To ensure a natural sound in keeping with the company’s heritage, QUAD’s engineers have developed a planar magnetic drive film delivering fast, open and transparent performance, similar in quality to the famous ESLs.
The QUAD ERA-1 incorporates an ultra-thin, electrically active diaphragm – thinner than a human hair yet extremely strong and highly elastic, weighing less than the volume of air it displaces. This is fused with a precisely arranged magnet array, designed to maximise sensitivity and consistency of the applied force over the driver area.
Musical Magnetism When sound enters our ears, it has a planar wave front with all spectrum components in phase. A typical dynamic headphone driver disrupts this coherence with its phase irregularity, resulting in less than perfect signal peak reconstructions. QUAD’s planar magnetic driver has much better phase coherency, since all parts of the diaphragm are vibrating in concert without break up and delayed resonance.
Quad Equals Quality QUAD audio components combine the assurance of tradition with the excitement of innovation, and the ERA-1 headphones are a perfect example. A choice of two ear cushions are provided – one made of soft leather, the other fashioned from latex with a soft, fleecy layer in contact with your ear. A high-quality, detachable 215cm cable is also supplied, together with a durable carrying case.
The history of Quad is one of technical achievement in the field of sound reproduction. It is a story that began with the Quad 1 amplifier, which brought the benefits of 15 years knowledge and experience in professional audio and industrial products to the task of making the most accurate domestic audio amplifier of its age.A few years later, in 1953, the product which set the standard for amplifiers was the Quad II Power Amplifier, the time of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation and the year in which Mount Everest was finally conquered. This amplifier pioneered the principle of cathode coupling through the output transformer to reduce harmonic distortion to almost negligible levels. Such was its clear superiority that this model remained in production for 18 years. Three years later, in 1956, Quad demonstrated the first true full-range electrostatic loudspeaker. This remarkable product (known later as the ESL 57) used a virtually mass-less plastic film as a moving diaphragm between two charged plates. Compared with moving coil loudspeakers, the ESL 57 was free of unwanted colourations and distortions. This landmark product remained in production, virtually unchanged, for 28 years.
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