Quad II and Quad Associated bits, decision time...

[Marty Wild]

Hello everyone,

I joined years ago when my Dad gave me his Quad kit, friendly bunch round here from what I remember.

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=102796

Alas time marched on, life got in the way, people went and people came. I have had my Dad’s hifi sitting unused for way too long now. I am looking to have it appraised and then I need to make a big decision as to whether or not I keep it or flip it.

I am in communication with a regular poster on here as we may be entering into an arrangement for him to look over the kit. Then I’ll know if I am going to put money into it and keep the kit or if I’m going to let it go.

Better quality pics to follow. What is the best method to clean the chassis of the amps and the tuner etc? Of course I’d be very careful not to touch the valves.

I also have some Radford Bookshelves that are 100% up for sale. So any advice greatly appreciated.

[Edward Huggins]

I would not part with this. I suggest you get this appraised by a knowledgeable Member here. Don't rush into attempting to "clean" it at this stage. Leave it as it is. It will not affect the equipment's performance in any way and, unintentionally, you might cause damage. Don't power it up either. A superb item!
(As to the Radfords, can you send some photos please.)

[John Caswell]

I would be inclined not to touch it at all, just take some pictures to up load so prospective buyers can see the general state of the items.
If you then decide to keep it, that its the time to think about component changes "upgrades" etc.
For my and others experiences, many components will have changed value, particularly the resistors in all units, Hunts capacitors in the tuner and preamp. It could be an expensive exercise.

John

[Radio Wrangler]

Best sold untouched, if you choose to sell. The people who pay serious money for these things all have their own ideas about what components should be replaced with, and if you don't hit their particular combination they're not playing.

Offered untouched they all see in them what they can turn them into, and bidding gets more competitive.

If you choose to keep them, then they are just amplifiers, not religious icons, and you can do whatever you wish.

David

[Craig Sawyers]

Mystical properties are attributed to that QUAD gear, and for their day they performed very well indeed. But they are highly sought after and bring decent money.

They have a few design weaknesses, that are covered elsewhere in this forum.

Typically, when fettled, they should sound really good, particularly through the ESL57's, for which they are a good match.

Craig

[Marty Wild]

Thanks for all the replies, Gents.

Don’t worry I’d not dream of firing them up.

Sounds like not cleaning is the way.

Plan is to get appraised then either pay to get them going again or sell with an impartial evaluation. Wouldn’t spend money on upgrades or maintenance if I was going to sell, fear not.

What sort of price range does this stuff go for? And how is the best way to sell on this forum?

[frankmcvey]

Good man. In fact, you can make a selling point of saying that they're original and unpowered. As for cost, they're worth whatever someone is willing to pay. To maximise their price, you'd be better selling on Ebay rather than the forum; the forum expects you to place a fixed price and doesn't allow for competitive bidding (for good reasons). Selling on to a dealer is probably not a good idea - he has to pay to have them refurbed etc, and he'll want to be able to mark them up as well, so you probably won't get the best price for them.

I've had a look through some of the completed listings on Ebay and there's a huge variation according to condition, valves fitted, mods carried out etc. They range from £128 for a singleton clunker (adv as parts) to £1450 for a highly-specced and heavily modified pair. Use the Ebay advanced search facility and click on "completed listings"

If you can ask your mate to check out the mains and output transformers (these are the big-ticket items) and declare them serviceable, it'll enhance their price potential.

Cheers,

Frank

[Marty Wild]

I’ve looked at the completed listings and kept an eye on auctions. Bit of a minefield, hence feeling I need to know where they’re at before deciding what to do.

If I were to get a forum patriarch to get them going. Can one expect to them having to top up maintenance through the years or they should, god willing, be good for a nice long time?

My other concerns are space in a household that has a little man running around in and no dedicated study or hifi room to store them in.

By the way, I have some Rogers LS55 up for sale too.

