Quad ESL-2805

Quad ESL-2805 pair for local sale in the San Francisco Bay Area in like new condition. This is my personal reference speaker--tested and expertly restored with new panels in November, 2017.

It is rare to find a used pair in this condition... this pair of ESL-2805 speakers performs with the utterly silent background and superb dynamics for which they are legend. If you listen to your music at low to mid-levels, particularly vocals and ensemble music, this is the speaker to own and experience. Over the years, I have matched them with a wide variety of equipment. Now I'm offering them for sale to the home of a fellow music lover. Please feel free to reach out with questions or, for that matter, any concerns related to your system and listening room and the Quad ESL-2805s.

...If you have not yet heard music reproduced on the big ESL-2805 panels, these reviewer impressions help to explain why many regard them as the best of the Quad ESL line:

The Absolute Sound - Jim Hannon reviews and compares the 2805 to earlier models

"One of the pleasant surprises offered by the ESL-2805 is that it reduces the already low distortion of the ESL- 63, yielding even better transparency, coherence, soundstaging, and transient quickness. Instruments and voices sound even more natural and lifelike. For example, the timbre and inner detail of the cello is absolutely striking on the Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, performed by Janos Starker. The cello is a very telling instrument for loudspeaker evaluation, and on the 2805, as Starker traverses its range, you’ll notice there are none of the crossover distortions, suck-outs, or discontinuities between drivers that plague virtually all multi-driver designs to some degree..."

"While I did expect the 2805 to excel in the acknowledged areas of Quad’s strengths, I was unprepared for the improvements in dynamic range, bass extension, control, and weight..."

"It sounds so “right” that I found myself drawn to the music, to the artistry of the performer, and to the essence of the composition. The natural timbre, coherence, clarity, and subtle details that one hears in a live performance kept me transfixed until my reverie was interrupted by the sound of the cartridge hitting the end of the record..."

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/quad-esl-2805-loudspeaker/

The Absolute Sound - Paul Seydor on his personal reference speaker

"...the ESL-2805 (in my view is still the finest speaker Quad has ever made, though I also have a fully restored vintage pair of original ESLs)".. "as for my 2805s, no, I'm not about to sell them--once a Quad man, always a Quad man..."

"The new model [ESL-2812] is a work of the highest level of craftsmanship. One is almost tempted to call it a work of art. And it sounds essentially as one expects a Quad to sound. Going on memory alone, it seems to me to have preserved the essential Quad balance, though for some reason, the 2812 seems slightly brighter than the 2805, though I did not have a chance to compare the 2812 and 2805 side by side."

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/quad-2812-electrostatic/

Stereophile - John Atkinson reviews the ESL-2805 - on soundstaging

"And, if the recording has captured the appropriate interchannel phase information, a pair of good speakers will also throw an image outside the space defined by the speaker positions. This the Quad ESL-2805s managed with fetishistic ease: the arboreal effects that begin the first cut on Andreas Vollenweider's "Behind the Gardens-Behind the Wall-Under the Tree" where positioned way outside the speaker edges. The soundstage depth was equally impressive..."

"It was the same with my recording of Bob Reina's jazz quartet "Attention Screen," which I recorded live in Manhattan in 2010 for "Takes Flight at Yamaha," particularly the spacious-sounding space jam "Ear Topology". Through the ESL-2805s, the different characters of the delay pedals used by Don Fiorino on his Fender Stratocaster and Chris Jones on his fretless Jazz Bass contrasted with the wash of luminous ambience I had added with Metric Halo's Haloverb engine to tie the mix together. And when Mark Flynn works his way around his drum kit, the time-slicing Quad unambiguously preserved the spatial qualities of which drum and cymbal was positioned where without detracting from the overall picture."

https://www.stereophile.com/content/quad-reference-esl-2805-loudspeaker

...

Please note these speakers were not shipped and were personally transported to and from the service center in the South Bay, where Scott Frankland provided his expert restoration service.

Sensitivity: 86dB/2.83volts/1m [an easy load]
Frequency response: 37Hz to 21kHz -6dB
Distortion (100dB at 1m): Above 1kHz 0.15%, above 100Hz 0.5%, above 50Hz 1.0%
Min. power: 8-25 watts [depending on room volume]
Max. power: 200 watts
Impedance: 8 ohms nominal
Dimensions: 15" x 27" x 40"
Weight: 77 lbs.

The speakers are available for audition.

Enjoy the music!