My Blink mini camera in night mode makes black look white - cool I thought
The lady at Phil… on eBay is very good
I got 2 off 850 x 1600mm
Fitting is dead easy - I actually left the original on as it’s kind of heat bonded
I draped the white over fir a few days - to hear if it dulled the sound or not, but no discernible difference to my ears, plus I’d rather it’s reversible
How:
Prize the top black strip off (I used a soft car trim lever at one end) it’s a firm push fit onto two spigots about 1/3 in from each side
There are two metal plates (approx 100x40mm ) at the bottom/side of the panel - single Philips screw to remove
That screw goes into a threaded bolt - approx 15mm (?) remove nut and washers
Back at the top, remove two Philips screws with crimp washers
Slide the aluminium sides out - from the top, there’s a 90^ bracket you’ve just loosened top and bottom, top slides towards you and let the bottom one ‘drop’ off the bolt
I pegged the fabric to the top and held the first side by replacing the side bar
Other side needed scissors for size - cut to about half way across the depth of the panel, hold with duct tape (there’s room to leave the tape there)
Other side cheek back on smooth off any creases
Push top panel back in to secure top
Cut the bottom at 60-70mm Longer than the curve of the panel - you can simply tuck it up in the gap (I used a credit card) the edges are a bit tight, use the plastic tool to lever some space
Lyngdorf TDAi-3400 into TDAi-2200 sorts all that out
The two panels at the back are diffusers, I did have more, plus some absorbers as well. Conventional wisdom (and my own experience) suggesting that I should calm it all down
However, nothing better to do recently, I went back to basics and really got the Quads and my seating position right (Quads moved about 15 cm ) that helped the soundstage
I then made the room more lively (clap test - steady! ) applied the room perfect on the lyngdorf and boom!
Thanks for the info Andrew - very much appreciated. I’ve had to have a couple of panels repaired, so know only too well the joys of disassembly! Ha. That sounds like a great way to do it, and reversibly as well.
Quad has had issues with their panels since the 63 came out. Their choices of adhesives and techniques leave a lot to be desired. I’m seeing cases of speakers that are a year old have bad panels, it’s really sad given the price of the speakers.
BTW, the bad glue has paid for my trips to see all of your lovely countries, so I can’t be too mad at Quad.
Also in case you get bored with the white, I have a fabric for you:
Hi Sheldon, I’ve actually got all of the original panels - the white plastic frames and the metal stators (?) plus a roll of Mylar the guy who fixed mine left me
I’ve toyed with the idea of building my own - but have no idea where I’d get the HV and control electronics, are these available?
It’s worked well for me - as well as the aesthetics, I wanted to reduce the ‘wall’ effect I was getting
In other rooms I’ve had the Quads closer to the back wall, meaning the soundstage was largely beyond that wall. With my almost-square music room I’ve have to bring them almost into the middle, and hence more of the soundstage is in the room - but behind those big black panels.
I listen with my eyes open - and I felt like I was having to peer ‘past’ the panels. I found it distracting
Making them white and adjusting the lights (I have a load of Hue) I can make them almost ‘disappear’ (and they actually appear smaller)
Weird, I know, but I’ve read others are equally weird! In that some people don’t like the system rack in the middle - because there’s no space for the performers to '\stand and thereby spoiling the illusion
I’ve ordered some more of the same fabric to recover the diffusers at the back - they’re currently off white, so I’m expecting they will also be less apparent
I am in Johannesburg, 1600 m , very dry in winter, my ESL 63’s lasted 3 weeks before the membrane perforated then started arcing. The light show was interesting 🥲
I lived for a time in JHB earlier, moved to Cape Town , sea level obviously, had them mended then moved back to JHB later and lost them again
I believe Quad did a high altitude power mod but I never applied it. I bought Quad 21’s instead, what a drop in performance but the cost of maintenance was crazy and no guarantee they would stay fixed
You asked for pics of my new Grimm MU1 / Kii Three system, so here they are!!
The system is centred around the Grimm MU1 streamer running it’s own Roon core, feeding a pair of Kii Threes on Kii stands via Tellurium Q Silver Diamond AES. Chord Signature ethernet connects each Kii. For quiet listening I have a pair of Focal Stellia, driven by the Focal Arche headphone amp.
As both my old systems have been sold to help pay for this set-up, my CD collection will now be ripped to a QNAP server, courtesy of the Innuos Zen Mini with LPSU.