[frankmcvey]

If they're recapped and OOT resistors replaced, there's no reason they shouldn't last another 70 years, barring accidents. Perhaps the occasional valve replacement.

These amps were meant to be functional rather than admired and would generally have been enclosed in a nice cabinet. The valves are fragile and get blisteringly hot and there's north of 400V accessible to little fingers if the output valves are pulled, so you don't want small kiddies getting near them.

[Marty Wild]

That’s comforting to know that they can go on one having been seen by a master in the field

Yes, I remember them glowing and the cabinet my dad put them into himself. They’re not ideal for a man with a young family and not enough rooms in the house to stash them away. The lounge has a 5.1 system with B&W all round.

Is it a no no to run a set of cables to the floorstanders from both the receiver and the Quads, should I keep them? Then that leads me back to the can they run the modern B&W and how loud would they be. I do like things quite punchy and loud.

[Edward Huggins]

Well you can only use the Quad on the 2 front main speakers of your B&W 5.1 and this seems a complete waste of the Quad's potential.
There's little point in putting this back into storage for a number of years, unless you plan to use this as a "conventional" 2 channel stereo system when the Children are older.
In this case it's worth an appropriate pair of large, high-sensitivity speakers e.g. Tannoys.

[Radio Wrangler]

If the kids break the glass of a valve while they are on, the metal bits thus exposed are at deadly voltages. Or an adult moving a bit of furniture etc.

These amps were designed to be hidden away for safety as well as for aesthetics.

The modern fashion to want to show off valve amps has a degree of danger.

David

[GrimJosef]

Good job we never connected light bulb filaments directly to the 240V mains .

The Quad II mains voltage selectors are a bit of a hazard though. Tiny fingers possibly and anything like a key or a metal-cased ballpoint pen or a piece of cutlery certainly could touch mains live there.

Cheers,

GJ

[Marty Wild]

So can the Quads power the 8ohm B&W though? Clearly I’d only use them for stereo. Hence wondering if I could have the floorstanders permanently wired up to both ‘amps’.

I’d definitely like to ‘show the glow’ as it were. Wonder how hard it would be to have a modern looking cabinet made up where you could see them at work? Also, do they need fans when enclosed? If so, doesn’t that work against the pursuit of high fidelity having a whirring fan vibrating the set-up?

[GrimJosef]

This is how Quad solve the heat and valve fragility problems now. They don't need a fan if they're caged.

Cheers,

GJ

[Craig Sawyers]

Apart from the metal cage getting stinking hot. I measured a similar amp I repaired for a friend. I measured the cage temperature: 85C. So although it protects the valves, the cage is hot enough to burn if you touch it long enough.

[GrimJosef]

Not, I think, hot enough to burn a normal person* before they'd pull their hand away though. Unlike the old-fashioned filament bulb referred to above. Or my wife's iron. Or a cooker hotplate.

Cheers,

GJ

*I speak as someone who's severed enough nerves in his hand that parts of his right forefinger no longer have any sensation. I have already (just once) been alerted to its contact with a soldering iron by the smell.

[Craig Sawyers]

Point taken. Whatever the cage temperature it is less than the 200C or so of a Power tetrode or pentode glass envelope.

I tend to use Pearl tube coolers on power valves https://www.pearl-hifi.com/03_Prod_S...s/Coolers.html . The pleated structure of the cooler is touchable in a way that the raw glass envelope is not.

Craig

[Diabolical Artificer]

"So can the Quads power the 8ohm B&W though?" There's only one way to find out and that's connect em up, whether you'll like the result though, who knows. Big floor standing speakers tend to be designed for use with tranny amps and can benefit from the amplifiers having big reservoir caps in them which means the amps can handle big transients like heavy bass and kick drum well.

Andy.

[Marty Wild]

Thanks one and all, I shall get them assessed and then make the big decision.

If I were to sell, is it best to break it all up or sell the 22 and Tuner with it all?