The technical concept: Electrostatic transducers;it is realised in the same way in the head loudspeaker Float QAand in the loudspeaker QUAD ESL57.
The common feature of all electrostats is their impulse fidelity and spatialreproduction. A large-area diaphragm with extremely low weight transmits the
electrical signal to the surrounding air virtually without delay. Whether
headphones or electrostatic loudspeakers, the principle makes no difference.
However, the application and size are completely different. In detail, however, similarities quickly become apparent. Because the diaphragm area of the transducer foil is comparatively small, a rather small distance to the stator is sufficient to achieve sufficient sound pressure so close to the head. In the ESL57, the distance between diaphragm and stator is also extremely small. To explain this, a look at the time of development of the ESL57 helps - more precisely, the 1950s. Amplifier power was still scarce at that time. Good tube amplifiers like the QUAD II delivered just 12 watts per channel. Although the small spacing required by this fact resulted in an increased efficiency that was sufficient for listening in normal living rooms, it entailed a great deal of effort in tensioning the diaphragms and the conductive coatings of the foil diaphragms also had to be adapted at great expense. The connections that Peter Walker (QUAD founder) had solved two decades before the Float appeared served as a blueprint, so to speak.
Today, the new Jecklin FLOAT QA head loudspeaker is manufactured by QUAD Musikwiedergabe in the Eifel region of Germany. Even today, the production of the electrostatic transducers for the FLOAT QA and for the ESL57 is very similar in some places.