Qobuz is streamed via an English Electric 8 ethernet switch (direct from the fibre BT broadband feed) and a Chord Sarum T ethernet cable.
All power cables (except for the Innuos) are Audioquest Blizzard with Orange Synergistic Research fuses. Power conditioning is an Audioquest Niagara and the final key component is a CAD GC3 noise reduction system with extended feeds from both Kii speakers, Grimm, Focal and the Niagara. It is all supported on an ex-dem Quadraspire X-Ref and the Kii stands are supported by two sets of Musicworks P Cones.
I’m still running everything in (around 350 hours+) because the Synergistic fuses were late arrivals. I have yet to install the Rhodium plated Furutech power socket and the final step will be to treat all the power plugs with Chord Ohmic transmission fluid.
How does it sound? Well, to my ears pretty fantastic with holographic imaging and it just sounds so very, very real. The rear and side firing speaker cones have entirely removed the room’s resonance with the old Velodyne DD-12s and they delivery very, very low (but taught and accurate) bass.
Just unplugging any of the CAD cables or even swapping out the EE8 network switch for a Netgear one diminishes the sound in a way that’s hard to believe - but even my lovely wife can hear the difference if I try it (it didn’t last long; just to prove what a massive difference they have made).
I hope your new kit has arrived and gives you the shivers too! Let’s hand it to the Netherlands… they have some awesome audio products!
This is my primary music production and critical listening station. There are two Roon endpoints here: an Rpi4 running Ropieee feeding a JDS Labs Element II via USB; and, a MacBook Pro feeding an RME Babyface Pro via USB. The Element outputs to either a Sennheiser HD 660S or Focal Elex. The Babyface outputs to either a Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro or a pair of Adam A5X near field monitors. I’m using PEQ in Roon with the Element, and Sonarworks 4 with the Babyface. The controller in front is an Ableton Push which I use for music production in Ableton Live. There’s quite a bit of horsepower here for such a compact setup.
The easiest way to get that stuff is to buy the complete bases from a set of Quad 63’s. They appear on eBay from time to time from folks selling panels there.
But then you have to fabricate the rame dust covers etc. It’s way easier to buy a broken set and fix them, and you have everything you need. And if you are sick of the second pair, they will actually be sellable.
Broken quads are dirt cheap. I pay $500 for broken 63’s. I bought three 989’s for $300 each this fall, I got a set of 2805’s for $825, and I paid $1000 for my 2912’s. All because it’s a nightmare to get them fixed when they are broken.
Will you kill yourself? Probably not, the high voltage is current limited, and feels like touching an electric fence. The audio transformers can kill you, but you just don’t play music through them when your meat-sticks are inside the electronics. If you are hell-bent on killing yourself, there are better ways…
I have the parts you’d need to put them together from key parts only if you are up for building your own frames. You’ll need input transformers, delay lines, clamp circuits and high voltage power supplies.
I think you were fighting the crappy panels coming out of Quad these days. The cost and trouble in getting the ESL’s fixed is a real deterrent. I’ve sent a lot of rebuilt modern quads to places like denver (1600 meters), and the southwest. I did some of my first ESL63 rebuilds in Albuquerque which is a mile up like denver and really defines the concept of “dry”. No problems. If anything the dryness and altitude help.
I don’t know anything about a high altitude mod, I’ll have to research it.
Helped a friend move house over the last week and finally got the audio setup again for him today.
Roon server running on windows 10 i7-7700K PC via a Fibre and FS.com FMC’s in another room. ASUS router to Bonn N8 silent angel switch to EtherREGEN on UpTone SMPS B-side then SFP Optical to Sonore OpticalRendu both OR and Bonn on LMPS’s, lush USB cable to Denafrips Terminator, Denafrips Hestia Preamp and Linn D cass amp to Spacial Audio M3 Triode Master speakers. Room setup needs more work but better than the last place.
Yes, I guessed that was the way to do it - with old kit. A good friend of mine has a fantastic workshop for making all sorts of stuff. Sounds like a project coming on…
That looks so good. Very clean setup. Any surrounds? Room looks huge and it’s a pleasant change and contrast from those pics of smaller rooms with massive speakers like tekton moabs.
cool I thought 
) that helped the soundstage
) applied the room perfect on the lyngdorf and boom!
