To Quad or not to Quad... (warning! Geeky hifi content)

[legrandefromage]

As some of you may be aware, my local tip can turn up the most amazing things aside from bikes.

A couple of years ago it was a Meridian 207 CD, Pre and FM tuner with a Linn LK280 power amplifier.

This year it was a Garrard 401 and a couple of months later it was a Quad 405, 44 and FM3...

The Garrard sold earlier this year for an obscene (to me anyway) amount of money and the Quad stuff is just sitting there gathering dust.

I could make a nice hybrid surround/ two channel system as I have a very high quality pre/ processor, quality record player and some spare power amplification:

TAG McLaren Audio AV32R pre
Quad 405 main power amp
surround power amp, etc

and perhaps use the 44 as the phono stage?

Thing is, its a mish-mash of stuff, not pretty to look at despite sounding very good.

I mostly watch films these days so that at the moment is taken care of by a Denon AVR 3805 which is great for films but absolutely awful for two channel music...

Whaddaya think then? Liquidize my arsetts and then bemoan the loss of the Quad gear and crap two channel performance or make an ugly stick 'Hi-Fi' sound system?

 

[poweredbypies]

Keep the quad i lusted after quad stuff when i was younger. Had to settle for marantz cd and amp with tannoy speakers. Wish I still had it

 

[legrandefromage]

There is also 'the third way'...

 

[tintin40]

Keep it all.

 

[TheGreenRabbit]

as long as it turns up to 11 it will be fine

 

[xerxes]

I've never woried much about the look of hi-fi equipment, but if it bothers you then perhaps some sort of cupboard or cabinet in which you can hide it is in order.

I don't know much about home cinema or multi channel stuff. Is the Denon AVR 3805 a multi channel thing and do you actually have it hooked up to multiple speakers?

 

[electronicaeric]

Its gotta come down to sound LFG.Only replace if you are 100 percent sure you can equal or improve your sound.I have sold stuff on in the past and really really regretted it.For me,the quad gear is quirky and a good audiophile will appreciate your system.People who pretend to know hifi will dismiss it because it looks quirky.
if its a change you fancy,why not as someone else mentioned experiment with a cabinet,although for me,all my cabinet does is keep the dust off to a degree.Just dont go down the glass/metal route.These sort of things resonate alarmingly.Go for a nice dense wood.
Against recommendations I have started to use them half spheres of the rubbery stuff for feet to cut down on vibration with good results.I did spend 100.00 on shielded mains leads and 4 way,but this brought to the front a nasty click when I turned the power on.So I chucked it all in the bin in frustration and got the old leads back out again.Black Rhodium speaker cables have made a small improvement,but the BIGGEST improvement came from a pair of Thor link leads.After this upgrade,I was hearing things in the music Ive never heard before.Mr Jarre sounds fantastic now :shock:

Natch this is only mine opinion,Im no expert I just enjoy listening to music(read failed musician ).

 

[tintin40]

They all look good to me. I'm sure they sound good too

 

[MiniNinjaRob]

There would be no way on this earth I'd sell some Quad gear if I ever got it as cheap as you probably did! Looks awesome to me..