specifying custom location for ecl-quicklisp packages

Dear all,
we have trouble understanding how ecl-quicklisp can be configured to
install packages at a custom location.
Currently, either

(require :asdf)
(asdf:load-system :ecl-quicklisp)

or

(require :ecl-quicklisp)

starts installing things into ~/quicklisp/

no matter what one tries.
E.g. quicklisp FAQ tells about  (quicklisp-quickstart:install :path
".quicklisp/")
but this seems to need to be evaluated much earlier than (require
:ecl-quicklisp)...

Does this mean one needs to change the ECL installation procedure to
take care of this?

Thanks
Dima