Steve ESL IV Review

Listening to them, my initial impression was astonishment -
on the opening track of Mercedes Sosa’s Misa Criolla album it was as if the singer was there in the room with us.

Steve's ESL IV Report

Hi Gary & Rob,  (N.B. Gary Young, not Gary Jacobson)

Here is a short review with pictures. I’m happy for you to use it however you wish. Thank you both for your efforts in building this amazing speaker. The ER Audio ESL IV.

I found Rob’s website ER Audio while searching for a way to repair my Quad 989 ESLs which I had relegated to the garage some years back due to the panels failing. I bought a repair kit from Rob but the repair was going to take me a while as we were about to start some house renovations. I looked at the DIY Kits and thought that the ESL IV would be a good match for the alcoves in our lounge, then saw that a custom cabinet building service was available from Gary. My wife and I both missed the sound of the Quads, and after talking to Rob & Gary I ordered a set of ESL IV panels from Rob and commissioned Gary to build a speaker cabinet for them and ship them to me in Auckland. We were offered a choice of different woods for the frame. As it was going to be an all Australian production with Rob being in Perth and Gary in Brisbane we wanted something suitably Australian and ordered the frames in Tasmanian Blackwood. Rob shipped the ESL panels to Gary, who assembled them into the wooden frames, installed all the electronics and sent them on to me.

I’ve been enjoying them for a couple of months now so I owe Rob & Gary a review. Firstly, they are beautifully built and stunning to look at so Gary and his son-in-law Scotty did a fantastic job on that.

Listening to them, my initial impression was astonishment - on the opening track of Mercedes Sosa’s Misa Criolla album it was as if the singer was there in the room with us. Since then I’ve had that same experience many times with different types of music. I haven’t felt that since putting the Quads away so the ESL IV is a very worthy replacement. They are particularly good on vocals. There is a definite sweet spot where all the stereo image is finely resolved but I haven’t bothered to fuss overly about speaker placement. I’ve used them with a Billie Amp which worked well and currently an Audiophonic DAC and a pair of March P451 power amps to continue with the Australian theme. Nick Cave never sounded so good. Thanks Rob & Gary, the ESL IVs are keepers.

Steve,

New Zealand