Hi, I have been around listening to music all my life. In the last 10 years I have owned vintage Quad II's. I have been very happy with the sound quality as it is excellent. I am now at the point where vinyl is superior to CD in most cases. I am now experimenting with swopping out valves. There is a definite tonal difference when having removed the Mullard EF86's and replaced them with four new old stock Bentley Acoustic valves (foreign made). I have tested them out on various recordings I have known for a long time, the differences are (with the Bentley's). Slightly reduced bass volume, a more 'spacious' sound, wider stereo response, very detailed and clear tops (incredibly so). On some of the records I have just listened to I heard acoustic guitars, triangles and hand claps for instance far more clearly than ever before. (all settings are flat). It's fascinating to me that such changes make things 'different'. I know I am hearing it differently, it is not an illusion. I am 65 years of age and have owned some of these records before I was 10. To be able to keep on getting more and more out of them is really great. Has anyone out there had/or having a similar experience?
Welcome to the wonderful world of tube rolling. If you want a real deep dive start rolling capacitors.
S.
S.
Controversial territory:
Are your QUADs original? Have they at least been restored? Someone on the forum had a fit once when I said I'd repurposed some transformers from a (not very good) vintage amp. The offended party accused me of messing with a heritage amplifier. At any rate, have a look at Keith Snook's site. https://keith-snook.info/quad-ii-valve-amplifier-mods.html If you want a real deep dive into QUAD II updating Pat? Turner in Australia had some real hard core mods. His site isn't operational as far as I can see but I have the info from it which I'll send to you if you wish to send me a PM.
S.
Are your QUADs original? Have they at least been restored? Someone on the forum had a fit once when I said I'd repurposed some transformers from a (not very good) vintage amp. The offended party accused me of messing with a heritage amplifier. At any rate, have a look at Keith Snook's site. https://keith-snook.info/quad-ii-valve-amplifier-mods.html If you want a real deep dive into QUAD II updating Pat? Turner in Australia had some real hard core mods. His site isn't operational as far as I can see but I have the info from it which I'll send to you if you wish to send me a PM.
S.
Patrick Turner unfortunately passed away about a year ago. Here is the announcement in the "In Memoriam" section:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/rip-patrick-turner.371896/post-6642890
His site stayed up for a while but is now down. However, it has been preserved in the Internet Archive ("The Wayback Machine"); here is a link to the last snapshot taken on January 21, 2022.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220121171042/http://www.turneraudio.com.au/
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/rip-patrick-turner.371896/post-6642890
His site stayed up for a while but is now down. However, it has been preserved in the Internet Archive ("The Wayback Machine"); here is a link to the last snapshot taken on January 21, 2022.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220121171042/http://www.turneraudio.com.au/