Wanted: Upgraded Quad 405 poweramp

[speakers-1989]

After a Quad 405 poweramp, that has had good upgrades done to it for today's standards.

Condition must be very good.

Shane.

P.S, I might also consider a Quad 606. MK1 Or MK2.

[speakers-1989]

Found one.

Cheers.

[DSJR]

Well done Shane. Good old power amps these still are, as long as the speaker load isn't silly.

PLEASE keep the 405 well ventilated, as they can run very hot and it's the heat that can age the supply caps most I reckon..

[speakers-1989]

Cheers DSJR,

Forgot to say It's a Quad 405-2. It has had Net Audio upgrades done to it.

[Rare Bird]

Cheers DSJR,

Forgot to say It's a Quad 405-2. It has had Net Audio upgrades done to it.

Yes your better off with the '405-2' than the Mk.1..I
However i still say the Net Mk.3 '303' sounds best.A lot don't like the ''Toaster' styling tho..Let us know what you think of it anyway..

[speakers-1989]

Will do Andre.

I forgot to ask, does the 405 work best with inefficient speakers? Such as the LS3/5a and other BBC speakers.

Cheers,

Shane.

[Rare Bird]

Will do Andre.

I forgot to ask, does the 405 work best with inefficient speakers? Such as the LS3/5a and other BBC speakers.

Cheers,

Shane.

Works fine, the best guy to ask is Paul (Spendorman) he's a big Quad fan & has quite a lot of em..

[spendorman]

Works fine, the best guy to ask is Paul (Spendorman) he's a big Quad fan & has quite a lot of em..

Yes, works fine (405-2/ LS3/5a). The LS3/5a is easy to drive though.

[DSJR]

What brought Quad to its knees in the late 70's was the fact that increasingly, dealers supported speakers with very silly low impedance loads (original DMS 'Briks were an average THREE OHM impedance with dips lower than this...). Quad turned their backs on it with a quoted (to me) "We can't help it if these people introduce badly designed speakers" and had to bring forward the launch of the ESL 63's by at least a year as I recall...

I've heard many 303's in my time and by the time I got to hear them at ten years old, I'd say they were knackered. A darned good job that Net Audio (and indeed Quad themselves) can fettle them.

A good working 303, 405-2 and 606 series can still make lovely music, with a high degree of atmosphere and good old fashioned "musicality," with absolute "grip" in the bass being the onky tradeoff IMO.

Enjoy your Net'd 405-2 Shane. Wots the preamp then??????

[speakers-1989]

What brought Quad to its knees in the late 70's was the fact that increasingly, dealers supported speakers with very silly low impedance loads (original DMS 'Briks were an average THREE OHM impedance with dips lower than this...). Quad turned their backs on it with a quoted (to me) "We can't help it if these people introduce badly designed speakers" and had to bring forward the launch of the ESL 63's by at least a year as I recall...

I've heard many 303's in my time and by the time I got to hear them at ten years old, I'd say they were knackered. A darned good job that Net Audio (and indeed Quad themselves) can fettle them.

A good working 303, 405-2 and 606 series can still make lovely music, with a high degree of atmosphere and good old fashioned "musicality," with absolute "grip" in the bass being the onky tradeoff IMO.

Enjoy your Net'd 405-2 Shane. Wots the preamp then??????



Hi Dave,

I'm going to use my Quad 44 with the 405-2.

I know the 44 is not liked very much by some people, but I think it does a good decent job. And it sounds musical to my ears. Maybe a late 44 would sound much better, I'll have to give it some thought if I want to change preamps in the future.

But it would be a very hard decision to let go of my Quad 44.

[Rare Bird]

What brought Quad to its knees in the late 70's was the fact that increasingly, dealers supported speakers with very silly low impedance loads (original DMS 'Briks were an average THREE OHM impedance with dips lower than this...). Quad turned their backs on it with a quoted (to me) "We can't help it if these people introduce badly designed speakers" and had to bring forward the launch of the ESL 63's by at least a year as I recall...

I've heard many 303's in my time and by the time I got to hear them at ten years old, I'd say they were knackered. A darned good job that Net Audio (and indeed Quad themselves) can fettle them.

A good working 303, 405-2 and 606 series can still make lovely music, with a high degree of atmosphere and good old fashioned "musicality," with absolute "grip" in the bass being the onky tradeoff IMO.

Enjoy your Net'd 405-2 Shane. Wots the preamp then??????

Dave those Net re manufactured/design 303 boards are pearlers

[speakers-1989]

Yes, works fine (405-2/ LS3/5a). The LS3/5a is easy to drive though.

Hello Paul,

I know this sounds a bit silly.

I've never heard an LS3/5a with a Quad 405, but i've read from people’s views that they go very well together.

Is it because the 405 has a nice synergy with the LS3/5a?

S.

[Rare Bird]

Hi Dave,

I'm going to use my Quad 44 with the 405-2.

I know the 44 is not liked very much by some people, but I think it does a good decent job. And it sounds musical to my ears. Maybe a late 44 would sound much better, I'll have to give it some thought if I want to change preamps in the future.

But it would be a very hard decision to let go of my Quad 44.

Try a 10K passive pre with the Quad

[speakers-1989]

Try a 10K passive pre with the Quad

I prefer active preamps.

