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Quad 303-What speakers work well with it?

I managed last weekend to pick up a pair of Celestion Ditton 15s which turned out to be 2 minutes away from me. They are lovely and in perfect working order and in quite good condition. I have the grilles off, but the grilles are clean, but the frame is broken and I need to glue and brace them a bit.

They replace my cheap Richer Sounds JPW Mini-Monitors which I think cost me £30 new 15 years ago, and sound extremely good with the 33/303. The result is that they certainly sound more grown-up, but the extended bass is too much for sitting on the same surface as the turntable, so they are now on temporary stands made from piles of books.

The sound is much bigger, but probably too big for the room I have this second system in, and I'll probably go back to the JPWs. I'm going to try them in a bigger room and I bet they'll be fantastic. They cost me £20. Yes, £20.

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Rasher said:
I managed last weekend to pick up a pair of Celestion Ditton 15s which turned out to be 2 minutes away from me. They are lovely and in perfect working order and in quite good condition. I have the grilles off, but the grilles are clean, but the frame is broken and I need to glue and brace them a bit.

They replace my cheap Richer Sounds JPW Mini-Monitors which I think cost me £30 new 15 years ago, and sound extremely good with the 33/303. The result is that they certainly sound more grown-up, but the extended bass is too much for sitting on the same surface as the turntable, so they are now on temporary stands made from piles of books.

The sound is much bigger, but probably too big for the room I have this second system in, and I'll probably go back to the JPWs. I'm going to try them in a bigger room and I bet they'll be fantastic. They cost me £20. Yes, £20.

IMG_2768_zps77290947.jpg
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Perhaps try the old trick of turning the Ditton 15's upside down to reduce bass.
 
As mentioned above the 50e is totally different to the 303. Almost like a valve amp but with transistors used instead in its overall topology... it even uses a "split load" phase splitter!
 
I have to confess to tipping my 15XRs a few years back - in total ignorance, I thought they were not worth repairing. :( Not my finest hour...

But back OT I would love to try some Tannoys with my 306 but can't justify the prices for the really good ones - any recommendations at a lower price level, say up to 500?

PS another recommendation here for Robert - cannot recommend him highly enough.
 
finphil said:
I have to confess to tipping my 15XRs a few years back - in total ignorance, I thought they were not worth repairing. :( Not my finest hour...

But back OT I would love to try some Tannoys with my 306 but can't justify the prices for the really good ones - any recommendations at a lower price level, say up to 500?

PS another recommendation here for Robert - cannot recommend him highly enough.
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Tannoy HPD's can sometimes found below £500, watch out for the rotting foam surrounds, mine had been replaced by the previous owner. Probably last 20 years or more.
 
I picked up a pair of HPD 15 a few years back for a bit over 500. Foam surrounds were and still are perfect so I assume they've been redone. I can confirm that they are a perfect match for a 306! The only downer is that the tolerance of the basket recesses on my cabinets is extremely tight and the HPDs don't quite fit (whereas my Golds do, perfectly) so I've only ever heard them in basic Lancaster boxes. FWP! A recommended combo anyway.
 
finphil said:
I have to confess to tipping my 15XRs a few years back - in total ignorance, I thought they were not worth repairing. :( Not my finest hour...
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I wouldn't feel too bad. Having done some looking up of these things before bidding, it seems that the XR version is generally down as 'best avoided'. The originals are rated, but even then they seem to only fetch £20 or so for a decent pair. It wasn't a huge mistake.
 
Rasher said:
I wouldn't feel too bad. Having done some looking up of these things before bidding, it seems that the XR version is generally down as 'best avoided'. The originals are rated, but even then they seem to only fetch £20 or so for a decent pair. It wasn't a huge mistake.
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:) well maybe but I liked them. Ignorance was bliss! And they only cost me £50 new, and were my first proper speakers.....

