A highly respected pair of units with a massive following. I have fond memories of my Quad 303 so I was hoping for more good things here.
Lets start off with the 44 pre-amp.
First off, I love the styling. The choice of colours is perfect and it's nice to see the tasteful use of LED indicators. Interesting control layout but of course we leave everything flat.
This is a very well built unit, face plate is cast metal which is then painted grey and brown, surely the two best 70s colours. Sadly a lack of inputs is a bit of an issue so unless you use din connectors you are limited to a Phono and Auxiliary input. However there is a good selection of input settings on the top and the pre-amp has two sets of outputs, one is louder than the other. The lower output worked best for me because that volume knob is sensitive!
On the whole I was a little disappointed with the quad, the sound was good but so serious, dark and solid. There was nothing to get excited about, and that baffled me. Why do so many people go after these things? I suppose they are a well known, good quality, reliable amplifier with decent power but for me nothing in the musical department. I opened up the pre-amp to find a nicely built modular layout. Good use of quality components as well, I was starting to like the quad again but It wasn't to last. What did I find? nasty op-amps. Why Quad why! A pre-amp with op-amps in it and the 405.2 has them as well! Hence the dull and unengaging musical experience then.
I'm sure a full recap of the pre-amp and power amp will provide better results but after you workout the costs you may as well get a better setup. £400 - £500 on a good 44 405 pair, plus another £100 - £200 on recap. For that kind of money you could buy a pioneer sa-9800 or a Sasnui au-999 and you wont find op-amps in there. Better still, get an Optonica SM-3636, recap it and blow them all away for peanuts.
Untill the next time guys ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment