will
definitely hear a DIFFERENCE, and users to date have commented on a more tuneful bass and greater integrity to the sound.Q: Are there any disadvantages?
A: Yes. There is an insertion loss of approximately 1db with the ‘green’ version, and 1.8db with the ‘red’ version. But unless the box is used with seriously underpowered amplifiers (and this would be an unacceptable state of affairs anyway) the insertion loss may be considered negligible.Price of ESL 57 EQ: please refer to current price list on this site
