Quad amps

Still can't decide what amp to partner my Gale 401's with, & was thinking about going 'vintage'. Was concidering the Quad 405 / 44 route, & wondered how they stack up against todays amps (bearing in mind that 405's can be had pretty cheaply on fleabay by the looks of it, so seems like good value for money !) Also, company still in business & British, so servicing etc should be straightforward. What do you guys think ?

Chris

 

Gale 401s need far more current than a Quad 405 can deliver, they are real amp-suckers, and whilst the Quad won't fuse / explode the way some amps do into these speakers it will run out of steam very quickly - the 401 is exactly the type of speaker the 405 dislikes. Basically you want a lot of watts that are not frightened by low impedance dips. A friend has a pair of 401s and has had success with a Naim 250 and some large Meridian monos. I'd think the likes of Bryston, AVI, Accuphase, Krell etc would be good too. If you are on a budget it might be worth looking at pro-audio studio monitor amps.

Tony.

 

I may be wrong, but I thought the current problem with the 405s and 405-2s is in the over cautious protection circuits - a modification can sort that.

I have a 405-2 upgraded by 405man who sells on eBay.

It drives my 4ohm Quarts mighty well.

I think I got the 405 for £175 (a remarkable price) and paid about £70 to have the op-amp and capacitors replaced.

405man now does an upgrade that gives the 405 a separate power supply for each channel.

Edit

And see

http://www.net-audio.co.uk/quad405mk3.html

 

33/303 net audio upgraded, it sounds great!

 

It's an absolute classic Marc - but you need a Squeezebox sitting on top of that lovely Preamp-Tuner sleeve!

 

Very cool indeed! It brings back some fond memories too - my first amp was a 33/FM3/303 with the same wood sleeve. A design classic IMO.

I've kind of revisited to some degree it as I've got another 303 in my second / TV system:



It's a very old MkI 303 dating from 1969-70, one of the first I guess. I've just had it serviced by Quad. The pre is a Audio Synthesis passive and it's driving a pair of Klipsch Heresys. It sounds rather good. I'm playing Spotify through it as I type.

Tony.

 

Thanks guys - looks like back to the drawing board ! (Don't really want to get into buying amps & then sending off for mods).
Chris

 

I would agree with Tony - neither 405 or 405/2 is right for Gale 401s.

You can modify them to supply enough current quite easily by disabling the protection but I would strongly advise against doing so. The amp simply cannot handle the heat that would be produced and it would be damaged.

If you want to try a Quad, perhaps have a look at a 606/2 which has doubled-up output transistors and more heat sinking. Still good value. You could certainly use a 44 with it.

On the question of how they stack up with todays kit, I'd say very well.
Certainly as good as modern Naim, Cyrus, Arcam, Cambridge etc, ie good well designed modern kit.
A 405/2 will cope well enough with sub 8 ohm loads so long as they aren't too 'difficult' - and unfortunately the 401 ranks as difficult.

 

Sorry to stick in this thread.

I'm aware both the Quad 405 and MK2 model are known to be very warm sounding amps. Are they also very laid back sounding amps?

I use a Tag Mclaren PA10 preamp with my 405-2, (I hope I'm using the right poweramp with the Tag?)

But I don't know if the Tag is a warm sounding preamp? Some say Tag stuff sound very much like Audiolab.

 

That is because Tag and Audiolab were the same company under different ownership.

 

Yes, they got a shiny new logo and the price doubled overnight!

 

Thanks for that Rob. What about the Quad 909 / 99 combo ? Whilst on that subject, I'm a bit confused regarding Quad's numerical system ! I've seen the 99 on fleabay described as a power amp - I thought it was a pre-amp. What's the story there ?

Cheers,
Chris

 

Hi Chris,

909 is a current dumper just like the 303/405/606/707.
Has the most grunt of the lot.

IIRC there is both a 99 pre and a power amp.
I don't really know the new stuff very well

 

The 99 range has 2 CD players, an FM tuner, a pre amp, a stereo power amp and a monobloc power amp. they are all housed in the same sized case.

The 909 is the current dumping stereo power amp and is a much chunkier affair.

I have the 99 pre amp with a 909 stereo power amp and I love it. I couldn't tell you, however, if it would be suitable for your speakers.