May I say that I take all the criticisms of my thread and my posts so far with good humour and no hard feelings.
There are so many points that have been made in the last day that I can't reasonably answer all without straying too far from the topic that is this thread: upgrades to a Quad 44.
However, there are some points I would like to make in response.
I do think I should say that I am neither 'slagging off' anyone- whether they agree or disagree with me- nor do I consider that to be a sensible interpretation of anything I have said. I am strongly critical of the early Serial Number '44. That does not make my points into a "slagfest".
I say this to confirm that I am open- minded enough to allow for others disagreeing with what I say, with my approach or with what I hear. I did start this thread by going out of my way to point out that different listeners hear things differently.
Moving on, now, to a question that I choose to address in this post....
"...If eguth can tell me what variable it is that has rendered the file from Robert that was taken from the Quad pre to sound as good as the direct rip via EAC, well I'll be interested in that but..."
This is a LOADED question. It presuposes that the listener will hear the two sounds as equally "good". And that the reason is a 'variable'! And it implies that Robert's needle drops prove that his Quad 34 does not require any upgrades. The point could be made (but hasn't been) that a direct demo in a listening room might confirm the needle drop result. If this happened, it would still only prove that the sound of some CD tracks played though a particular version of the '34 are not adversly affected by the '34. What it doesn't prove, or seek to prove, is that that particular '34 is as good, better, or worse than some other preamp. To do this the demo would have to use several CDs with different music, CD players, preamps and systems. Why bother? If you don't agree with me that the early Quad '44 is a poor performer no demo is likely to convince you otherwise. And I, of course, am primarily concerned with the sound of the MM module, not CDs.
Even if I had listened to the drops (again, I haven't) and had heard no difference between the two this would be besides the point. Whatever is heard by whomever cannot have been without the variables I identified in post #99 under item (vi). I gave several instances of variables that, when present, detract from the veracity of needle drops as a means of showing differences between sounds.
If one demonstrates via demos that do not go through computers and that use the same headphones, or the same speakers in the same listening room- rather than ones that use different ones- then we are on to a better chance of proving something. Putting the sound through two computers first, by itself, could nullify the demo and is the most serious objection to needle drops.
I would have thought it patently obvious that I have no quarrel with anyone who does not wish to modify anything, nor with anyone who is perfectly satisfied with the sound of any piece of equipment, Quad 44 or otherwise.
That said, I am hardly the only one in the world that modifies equipment. Indeed we have a DIY room on pfm that is devoted to this activity; and a good thing too!
My own approach is to modify if I can, if it is worth while financially and in other ways. In my own system I have left nothing unmodified save a couple of MC transformers and one (1) cartridge. By modifying- both my own mods and mods carried out by others for me- I have obtained a system that it vastly better than the original items and at a cost many times lower than what I would have had to pay to get equivalent or better items.
I can't help but notice that for every point made on this thread about my upgrades or improvements (whether in agreement or by way of improving these further) there are many more that are concerned, primarily, with maintaining that no modifications are needed. Has anyone forgotten that The Acoustical Manufacturing Company started modifying the Quad 44 preamp shortly after it first went into production?
