There are not many current gadgets based on a design pioneered in 1953 – after all, colour television had only just appeared, and we still thought three-colour traffic lights were a pretty space-age idea.
The Quad II Power Amplifier was developed that year, redefining the world of hi-fi. This year, the British brand (the only audio company with the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement) has relaunched it, and kept the classic look. Under the hood, the Quad II is now ‘integrated’ (it has both pre-amp and power amp) and it’s engineered to 2010 standards.
But the core technology, using vacuum tubes to amplify an electrical signal, is the same – as is the trademark warm sound.
Buy one, and wallow in hi-fi history… if you have £4,600 to spare.
- quad-hifi.co.uk
via dailymail.co.uk
That is gorgeous
I have a pair of the old amps and a preamp plus a tuner.
Is it worth putting some money in getting these old things up and running compared to buy the new Quad II?
Patrick, Your old power amps are worth quite a bit. Replace the capacitors and get (or assemble) some adapter cables for the input and you have a gorgeous combo. The preamp and tuner are nice but not really top Hifi. The power amps are!