But I like the sound of these HPDs - problem will only be finding an affordable pair. Sorry if this was a little OT but I assume what works well with a 306 will also work with a 303.
 
finphil said:
Sorry if this was a little OT but I assume what works well with a 306 will also work with a 303.
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Not really, the 306 has far better low impedance ability and is a grippier, tighter and crisper sounding amp with more headroom on tap. The 303 likes 8 Ohms and up and has a more easy-going nature (I have no real preference between them, they each suit different system contexts). Both are fine into vintage Tannoys, they are a classic recording studio pairing.
 
mr sneff said:
I've just had a 303 that I picked up cheaply modified by Net Audio. The actual work took way longer than anticipated and cost a lot more than I was originally quoted, but I ended up with the full Mk 3 upgrade. I must admit than when I (eventually) got the 303 back I was underwhelmed by the result. Fortunately it still sounded like a 303 to me, so I felt that at worst it was an expensive waste of time. So I just shrugged and carried on listening to music. After about a month I found myself thinking, "the system is sounding pretty good". Bass was more controlled and the highs a bit more extended, but still smooth. Soundstage seemed to extend beyond the speakers; I only have a small room and the speakers are close to the wall, so I can't really comment on soundstage depth (I'm using a pair of single driver John Blue JB3s, BTW). Rhythmically everything just seemed to have more 'get up and go'.
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Those speakers cannot possibly have much output in the <100Hz zone, where the 303 is weak driving low impedances
 
davidsrsb said:
Those speakers cannot possibly have much output in the <100Hz zone, where the 303 is weak driving low impedances
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OK, so they don't go terribly low but they suit my small (10x10ish) room very well. What I didn't mention was that I also have an unmodified 303 which I have used successfully with the JB3s. The Net Audio modified 303 simply drives them better. I'd imagine that the upgraded power supply improves the drive with lower impedances (6ohm in the case of the JB3 - I've no idea if that's average or minimum).
 
To ( sort of ) revive this thread I have recently acquired a 303 without the control unit.
I have a pair of Stirling V3s, so I decided to try it with a passive preamp.

A JDS Labs model was bought and the combination is excellent.
The JDS only has one input, but that was all I needed.
Not Chinese, but made in the US of A.

Definitely more transparent than when I used a 34/303 combination.
 
Martyn Miles said:
To ( sort of ) revive this thread I have recently acquired a 303 without the control unit.
I have a pair of Stirling V3s, so I decided to try it with a passive preamp.

A JDS Labs model was bought and the combination is excellent.
The JDS only has one input, but that was all I needed.
Not Chinese, but made in the US of A.

Definitely more transparent than when I used a 34/303 combination.
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We currently have very similar set ups. I'm currently using my Khozmo passive pre with my 303 into Stirling V2s.
Transparent is a great description of the sound. All the warmth of the 303, with detail retrieval & soundstage as good as I have heard & no trace of harshness.
TS
 
Same here in the TV room; Audio Synthesis Passion, 303 with Dada boards and Spendor S3/5Rs. I’m really happy with this as a TV rig, it just gets out of the way, yet is articulate and musical.
 
Another here. I use an old Apogee Minidac into my 303 and original SP2s which seems to be a very nice combination.

There's a part of me that would love to use my lovely old 33 with it but it really doesn't work well with a CD source. Has anyone been tempted by one of the upgrades Amplabs do? Looks thorough!
 
Nic Robinson said:
Another here. I use an old Apogee Minidac into my 303 and original SP2s which seems to be a very nice combination.

There's a part of me that would love to use my lovely old 33 with it but it really doesn't work well with a CD source. Has anyone been tempted by one of the upgrades Amplabs do? Looks thorough!
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The 33 works perfectly well with a CD player. Use the Tape input after moving the sensitivity screws to the H position. I use my Quad CDPwitj it’s full 2.4V output into my 33 and can easily get up to volume level 5, 6 or 7 for normal listening.
 
As above ..

I have used CD players on my 33 in the past by adjusting the screws.
There was also a doc with some very simple adaptations circulated by Quad that provided a better match for CD players.

Its called:
Technical Information No. 36, Date: 26.09.91, Ref:33CD/GP

I think I got my copy from vinylengine by the looks of it ....
 
miktec said:
As above ..

I have used CD players on my 33 in the past by adjusting the screws.
There was also a doc with some very simple adaptations circulated by Quad that provided a better match for CD players.

Its called:
Technical Information No. 36, Date: 26.09.91, Ref:33CD/GP

I think I got my copy from vinylengine by the looks of it ....
Click to expand...

And the advantage of using the Tape input is that it’s the shortest signal path. The other inputs eg. Radio 1 and Radio 2 are routed through the Tape board anyway, so you cut out that extra circuitry using Tape.
 
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