As lovely as it is, the older Quads are not really things that fit uniformly in a rack or side by side, being two boxes of totally different dimensions and orientations. It’s a lot more recent but I think the old 66 range was the height their aesthetic game. That was really a pinup system for me. Stylistically, it all went a bit downhill from 77 range onward. That the 77 range was designed to be directly stacked should have had some domestic appeal. It had little recessed in the top of the case for the feet of whatever won on top and a ribbon cable interconnect. But the horrid colour scheme made that a non starter.
I think the 66 range was the first expensive bit of hifi I ever saw and when I realised a hifi could cost that much it was like I realised the world wasn’t flat.
Accepted, feeling-zen, I understand what you are saying about Quad losing their way.
However, the 33 pre-amp and FM unit fitted perfectly on my book shelving, amongst the books, the power amp on the floor hidden by my LPs; all of the cabling out of sight. Almost, it was a stealth design. My Atom is installed the same way.
Back in the 60s a friend had the Quad 22/202, it was my first acquaintance with ‘proper’ hifi. Listening to music was never the same again.
I remember being very impressed when a teenager by a Quad 33, 303 and the 57 Electrostatic Speakers in a large room at a house of a friend, and perhaps this had some influence in my appreciation of hifi, who knows, but it is a story I have repeated sometimes. The size of the 303 was designed to be the same as the Quad II valve power amps, and of course in those days hifi was hidden in a sideboard sized cabinet, and racks were never heard of, or considered to affect the sound.
Pity the new design of the 303 has such sharp edges to the heat sinks, the original had a fine radius to the fins which looked much better to me.
Leak have released the remake of the Stereo 30 and 70 series of amps, the same parent company these days, so a retro Quad is not a surprise.
I have a couple of the Quad II valve power amps, complete with all the period valves, in the shed that were a project that has never happened.
I picked up a Quad 606 and a pre, maybe the 66, for an audition, and I remember arriving home, unloading my white van, and realising I had left no details of who I was, nor any deposit for the loan, and indeed I had never been in the shop previously. I returned the amps a few days later, and in fact never went back as I ended up with an alternative that was a second hand purchase private sale. Such was the trust in those days, and when one could leave a few written cheques with dates a few months apart to pay for expensive purchases.
I was working at a Quad dealership late 70’s we had a customer gave in a faulty 33/303 and we lent him a NAD3020 while parts were on order, he was a little startled by how good the NAD was, primarily the 33 letting the side down, the 303 was pretty good especially (unsurprisingly) with 57s. He eventually bought a NAD 1020 preamp iirc.
But I always loved the 33 look, I believe there’s one in MoMA in New York.
Definitely they have in the Artera range for the sound they are very very close to naim .
Price wise I don’t think they can be beaten. I went to listen to some new naim at Doug Brady in Warrington and the quad won . I admit they do sound laid back on some tracks compared to naim but I like that to be honest .
I have best of both worlds I suppose as I still have the naim in the other room but quad in the main listening room .
