Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I bought my ESL-63s about nine months ago. In my many years of audio exploration, I have owned many other speakers. During the last four years, I have had PSB Stratus Golds, Magneplanar MG 1.6QRs, Klipschorns, Thiel CS 3.6s and the Quad ESL-63s. The Quads are the only ones left in my listening room. That may say enough right there.
My two primary concerns before buying them were their supposed lack of bass and inability to play loudly. I was able to audition them before purchase and considered that they played plenty loudly enough for me. They have a lean, quick, articulate bass without exaggeration or boom. They may not go as low as some speakers, but the articulation of the bass that is there is musical, true to the timbre of the instruments and matches that of the rest of the system. My listening room is 14 x 22 ft. with 7.5 foot ceilings. I can play music louder than I am comfortable listening to it with the Quads, and their reproduction is superb.
I listen to classical music, opera, acoustic music--folk, blues, some pop, rock, soul, etc., a pretty eclectic array of program material. With small ensembles, the inner detail of the music is simply breathtaking. I can hear each instrument clearly in the mix without exaggeration or unrealistic highlighting of any instrument. In some orchestral music it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between, say, a clarinet and oboe. Not with the Quads!
The real acid test for me is reproduction of the human voice, particularly operatic voices. Over many speakers, opera singers, sopranos and tenors, sound hard and edgy, sometimes almost metallic, the sound is unbearable. I attend at least four live operas each year, and I have never heard anything like that kind of sound emanating from a singer in an opera house. The Quads handle these voices with uncanny realism. The character of different singers' voices is preserved but that artificial "hi-fi" edge is simply not there. I am so pleased to find myself no longer feeling my shoulder muscles tightening in anticipation of some unbearable screech at a climactic moment--no cringing, no "listener fatigue"--just singers!
Orchestral strings are another area where many speakers screech, The Quads produce superb strings--resiny bowing, clear, clean string timbre whether loud or soft in volume.
All the speakers I have owned were well-regarded and each had some particular strength. The Quads outperform them all, providing those aspects of speaker performance that count the most for me.
If you have been curious about them, I urge you to do your utmost to audition a pair. I heard Quad 2905s at a dealer before I bought my ESL-63s. I could never afford the 2905s and there is actually very little difference between them and the ESL-63s. Very highly recommended.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from Jakarta - Indonesia

Summary:
Quad ESL63 sound very close to original sound, no coloration added and the most interesting is non fatiquing for hours of listening.

Strengths:
Especially vocal may be the best, instrument almost no coloration added. Able to reproduct some missing tones on cone speaker, especially fast tones.

Weaknesses:
Low sensitivty and need high power amplifier to drive to match the listener's listening level. At high level volume in high humidity may cause spark on the panels. Limited bass level at large room.

Similar Products Used:
Magnepan MG?

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from last owner

Summary:
I had many speakers in the last 5 years mostly totem, elipson, klipsh. On some occasion i got to listen to esl-57 and esl-63 and they slowly grow in me. Each time i was amazed by them. One of the best setup i ever heard was based on esl-63 with good stands in a very big basement. More i was searching for my sound, more i was interested to electrostatic speakers. In another hand i was affraid of the high cost maintnance and reliability of the quad and find some flaw on mangnepan speaker exept on very high-end ones. I finaly I found a good deal and take my chance on a recently rebuilded pair who seem to sound good in the very small seller room.

At home it was simply a revelation, any speakers i even own was simply forgeten in a couple days of listning. With position tweaking (lot of space on the back and from sidewall), rising them 14 inches and using the 16 ohms tap on my amp and I'm now in my nirvana. They certainly don't lack in bass, the mids are sweet as hell and instruments really sound like they should. All thoses years that i wanted them but was too afraid to buy a pair ...

Thoses speakers are for real music lover, not for excesive purist.

Strengths:
If you can affort them (including possible reparation), you can live with what i describe in weaknesses, I cannot see anything like them that I heard in shows and stores and don't cost more than my car.

Weaknesses:
Large, need big room, need to be rised from the floor. Dipolar, can be hard to position and may need absorbant panel behind them. They need very stable power with a lot of reserve. I use a old mcintosh amp with superb result at raisonable price.

Similar Products Used:
Nothing with standard driver if you are in that kind of sound except some back loaded horn designs.

Price Paid:  $1600.00 from eBay

Summary:
My first pair of ESL-63 speakers were the original International Monitors, serial # 5000s. These were purchased in England years before a modified ESL-63 was sold in the USA as the US Monitor.
After 22 years, one of them developed a leaking capacitor which makes weird noises, and I replaced it with ESL-63 USA Monitors (serial # 21,000s), an upgraded version of the originals. The original ESL 63 was the best speaker ever made, especially for classical music. The US Monitor is better, being a bit more open.
These speakers are not fussy unless they are over powered. If you have pop music induced hearing loss, you won't like them.
Quads roll off from 40 Hz (which is pretty good bass unless you are a hard rock nut), and a little low base boost makes sense, but running the Quads through a crossover is not a good idea, it only makes things worse. I built my own subwoofer with its own amp that rolls off -6db between 30 and 40 Hz, and the signal is terminated at 40 Hz. That way. in only adds bass in the region where the Quads roll off without taking anything away from the Quads.

Strengths:
Awesome imaging, inner detail, transient response, and vast sound stage. Most like real music of any speaker ever.

Weaknesses:
These ain't cheap. Go to eBay after searching the web for how to tell a fried panel.

Similar Products Used:
MacIntosh, Quad, Adcom, Tandberg, Berning, Crown, and Marantz amps.
Magnavox, Sony, JVC, CEC cd players. Ariston 400 turntable/Ortofon OM-40 mm cartridge.

Price Paid:  $3000.00 from Philadelphia, PA

Summary:
I purchased my new Quad ESL 63s with "Stand and Deliver" stands in late 1979, along with a Janis 15" W-1 Subwoofer and crossover/amp. In 1988 I traded them for a pair of ESL 63 USA Monitors. They have always been driven by Audio Research M100 tube monoblocks and an ARC SP-9 hybrid preamp. After 14 years, this system continues to thrill me with the transparent, holographic delivery of beautiful music, especially with the acoustic classical and jazz performances now becoming available using the new DSD SACD recording. The Quads deliver astonishly real(true) voice, piano and woodwind sound, and with a well-blended sub do not seem to slight the musically deep bass notes on the DSD disks.

I have an all-digital Meridian home theater surround sound system, which is really great for movie sound as well as music, but it can't input the DSD multichannel SACDs, so I prefer my Quad ESL63/tube system for stereo listening to these super-fidelity recordings and other good analog source material like Direct-to-Disk and high quality vinyl.

Over these many years, I have had no problem with the speakers deteriorating.

Strengths:
Transparent, "open window" reproducers of the natural timbre of acoustic instruments and voice, if faithfully recorded.
Beautiful mid-range fidelity.
Wide,stable soundstage.

Weaknesses:
Lack the "punch" of dynamic speakers. Difficult to blend-in a dynamic subwoofer.
Require a lot of space around the speakers.

Similar Products Used:
VPI T.T., Souther Linear Tracking Arm, Koetsu MC Pickup, Sony SCD-777es SACD