Quad Electronics (The brand, not Quadraphonic)- Any fans?

...overhauled / refurbished 5 Quad 33's, 5 303's, 3 405's and most recently 3 Quad ESL 63's and 1 ESL 57. Any questions? Don't hesitate :p
 
Had a bit of experience with a 303 - they sell for outrageous prices here in NZ. Really lusted after one for ages.....bought it and refurbed.....however after all that, the sound was "meh" IMO.

Got the biggest upgrade in sound once replaced the pre-drivers. Then I bought a second hand unrestored Sansui 555a and the 303 was out the door. Night and day difference.

I have wanted to hear the Quad 99, they have a good rep.

The 303 is a joy to work on, the PCBs are hinged and flip out underneath. The design and styling of that amp is fantastic.

I dont think this series of Quad can hold a candle to Leak. I have restored and kept a few Stereo 30s, and a Delta 70. Great to work on, fully removable boards, easy to upgrade, and fantastic sound and power for something crammed into such a little box.
 
I auditioned a Quad amp and pre-amp in 1979/80 courtesy of my friend John who owned the latest Quad gear including electrostatic speakers. It was impressive, but the Sansui AU-919 integrated amplifier gave much more positive control of my Spendor BC1 speakers, so that's what I bought - and still own.

I recall being impressed on two accounts with Quad:
1. The internal wiring of the amp/pre-amp was laid out like tramlines, much neater than the spaghetti wiring of the Sansui. It was so good to look at that it was a shame we had to refit the cover!
2. John wanted his pre-amp tweaked so as to accept input from an Audio-Technica Signet MkIIIE moving coil cartridge (the same as I had and still have). He gave Quad a call to ask for advice and they said "Bring it in and we'll be pleased to modify it free-of-charge as part of our customer service" (their headquarters were only 20 miles down the road).

Different story with Sansui. I wanted similar doing to my AU-919 and asked Sansui if they'd still respect their warranty if I had a qualified electronics engineer modify the MC circuitry. Their first response was to send me a package of brochures, with no answer to my question. I asked again and their second response was to tell me to keep trying makes and models of moving coil cartridges until I found one that suited. (I then found that the Audio-Technica cartridge should be used in conjunction with their MK10T step-up transformer into an MM input, so that's the way I went.)
 
I just put together a 3 / 33/ 405 system, having troubles with the 33, 1/2 recapped awaiting more parts.
Edit: found a broken wire, Do all of the 33's have hum when stacked over the tuner or amp(with tone controls enabled)?
 
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I've recently picked up a pair of 12L active speakers, and am impressed! They don't dig very deep, but the mids and highs are wonderful. At some point I'll have to work though the buzz I'm getting out of them when a source isn't playing, but otherwise I'm a big fan.
 
I've recently picked up a pair of 12L active speakers, and am impressed! They don't dig very deep, but the mids and highs are wonderful. At some point I'll have to work though the buzz I'm getting out of them when a source isn't playing, but otherwise I'm a big fan.
Check them out real good. Here is my experience with my Quad 12L2:


After solving the mystery, they now sound great. Poor QC is all I can say for my particular set. Maybe they were assembled on a Monday or a Friday?
 
Nice find on your part! Unfortunately, I don't have the 12L2 passive model as you do. Mine connect via the preamp outputs of my receiver. They're definitely in phase as the imaging is great, and they sound full of life.
 
I've never heard a genuine Quad though after Googling everything I could regarding the Quad 34 pre and 405 power amp I decided to give their ore a miss and sourced a new Quad 405 copy out of China. Experimentation tells me that it sounds like whatever preamp and source you put in front of it, with very little colour of its own. With a Gieseler Gross DAC, Schiit Saga in front driving my Aurum Cantus F620 speakers it's up there with the best I've heard. I really like the amps ability to sound like whatever it's fed. I may try upgrading the OPAMPS for better at some point ( Burton's) though that's likely as far as I'll go.

Funnily enough when I moved my Oldchen K3 amp to the system downstairs it ended up sounding even better in the second system than it did upstairs. Seems the Dayton PS220-8 based speakers needed more power to come alive than the little 10WPC single ended tube amp I had been using.
 
I've never heard a genuine Quad though after Googling everything I could regarding the Quad 34 pre and 405 power amp I decided to give their ore a miss and sourced a new Quad 405 copy out of China. Experimentation tells me that it sounds like whatever preamp and source you put in front of it, with very little colour of its own. With a Gieseler Gross DAC, Schiit Saga in front driving my Aurum Cantus F620 speakers it's up there with the best I've heard. I really like the amps ability to sound like whatever it's fed. I may try upgrading the OPAMPS for better at some point ( Burton's) though that's likely as far as I'll go.

Funnily enough when I moved my Oldchen K3 amp to the system downstairs it ended up sounding even better in the second system than it did upstairs. Seems the Dayton PS220-8 based speakers needed more power to come alive than the little 10WPC single ended tube amp I had been using.
Sorry but I don't buy equating a Chinese knock-off with the real thing. Sold my 34 already as I much much prefer the utility of the 2 X 44 preamps with its modular design over the 34. I also prefer my upgraded 405-2 to any of the other iterations of it I have heard. Personal opinion though...
 
Sorry but I don't buy equating a Chinese knock-off with the real thing. Sold my 34 already as I much much prefer the utility of the 2 X 44 preamps with its modular design over the 34. I also prefer my upgraded 405-2 to any of the other iterations of it I have heard. Personal opinion though...

You're right. The modern equivalent parts used are probably higher quality. My bad :p

It is at the very least a Quad circuit irrespective of manufacture. Not British made though undeniably British design.
 
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