Resonable price for secondhand gear ?

If you're not going to want it again then sell it ASAP I reckon, prices are only likely going to go down, although I don't think there are plan to re-release the A?

The Q is much better than the pre-amp section of the A, although if he's bi-amping and gettting any benefit from this then switching to the Q he'll lose this. Personally I'd rather have a Q/P pairing though. The A has roughly the same pre-amp section as the C (if not identical?), which is not very good IMO. A very harsh pre-amp to my ears. The Q has a much better top end but is still of the slightly bright persuasion I'd say. Assuming your friend really likes the Audiolab presentation then I'd say it's a worthwhile upgrade. The Q does though share the brand presentation that is not the most musical/exciting by a long way. I for instance replaced my 8000Q with the Densen Beat 200 I have now.

 

Just to add that I once upgrade from the 8000A to the 8000S and this was very signifcant by way of improvement. the pre in the S is much better as is the power, and the 8000S is switchable. My 8000S is surplus to requirements (having at last upgraded significantly - to the bc evo4) and is on trial at the house of A/Lab, ie its with Shrink.

 

the Q is a massive step up over the C... the C can be very dry and clinical and perhaps a little stark. the Q is smoother... more musical and more open. Clarity is much improved. Also it has remote control and its far far quieter in operation than the C.

i may be selling my 8000Q soon as the croft vitale i have from ditton is making me have serious thoughts. Its a damn close call between it and my 8000Q with the crofts phono stage giving me pause for thought.

 

Well what a day...................picked the gear up got home and the phone went

Here follows the strange tale of the tin of "corned beef" and the "joyrider"

At 1150am my father-in-law [who is 80] decide to open a tin of said beef for
his dinner, as my mother-in-law was pottering about the garden. He slips
slash his thumb....blood everywhere. Mother-in-law dashes in see blood and a
mutilated thumb ....calls the doctor [why?]. The doc says he should go to the
A&E, she calls me .........I drop everything and set out, they are about five miles away.
In the mean time Father in law turns blue so she does what she should have
done in the first place...dials 999. I'm proceeding along get ready to turn
right, but there are on coming cars so I stop. Then a gap appears but out of nowhere
a car hits me doing 40mph plus, I'm hit just ahead of the back wheels at a
shallow angle.......I'm bashed about, crack my head on the side window, hurt
my neck again. The other car careens of me flys 10m head on into a tree, at the side
of the junction. Three doors fly open an out pile a group of kids no more
than twelve or thirteen who disperse in all directions. Two police cars
screech to a holt and the officers set off in persuit. I get out of the
passenger side grogily, the side of our 8month old motor stoved in......I'm then whisked off to the same A&E, spending two hours straped to a trolley as they suspected neck injurys. My wife is contacted and is brought from her work by her boss, so now we're all in the hospital. My mother and father in law have had to cancel a trip to the continent as they kept him in over night. My wifes now out looking for our car as no one is certain where it was taken when they cleared the road ! My neck is rather sore, not helped by the fact that I already have a permenant neck injury through whiplash from an accident back in '99. Father-in-law was let out this morning. The car was traced to a volkswagen garage ?? I mean thats great if you have a VW but a Vauxhall ?

What a day .....

So I've delicately been trying out the gear.......

Its actually in very good nick..........now its been cleaned of greasy fingure marks and other bits of debris. The 8000T is imaculate, the 8000P has a couple of small marks, the 8000Q is imaculate.

sound wise the 8000T is good but sounds a little flat against the Quad 77 tuner. the 8000p is sharp and thin compared to the T-amps with diffuse imaging. I'm still to try the 8000Q. The Arcam 5 plus cd is good but you can see why people mod them. Theres a very good cdp trying to get out. The Sl700se's will need to wait till I can lift the stands without pain.

 

oh my goodness...that sounds horrific Zanash...i hope you and your father-in-law recover ASAP although you've said that he was let out this morning... I am really quite speechless...just 12 or 13yr old kids eh. No idea why a Vaux was registered to a VW garage either



just on another note...I may be interested in the Sl700s...would you mind if I had first refusal please?

Thanks , and really do hope you get better soon

 

what a terrible story - watch out for the shock to kick in. So take care.

 

Zanash

I'm sorry to hear your injury. I hope both you and your father-in-law are feeling alright now. There is nothing more important than one's health. I hurt my knee by just kneeing down to assemble a few kitchen cabinets, I was limping for over 4 weeks. The left knee is still hurting sometimes. I am feeling much better now. After that, I appreciate how important good health is.

Best Wishes
Hon

 

Were actually both ok.....I'm just a little sore

the car though my be in more serious shape though .....but we'll see when the main dealer gets to grips with it next week. That said were covered with one of these policies that covers us and gets us a brand new one if its been too badly damaged.

I've just had a quick look in the 8000Q.... not overly impressed with component quality, but build is good. The opamps are a bit on the bog standard side too NE5534's TLO55's. Diodes are the venerable 1n4002 so there plenty scope for improvement. I'm going to use the Pre while I disect the Quad......I'm told that theres a whole world of dynamics etc to be squeezed from it even just a change of opamps will provide some significant improvement.

 

sorry to hear about the crash - hope you make a full recovery.

 

Cheers .........thank you to everyone for their kind words.

Still feeling uncomfortable ........but better in my self.

Garage has just phoned to say they now have the vehicle !......and is badly damaged. The worse the better as I can claim a brand new one if it's a write off.



I've now sold the 8000P [approx £300]......to a nice chap locally just need to get the curtesy car organised to be able to drop it off.

 

Hope you get better soon Zanash.

Any idea how much you'd want for the 8000T? I could be interested at the right price...

 

The T's on offer at the moment .......if it falls through I'll give you a shot.

its not to my taste..very forward and grip your throat sort of sound ...pulls in a good signal though.

 

T's on offer to me, with price accepted and cheque 'in the post'.

 

Super ....thanks

seem to have miss your last email...............sorry for any confusion

 

ha....just got your last email !!!seemed to be oa hold up somewhere as I've just got 15 all in one go

 

ditton... u GOTTA let me hear the 8000T when its in

i hope you got a good price and consider me a first point of sale for the future hehe

spoke to the guys at eminent audio today.. apparently they can put a single volume knob on that croft pre... so that makes me almost certaint that i'll buy it (if i can sell this 8000Q)