As with most speakers of this ilk, they are very distinctive and you MUST hear them in your system before parting with any cash.
Location: Near Saffron Walden, Essex
Posts: 7,090
I'm Dave.
As with most speakers of this ilk, they are very distinctive and you MUST hear them in your system before parting with any cash.
Posts: 219
My Quad 44 pre was making some funny noises, inside like a clicking sound.
I made sure and checked all of the connections at the back of every thing, and all looked intact.
I'll shout out if this noise comes back. I hope this pre amp is not starting to go on me.
One thing to bear in mind regarding old Quads before you write them off, is that the pre's invert the phase. this can make them sound lack-lustre and boring. The only Quads i couldn't live with were the 34/306, which didn't at all like r&r music.. Shane has bridged *and tweaked* 405's apparently and as long as the loading is an easy 8 Ohms, they should sound good IMO.
Spendors need careful setting up too. IMO, they should be well out from walls and corners in a not too dead room. Stands should be anything from 12" to 18" high, depending on listening distance. More modern systems should have SP1's on the end, rather than BC1's IMO. My BC2's cost me dear to re-furbish and that was because the bass units are un-serviceable and some SA2's had to be cannibalised to repair mine (mainly for sentimental reasons). get 'em set up right though and they sound lovely and not at all dynamically challenged with the right amp (I used Radford STA 25, Quad II, Sony TA 5650, Lustraphone LP100 and Naim 160 with mine).
Shane, don't bother with impossible-to-repair Rogers, try some Spendor SP1's. they're not too costly, I think they can still be serviced and they can rock well with amps such as yours...
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me
Posts: 219
Oh I wish, Spendor SP1's will be to big for my bedroom.
To be honest with you, I miss the Linn Keilidh's so much, they sounded well fine in my bedroom. With valve amplification the Linns was total bliss!! Oh I am telling you mate.
Sometimes I just feel like selling the Quad gear and just get a nice intergrated amp, just someting that is nice and musical. OR, just get a very good headphone system and be happy.
I just give up for now.
Anyway thanks for the replys everyone.
Shane - you MUST learn to sit back and take stock before being so impulsive - I've been there, read a library and worn out dozens of Tee shirts doing just what you're thinking of doing and thirty years on I regret it. Even my old mucca HiFi dave is gradually replacing some much loved gear he got rid of ages ago for his collection/museum
Keilidh's and Rega Ela's (which you had last year) couldn't be further apart if they tried. One has got far too much bass, the other no deep bass at all (it goes out-of-phase below 70Hz or thereablouts), although the mid was fab. SP1's or SP2's (early ones) should help to give you the best of both extremes and the SP2's had a much refined version of the Scan tweeter used in the Rega's.
You like the little TDL's you have but want more - the SP1's would do it fine and they're not as wide as the Sara's you owned for a week or two. The bass is easy to deal with if they're too close to the wall (I'm partial to 12" square cushion inners from Dunelm Mill for £1.79 each), although the SP1 was hugely better than a typical BC1 in this respect anyway.
The 405's are fine (but not the stuff that audiophool wet-dreams are made of!). Yours have been up-dated apparently and when sorted for modern day domestic use there's little point in changing them for a budget integrated. The 44 can also be breathed on to very good effect (it's a good design, limited I'm told by the op-amps Quad used, which can now be bettered).
P.S. Shane, just chill a bit with your gear (or get a job in one of the few HiFi shops left as I did). Selling it all and starting again is NOT the way to go, OK?
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me
Posts: 219
Sorry if I was getting out of hand a little
The Spendor SP2 looks nice, for the size they should fit nice in my bedroom. I don't know with the SP1?, they look a bit big. I sit about 9ft away from my HiFi.
If I am going to sell my Quad gear I think i'll get a nice decent integrated amp. Something that is nice and musical with nice midrange.
I've been doing some research on these,
Musical Fidelity A1 Integrated amp
Naim Nait 5i
Papworth TV-8-Tim use to have one, and it was a very nice sounding amp. Far more musical and better sounding than the Quads.
I mostly play vinyl. My music taste is Techno, Trance and a bit of every thing. It's not the Audiophile's choice but I like it.
Cheers
Shane
The old A1 was (mostly) a soft, squidgey bland device with firightening unreliability at times. It only sold well through hype and because the competition recommended ad nauseum by WTF was so harsh (even Arcams at that point, and they're usually too smooth...). Apparently there were around four versions of the A1, all looking the same externally I believe. The last ones were very much better I understand, but how you'd tell from the outside, I really don't know. If you MUST try an MF amp, try the old X series pre with 100W stereo power-amp (XP100/XAS100?). At least they sounded right IMO and there's a very fair phono stage built in...
The Nait 5i is lovely until it reaches its end stops, then it HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - ringy, edgy clipping isn't my bag any more and, from what I gather, they (some of their newer amps) measure worse than ever (I know measurements don't tell the full story, but a sensible modern circuit has certain parameters it should be easy to get right first time with audible benefit, not loss...)
I don't know the Papworth, so cannot comment.
You know Shane, a Cambridge 840A v2 with 640P would be a great amp to play with. Oodles of power, unburstable build with a guarantee, fine sound with no added "personality" and a good re-sale value if you get bored with it. It'll drive any speaker you like and the phono stage works well with almost any popular cartridge. You could mess around with turntables and speakers to your heart's content and forget all about the amp IMO.
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me
Posts: 219
Cheers DSJR.
I've always liked Valve sound, my Quad 405 has a Valve like sound, but in a ''non up to date fashion''.
Tim is using Valve amplification, Total bliss!!!
I'm thinking about that Papworth amp.
Posts: 219
Are these the early Spendor SP2? Sorry i'm no expert with spendor speakers.
http://www.nrpavs.co.nz/archive09/So...390_pixels.gif
Posts: 219
I forgot to say,
I and my father went to Walrus HiFi back in 2003, to hear a Shanling CD player. I remember the amp being a Papworth integrated Valve amp with a pair of Spendor floorstander speakers. The sound was bloody good as I can remember.
You can just sit there for hours and hours enjoying your CD and LP collection.