One Thing Audio
Quad
Reviews, ESL 57, The Widget
Paul Newsum: Dear Ron and Steve, Sorry to be so long writing. Have been listening very intensely, and especially last night when fireworks were at their very height. I remembered the parallel last year when I played Kubelik's VPO CD of Smetana's " Ma Vlast" to rise superior above all the noise. This year (last night) it was Beethoven (recently acquired remasterings of Klemperer/Philharmonia,.. symphonies and piano concertos plus overtures and Grosse Fuga. PLUS THE WIDGET. I assure you there was NO CONTEST. We beat last year's easily, it was a lot easier, even without the big drum in Ma Vlast. The WIDGET made all the difference. We also had beefier amplification; (DENSEN B 110, Solid State) this time, as against valves last year. It was on account of the noise outside that I turned up the GAIN control quite high for a truly thrilling EXPERIENCE, way beyond the normal. A case of stereo = SOLID. I had never turned the "set" up quite so high, and yet the glorious KINGSWAY HALL RE SOUNDED LOUD AND CLEAR...1957 EMI filled my 12 X13 feet (X8 H) room at a modest volume setting, without distortion, with truly great music. I had no idea the ESLs could go so loud. Mind you, there was another contributory factor, namely the Pro 50, MJ ACOUSTICS smallest sub-bass speaker. The REL configuration is along a room diagonal, and the ESLs quite near the centre of the room. All cables KIMBER. AVI Internatonl reference model CD player, but using MUSICAL FIDELITY TRI-VISTA 21 DAC option.
The word stereo sums up the advance in fidelity, I mean, whhat more could you want? There is also much more detail everywhere, espec ially in the high treble, and there's never anythng lacking in the bass department, and it's all seamlessly joined up and balanced. Of course there is only one "seat" for perfection, but it's not bad anywhere in the room. Full orchestra, and every player in place too. THANKS TO YOU BOTH. PAUL NEWSUM
Ivor Moore: Hello One Thing, Received the Widgets Tuesday, thanks, but only had time to listen over the weekend. Astonishing – what an improvement! I wouldn’t have believed there was much I could do to improve the sound anyway, and upon plug in I sat down and braced myself to concentrate on subtleties (sometimes ears and mind have to be in the right gear to catch tiny improvements) but I needn’t have bothered. There was immediately more warmth and depth to the sound, a slight brittleness in the treble before had disappeared – now so natural and sweet, and the bass more tuneful, better integrated. I didn’t even bother to take them out of circuit – I’ll save that for a listening session scheduled for next weekend when I have a few friends round. Congratulations – it’s not often one clocks such an improvement for such a modest outlay.
Ivor Moore, Teddington.
John Moore: I have used the Widget (One Thing ESL 57 EQ) with my 57’s driven by:
- A rebuilt Leak Stereo 20 valve amp (Classique Sounds), and
- A pair of Meridian 605 solid-state monoblocks.
Improvements are subtle but worth having. With the widget in place they are similar for both amps, but there may be a slightly bigger improvement with the solid-state design. Improvements:
- Greater sense of presence and reality;
- More detail and texture;
- Smoother, ‘creamier’, easier to listen to;
- Tidier, more refined presentation;
- Bass more apparent, coherent and detailed;
- More tunefulness;
- Sound stage better integrated and natural;
- Instruments/voices stand out in a more 3-dimensional way;
- Better integration across frequency band;
- Timbre of instruments more realistic;
- Brass sounded more natural etc.
I hope these comments are useful. If I have any further comments on further listening I will let you know. Best wishes, John Moore
Andrew Maddon: Hi Gents - Box of tricks [Widget] quite incredible. It's transformed the sound - more space around instruments, better imaging. I'm impressed. But you know me! What's inside the thing - surely can't be much for 80 quid for a pair of them, I reason, but it's done more for my stacks than some items I have spent.... well, I won't mention it: I'm already feeling queasy! But c'mon, fellas, what's inside it? I've taken the lid off and its full of gunge. I've tried to measure it, and all I read is 0.3 ohm series resistance - is that correct? Andrew Maddon
Ron Best replies: That's about right, Andrew. But the secret is in the cable, which has a dialectric of fine silk spun on the warm thies of a Vestal Virgin. Monetarily quite worthless but the gunge costs a bloody fortune.
Mick McManus: Everything plugged in, and.......oh, yes.......mmmh........very yes! Many thanks, Mick McManus.
V. Berry: Sorry - might be something I'm doing wrong, but I can't hear any difference with it plugged in or out.
Salvatore Sacca: Steve/Ron, Sometimes funny things happen. When I received your “line-equalisers”, I was eager to try them. Woke up early Sunday morning, hooked them up to the speakers, turned the system on and….Whamm!! All of s sudden the image heightened, there was more “air” between the instruments, the high frequencies looked like kind of smoother. I’d say “silkier”, but without losing impact and lightening-fast transient response. Moreover, a very annoying boominess in the 80-90 Hz region – partly due to the amp, partly due to the CD player, and partly to as room mode resonance – well, I can’t say it disappeared, but became tighter and more tuneful.
We’re talking about clearly audible differences, the kind you experience, for instance, when you eventually get the “right” cable, and the change was definitely for the better.
Since you had called the thing “line-equaliser” I thought it was supposed to do exactly that, to wit, gently “equalise” some minor irregularities in the speakers’ response. Now, fast forward to Sunday night, when I checked my emails, got your response and…..well, I leant that the thing was supposed to address a totally different kind of problem – which I happen not to have – and “by chance” solved the peaks at 90 Hz and at 12 kHz, with a slight and gentle rise at 13.5 kHz: which happens to be distinctly what I heard. Well guys, if you really got this result by chance, you are very lucky; on the other hand, if you – as I’m more inclined to think – did it purposely, this is another proof that you know your job very, very well; in both cases, you have a very, very good product, and I can easily say that my system sounds BETTER with the little wonder plugged in.
That said, since you warned me that the results might be system-dependent, I spent last week playing around with a couple of amps I have at hand. Besides the VAC PA45 which I currently use, I tried the Bedini 25/25 and the glorious – really glorious – Quad 11; I am arranging an audition with the PASS ALEPH 3 too, but couldn’t try it yet. Well, I noticed the same differences in all three set-ups. This thing’s definitely a winner. .
Finally, do you know the reason why, for Christ’s sake, people keep on driving these speakers with solid-state behemoths? The other day, listening to the Quad 11/ ESL combo, I thought that, really, they don’t do them like they used to any more: in 50 years, all we got is a backwards move, not forward.
With my warmest regards, Salvatore.
