+ Reply to Thread
Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst ... 234
Results 31 to 34 of 34

Thread: Quad 303, possible improvement

  1. #31
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: A Strangely Isolated Place in Suffolk with Far Away Trains Passing By...

    Posts: 14,535
    I'm David.

    Default

    My 303 is one of the last, according to hifi dave who sold hundreds to a large chain of record shops and has, of course, been sensitively "updated" to high heavan by the previous owner. left to idle with no speaker load, it gets gently warm on the heatsinks, so may be set high as it is for all I know.

    An old-time work colleague is the son of a once famous pop/country star who had a passion for yodelling - looked like his Dad too.. When Dad emigrated back to Oz, he left behind his Quad 33/303 and Tannoy Lancasters (I think they were). The speakers had been exposed to high humidity and the voice coil gaps had corrosion in them, needing a complete and expensive rebuild. These were sold twenty years ago for £500 but the amp was retained. It sounded truly awful and exactly as you described above - gritty, noisy and generally unpleasant. Our engineer re-capped a lot of it and re-set up the amp, but although loads better after, it never really sang like I've heard other 33/303's do.

    What got me back into 33/303's was the trading in of a lovely set, totally original and sweet as a nut with air and space. Only a small scale sound and frequency-field showed the age of the design as standard. Great that both items can be sonically opened out and allowed to fly

    Quad themselves shot us in the feet by recommending QED style passive volume controls for their older power amps - I got very cross with one of their engineers once as I lost a sale of a 34 because of this.
    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

  2. #32
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,779
    I'm Martin.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DSJR View Post
    Quad themselves shot us in the feet by recommending QED style passive volume controls for their older power amps - I got very cross with one of their engineers once as I lost a sale of a 34 because of this.
    It did work well though Dave. A pal of mine had a QEDpassive to 303 set up back in the early 90s and it sounded lovely - open and sweet with good bass
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  3. #33
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: A Strangely Isolated Place in Suffolk with Far Away Trains Passing By...

    Posts: 14,535
    I'm David.

    Default

    I'm very sure it did Mine's up here in the "office" awaiting some small vintage speakers (I really should get the N5's out, but I have an itch to scratch first)..
    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

  4. #34
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: Middlesex, UK

    Posts: 4,481
    I'm Alex.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DSJR View Post
    My 303 is one of the last, according to hifi dave who sold hundreds to a large chain of record shops and has, of course, been sensitively "updated" to high heavan by the previous owner. left to idle with no speaker load, it gets gently warm on the heatsinks, so may be set high as it is for all I know.

    An old-time work colleague is the son of a once famous pop/country star who had a passion for yodelling - looked like his Dad too.. When Dad emigrated back to Oz, he left behind his Quad 33/303 and Tannoy Lancasters (I think they were). The speakers had been exposed to high humidity and the voice coil gaps had corrosion in them, needing a complete and expensive rebuild. These were sold twenty years ago for £500 but the amp was retained. It sounded truly awful and exactly as you described above - gritty, noisy and generally unpleasant. Our engineer re-capped a lot of it and re-set up the amp, but although loads better after, it never really sang like I've heard other 33/303's do.

    What got me back into 33/303's was the trading in of a lovely set, totally original and sweet as a nut with air and space. Only a small scale sound and frequency-field showed the age of the design as standard. Great that both items can be sonically opened out and allowed to fly

    Quad themselves shot us in the feet by recommending QED style passive volume controls for their older power amps - I got very cross with one of their engineers once as I lost a sale of a 34 because of this.

    Just because the heatsink warm up a fair bit at idle, does not mean that that bias is set high, as mentioned earlier, the series regulator is mounted on the heatsink. The heat will depend on which secondary tappings are used and how much the regulator is dropping.
    Spendorman

+ Reply to Thread
Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst ... 234

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •