New QUAD 33 / 303 to be released...
- Thread starter xtal_recorder
- Start date
per flemming
Registered User
Thats the method of todays cost reduced manufacturing.
Those surface mount devices are made automatic and the final assembly could be signed off "made in UK" or wherever suitable.
In short, the well known good old brands of UK is just a "label" on a Chinese box.
chartz
If it’s broke fix it!
I also dread SMC PCBs, which make repairs almost impossible. Those LED bulbs for example are full of them and perish, not because the LED segments go bad, but because SMC capacitors go bad. Good luck fixing them… most of the time those SMC devices go landfill. Somebody said Cyrus? 
How many times have we heard: "that just because it uses more modern technology it has to be better than the original". I have not heard any modern retro HiFi product bettering the original design in terms of sound quality and naturelness of sound. The only reason companies do this is to generate sales by using marketing spin.
Quad have just done the same as what the Leak range have done in making a product look similar to a design that is 60+ years old. You would think that Quad with all the modern tech available they could come up with a more novel design, instead of regurgitating an old classic. Look at the "new" Garrard 301. I very much doubt it will be as good as the original and yet the prices are starting at £50K. This is HiFi made for certain markets to generate profit and has very little to do with sound quality.
Just as a matter of interest, is there anyone on this forum that would pay £50K plus for a Garrard 301?
If its properly restored it sounds very good too.
I think that hifi manufacturers have been incredibly lazy over the last 50 years. Where is the innovation? 40 years ago we had the CD and finally (finally!) we have things like DSP, but the rate of prograss has been pathetically slow. Other electrical goods have advanced enormously, TVs, phones, don't even mention computers, yet hifi is still bumbling along and not much improved on the designs of the 60s and 70s. Yet there are companies that will sell you a £200 fuse.
John_73
pfm Member
Just posted on FaceAche :
“We're thrilled to announce the launch of the reimagined 33/333 Munich High-end Hifi Show! Featuring signature technologies like the QUAD Tilt control, these highly evolved versions will be available Autumn, 2024.”
I think they look great, and like the lcd display under the controls, and defeatable backlight. Touch wood it sounds at least as good as a very well sorted original 303, or more likely the modern Artera power amp (was very impressed by that one).
“We're thrilled to announce the launch of the reimagined 33/333 Munich High-end Hifi Show! Featuring signature technologies like the QUAD Tilt control, these highly evolved versions will be available Autumn, 2024.”
I think they look great, and like the lcd display under the controls, and defeatable backlight. Touch wood it sounds at least as good as a very well sorted original 303, or more likely the modern Artera power amp (was very impressed by that one).
Not the case at all. SMD are much more difficult to repair. The damage to PCBs is mostly down to the quality of the circuit boards and their design. Poorly designed and made circuit boards are very easily damaged. Good well designed and well made circuit boards are significantly more robust and much less likely to be damaged during a repair. Most SMD boards are just thrown away and not repaired as it costs too much to repair them than it does to replace the board.
The thing to note these days is the availability of component parts. As more products go towards SMD, conventional through hole components become harder to find. The whole way our lives have been manipulated and forced to use computers and computer tech means that items that used to have a 10, 20, 30 year life span, now only lasts a few years, so a new replacement item is required. How can this be environmentally friendly? How long can we do this before we strip our planet of its raw materials?
Henricus
pfm Member
Oh my
John_73
pfm Member
Hahah! I have to admit I’m already tempted. Adore the looks already, a nice update on the original designs, but tastefully (imho) done, though imagine purists will loathe the lcd display. Let’s hope it’s successful under the hood too!Oh my
Tony L
Administrator
It looks all kinds of wrong to me I’m afraid. It shouts “I wanted to CNC a Quad 33/303, but I didn’t know how to program any of the subtle angles!”. The original is just so much more refined.
PS My reaction is actually fairly similar to Jang’s for the new Lego Mona Lisa…
The difference being I view the 33/303 as a masterpiece of design. One of the very best in audio history and fully deserving of its place in MOMA. I still wish them luck with it and hope it ends up getting the originals a little more respect (tidy ones should be worth at least twice what they go for IMO, more like 3x).
PPS The direct drive TD-124 is more of the same. I find it quite triggering.
PS My reaction is actually fairly similar to Jang’s for the new Lego Mona Lisa…
The difference being I view the 33/303 as a masterpiece of design. One of the very best in audio history and fully deserving of its place in MOMA. I still wish them luck with it and hope it ends up getting the originals a little more respect (tidy ones should be worth at least twice what they go for IMO, more like 3x).
PPS The direct drive TD-124 is more of the same. I find it quite triggering.
gustav_errata
pfm Member
Hideous, worse than the dated look (IMO) of the originals.
It's just another move to relieve boomers/gen-xers of their pensions by repackaging and selling back their nostalgia.
It's just another move to relieve boomers/gen-xers of their pensions by repackaging and selling back their nostalgia.
Nagraboy
Ausculta fili
I really enjoyed my 33/303/Falcon setup a few years ago. Would’ve kept it going but it’s just a shame that the 33 is so fragile now. I’ve given up finding one that’ll last more than a few months. Still got one here that had a new Amplabs volume pot fitted and enhanced PSU, but it hums loudly in my house for unknown reasons but is quiet in other houses. I’ve seen some people gut a 33 and turn it into a passive and use it with the 303 - could then just hide a small phono stage out of view…
John_73
pfm Member
Agree on the modern TD-124, but I instantly love the new 33/333 styling. Wasn’t expecting a carbon copy of the originals, which of course will still always be out there and relatively easy to buy and service. Will be interested in the circuit for the 333, whether it takes the original 303s circuit as a starting point, or whether it’s a ground-up design, or even a rejigged 405/606/707/909/Artera type circuit, maintaining some of the original Quad dna.
In which case nothing other than a complete replica will be satisfactory to you. See also the Jaguar E Type, the Ferrari 246, original Mini, 2CV, etc. You've already decided that the origonal 33/303 cannot be improved upon, so any attempt is doomed to failure just as an improved Mona Lisa, Stradivarius or Fender Strat is an impossibility.
Tony L
Administrator
It may grow on me a little in time. I’ll need to see one properly.
I have many questions. The power-amp design being one. I’m expecting it to be a Quad current-dumper and I’d be surprised if it was anything else unless they are playing a real curve-ball and going for class A! There’s a lot of cooling potential in that case. Curious about the ‘XLR’ input on the pre too. I assume like so much modern kit it lacks a tape input/monitor. At least it has a phono stage. They really should have stuck the input labels on the buttons, especially as they are illuminated, it would have made the selected input clear even in a dark room. Pleased to see a balance control.
If nothing else it is a clear win for orange hi-fi.