[Rare Bird]

Promise you the Quads better with passive.. The 44 not fantastic

[speakers-1989]

Promise you the Quads better with passive.. The 44 not fantastic

I can understand that.

But I've had Quad 405s before and loved it with my Quad 44 preamp.

If I want to try a passive preamp, I might try out the NVA passive preamp with built in phonostage. (Which is good)

[Barry]

Promise you the Quads better with passive.. The 44 not fantastic

But it's better than a 10K passive; been there done it!

[spendorman]

Hello Paul,

I know this sounds a bit silly.

I've never heard an LS3/5a with a Quad 405, but i've read from people’s views that they go very well together.

Is it because the 405 has a nice synergy with the LS3/5a?

S.

Don't know about synergy, but they work fine. The 405-2 controls the bass of LS3/5a better than Quad 303 (not to say that a 303 is bad).

Best is to try it see how you like the combination. Perhaps exclude the 44 to see if that improves the result. Again, not because the 44 is terrible (I have one as well).

[DSJR]

The late 44 was a good little preamp and apparently, better op-amps on the boards can work wonders with it.

Who in their right mind would actually listen to *music* on LS3/5A's these days - ghastly things - and people on here slag off ADM9.1's without even hearing them :(

I bet a 405-2 would sound great into Harbeth P3ESR's, a far better speaker than any 3/5A I've ever heard - and not much more expensive either these days...

[speakers-1989]

The late 44 was a good little preamp and apparently, better op-amps on the boards can work wonders with it.

Who in their right mind would actually listen to *music* on LS3/5A's these days - ghastly things - and people on here slag off ADM9.1's without even hearing them :(

I bet a 405-2 would sound great into Harbeth P3ESR's, a far better speaker than any 3/5A I've ever heard - and not much more expensive either these days...


Oh yes these (Never heard them)

http://www.harbeth.co.uk/uk/index.php?section=products&page=p3esr&model=P3ESR

At the bottom there is a video of a man who owns a pair of small Harbeths with a Quad 405. Very interesting.

[speakers-1989]

DSJR,

By any chance, have you heard the Harbeth P3ESR?

[DSJR]

Oh yes I have, and that's why I'm raving about it :eek:

Let's put it this way - the P3ESR makes music and "disappears" very easily, the 3/5A makes "sounds" by comparison. The P3ESR does bass very convincingly, just not hugely loud, that's all.

I've heard that the 3/5A actually didn't sell in any huge numbers and KEF (who made the drive units) eventually killed it off because it was a pain to make the drivers in such small batches. I understand Harbeth bought the tooling.....

[speakers-1989]

Oh yes I have, and that's why I'm raving about it :eek:

Let's put it this way - the P3ESR makes music and "disappears" very easily, the 3/5A makes "sounds" by comparison. The P3ESR does bass very convincingly, just not hugely loud, that's all.

I've heard that the 3/5A actually didn't sell in any huge numbers and KEF (who made the drive units) eventually killed it off because it was a pain to make the drivers in such small batches. I understand Harbeth bought the tooling.....

Can these speakers be placed close to a back wall?

Anyway, I'm enjoying my Quad 405-2. My father has put up a little review of it on wigwam. As he likes the 405 too.

S.

[DSJR]

They're supposed to be free standing a foot or two out.

Shane, seriously, do you really want a £1500 miniature when you can get some Spendor SP1's (either version except the current one) for under £500? If I hadn't inherited these BC2's (with the happy baggage that came with them), I'd have happily owned a pair of early SP1's, which have a proper bass as mine do, but with a slightly sweeter mid and top, as well as better styling IMO. The 405-2 would be brilliant with these as is the 606/707 and 909 - I sold a 707 to a BC3 owner - lovely!!!

[Graeme]

What mods have been done to your 405-2?

I had one a while back with all the net audio upgrades.

Was nice, but ultimately a bit tiresome.
I was using it with some jr149's.

I sold it, along with the pre amp and the speakers when i went valve.

[speakers-1989]

What mods have been done to your 405-2?

I had one a while back with all the net audio upgrades.

Was nice, but ultimately a bit tiresome.
I was using it with some jr149's.

I sold it, along with the pre amp and the speakers when i went valve.

The full mk3 board Net Audio mods, plus the dual mono power supply mod done too.

I think it sounds really good:cool:

[Graeme]

Same as my old one then.

Yes, it did sound good. Very open and detailed.

In the end though i just couldnt live with it.

Having said that though, i wish i still had it!

At the time i had 2 amps (the quad and my kel84) and 3 pairs of speakers (jr149's, some floor standing missions i forgot the number of, and my wd25a's).
I didnt have enough space so i kept the pair that sounded the best together and sold the others.


Edit.

Sorry, it wasnt the mk3 upgrade i had, i did all the previous upgrades.

[speakers-1989]

The Quad 405-2 is sounding great.

I've noticed it doesn't get sooo hot like the older 405 (MK1)

Plus I think this 405-2 handles my TDL speakers much better over the other 405s I had.

I'm very happy with this amp!

I also have a pair of new Lowther DX2 drivers, I'm waiting on a friend to finish building the cabs for me. I'm going to try the Lowthers with the Quad 405 and see how it goes. Lowther said it will be OK using the Lowther with the Quad.

If the Lowthers don't suffice I can always sell them on. I've always fancied trying the Harbeth P3ESR.

I was told that Alan Shaw from Harbeth likes using Quad amps with his speakers.