Simply the closest to the original sound. I have owned 33/303, 34/405 and a bunch of other decent amps. Quad 22/ii in original serviced condition are unbeatable. Most complaints on 22 are because the components have been allowed to age. A 22 properly serviced is a special thing.

Expensive for valves. 125w per amp for 15w of audio power. But if you need to heat the room they will do it for you :)

natural sound , powerful bass , very good design.

none

Hi This old technology is superior to the modern and expensive solid state designs. May be this is due to its simplicity or more linearity and or a kind of magic about the tubes . solid state sound is like MP3s , a kind of compressed and soulless sound. The Quad II mono blocks are classic valve power amps with excellent design and sound. Its power output is just about 10-12 watts but is very powerful and sound as loud as 50 watts transistor amps. that is very good load tolerant . it has a big sound , bass power and extention is like krell power amps. mids and trebles are natural and warm. Its own preamp sound is muted and is not as good. use this power amps with a good tube preamp to hear the difference.

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some very high priced solid state amps.

The closest approach to the original sound. Very strong construction build. The speakers play an important role with Quad II system. You can tune the sounding by tubes. For example 12AX7, EF86, GZ32, and KT66, I try many different brand of tubes. IT's fun to collecting tubes. ^_^

GEC KT66 tubes are too expensive. Bulgin plugs are weak from Quad 22. We need a 220V step up power transformer in USA. Original impedance was 15 ohms to 8 ohms, you need to switch several tags on the transformer to get 4 ohms to 8ohms for nowadays speakers.

They are manufactured in the 60's, and Quad II are still one of the best amps around. I am not willing to separate the 22 from the IIs. They are born together anyway! Therfore speakers slection is very important. I had listened many pairs of speakers with Quad 22 and Quad II for several weeks straight. There are several killer combinations here, and it depends on the area of your music room and the money in your pocket. I had try on those speakers shown below, and Quad II this little 15 watt beast did an awasome job with those speakers. For large room: magnepan 1.6 Newform Research R645 Acoustic-Research AR9 Klipsch La Scala For medium room: magnepan MMG Linn Ninka Quad ESL 57 For small room: Bose 55WER Acoustic-Research AR4x Dynaco A25 I reccommend this system for dance or hard electronic type music lover, basicly you need a 12" inch woofer speaker in each speaker cabinet, then you can bump the house. But for anyone who enjoys classical, jazz or vocal music there is little else to beat this Quad II. If you don't like the antique looking, you can try the Quad II-forty. Quad II-forty ^_^

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I had lots of Hi-End digital and analog solid state years ago, but I am on the tube side now. My home theater is tube system also.

clarity , naturalness/ openess / built to last ( 40- 50 years already)and still going strong. quad can still service them.glow in the dark and look wunnerful

run hot need to be used in a well ventilated space. replacement original kt66 are a must, but very expensive

i have used most quad amplifiers and speakers during the last 25 years or so . the quad11 is about as good as they get .which is quite something when you consider that they are alomost fifty years old . for anyone who is interested the quad44 control unit (pre amp) has three output voltages on the back . one of these is correct for the quad11 . quad also sell the correct connecting lead.the 44 pre amp is probably the most versatile commercial pre amp ever made. used within sensible limits and with well matched equipement, this conmbination is very natural and easy to listen to. Of course the best matching speakers are the quad esl 57. I wouldn`t reccommend this system for dance or hard electronic type music, but for anyone who enjoys classical or vocal music there is little else to beat it.

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quad 303 . /405-2/606/ esl63. spendor sa3 b&w 805. rotel/sony integrated. mission cyrus. nytech. and compared to countless others over the years but always come back for more quad.

smooth warm sound that you can listen to for ages, never
harsh. However, replace the resistors with metal foil and
you can get enough harshness to think its a transistor amp.
you gain some speed and detail but the sound becomes forward
NOT recomended. Changing the resistors to tantalium is expensive
but really works wonderfully. You get the warmth but detail
and speed. Next changes I will replace the power supply caps
with black gates and coupling vaps with paper in oil. Also
will replace internal wire with solid silver. Drives my castle speakers as loud as I want for classical music

ill defined bass, missing some detail. Low input sensitivity
when used with transistor pre-amps. Can hum a little. Replacement KT66es are not cheap because many so called KT66es
are 6L6 and draw too much current for the quads fragile
transformers.

Smooth and never harsh.
Dont replace the resistors with metal foil such as holocos
simular. Go for tantalium or leave the original carbons in.

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Warmth, musicality, laidback attitude

Not the most accurate...but hey

There's a certain magic about old, low powered valve amps and especially so with Quad II's. My pair are from 1967 and still have the original GEC KT66 power valves. I run them with the Quad Control 22 preamp(which I am going to replace with something else soon), Myryad T-20 CD player, QED interconnects, Transparent speaker cable and Lowther DX3 speakers (made the horn enclosures myself). I challenge anyone to get a better hi-fi sound for vocal/jazz/laid back/some classical than this for the price I paid for the system-$2500. The Quad II's are just stunning with this set-up. Smooth & warm yet still crystal clear with superb imaging.
When are people going to wake up and go back to small, low powered valve amps and highly sensitive speakers. It's the only way!!!

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Leak Point One, Radfords, various small valve amps

Superb quality of midband, female vocals

warm, slow bass flatters jazz, blurs rock

These 1956 Quad valve monoblocks are fed from a Marantz DAC via an active crossover that sends low signal to a pair of powered subs. Results are remarkable, preserving much of the units magic and reinforcing the bass in terms of speed, attack and volume.

Matching pre a waste of time, should be either revamped or dumped.

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Amesan & Cooper valve monoblocks

Sweet warm sound with good separation and reasonable details

Rather low power rating but is more than adaquent for most listening habit. Especially for those classical music and jazz freaks.

The original design is brilliant. You just cannot image that Quad could design a dual mono tube amplifier in the 50's. Even in today's standard it is still a very innovative design. Each power amplifier is powered by 2 KT-66 under very conserve power drawing at 16 watts. In fact, do not dare to modify the Quad to increase their power. In doing it so you will significantly shorten the life of the components inside.(esp. the costly and hard to find output transformers.) This power is good enough for sweet, warm yet dynamic sound with stunning bass response. You may be amused that I am using this 16 watts power to drive a 83dB Spendor LS3/5A (Bird Eyes Maple finish) and I am feeding it with a US$4,000 DA/transport CD system. The only draw back is the matching Quad 22 pre-amp. Unfortunately, I am not willing to separate the 22 from the IIs. They are born together anyway! They are manufactured in the 60's, I have been using them for more than 7 happy years now.

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Dynaco ST-70, Art Audio Tempo, Bill Beard BB-100,