Kit amp for the Quad 57s

[johnwdt]

Hi,
Woundering if there is a recomondation for a kit that drives the Quad 57s nicely. I have a few vintage amps that I use with the Quads, a Marantz 8B and the Quad II mono blocks.
A recent meltdown on one of my mono blocks (Choke ) has me thinking of possibly building my first kit.
Maybe a kit that use KT66s?
I'm new to the DIY community but a huge Vintage fan.
I listen to mainly vinyl and have a modded Lenco L75(Grado arm)
and a DD SP10(SME 3012 MKII).
Any suggestions would appreciated.
I hope this new board does well. I was a visitor only on WAD and never registered. Now I've taken the plunge and hope to build something (Amp) this year.
John T

[alexs2]

Hi there...like you,I have a set of ESL57s and used them on and off with the Quad IIs,but was looking for something better in terms of quality,power and tonal balance compared to the warmth and fuzziness of the Quad IIs.

What I ended up with was the WAD 300B PP amps,with upgraded coupling caps and a couple of other bits and bobs,incl a good set of 300Bs and NOS input and driver tubes.
The overall quality has been superb,and well worth the effort,and the amps complement the ESLs extremely well,with a lovely mid range and clean treble(much better than the Quad IIs).

I would hope that the WAD 300B continues in production after the current hiatus,but you could also take a look at the DIYHiFiSupply LadyDay 300B,which also gets some very good comments and reviews.

If its one of your Quad IIs that's died,there should also be plenty of people who can fix the amp,although your best first port of call is Quad themselves,if you want to retain the value.

[david counter]

another amp to consider is the Glasshouse 300bSE, I've been more than pleased with mine,

[Ali Tait]

I've a pair of 57's that I drag out occasionally and I find the WAD 300bpse's drive them very nicely.Haven't heard them with the 300b PP.Guess it comes down to wether you lean towards SE or PP(Ducks back under the parapet!) Mine had been serviced by Quad in the past and they had put a warning sticker on the back not to use amps more powerful than the Quad II's as damage may occur.You may want to take that into account in your choice of amp.I would say the original 300b PP will be far superior to the existing one if thats the way you wish to go but then you've got to find one!

[alexs2]

Originally Posted by Ali Tait

I've a pair of 57's that I drag out occasionally and I find the WAD 300bpse's drive them very nicely.Haven't heard them with the 300b PP.Guess it comes down to wether you lean towards SE or PP(Ducks back under the parapet!) Mine had been serviced by Quad in the past and they had put a warning sticker on the back not to use amps more powerful than the Quad II's as damage may occur.You may want to take that into account in your choice of amp.I would say the original 300b PP will be far superior to the existing one if thats the way you wish to go but then you've got to find one!

The ESLs should tolerate up to 33V inputs,which means that a 20-25W tube amp is generally OK,although any worries on that score can be put to rest with a voltage clamp board from One Thing Audio,but as to whether the current PP is worse than the original,especially if either had been modified,i wouldn't honestly know,having had no experience of the original.