The Quad ESL cornerstone speaker…

The Quad ESL, the brand’s cornerstone speaker, not only creates one of the purest sounds on the market but is also integral to the history of Quad. Peter Walker sought to create something beyond the Corner Ribbon speaker and began experimenting with full-range electrostatic speakers. He brought the first Quad electrostatic onto the market in 1957 and very few alterations have been made to the original model.  To this day the Quad ESL is essentially the same as what was released in the 1950’s.
In a review written by Ralph West, Hi-Fi News Nov 1957, he states, “The top doesn’t sparkle all the time, and the bass doesn’t shake ones tummy all the time.  It merely does what it’s told, no more, no less.”  The ESL embodies the brand’s ethos in it’s success in creating the “closest approach to the original sound.”  Using unique technology, the ESL is able to produce a sound with low distortion and has set standards for accuracy putting the speaker in a class of it’s own.
To this day Quad puts great importance upon the manufacturing of each ESL.  In the late fifties each ESL was hand finished and although much of the process has been updated and achieved on a larger scale, many techniques from circuit board assembly to piano gloss finishing is still done by hand. 
The Quad ESL is successful in not only keeping alive Quad’s history and the creations of the brand’s founderPeter Walker, but also continues to be a legendary product in the hifi industry.

www.quad-hifi.co.uk