drmoss_ca
09-15-2007, 03:05 PM
Lots of changes today, and a big lesson learnt.
Last night I realised I had two problems with the current system - not only was my right Quad 989 emitting a horrible sizzling noise after being on for a couple of hours, but the whole right channel was going off intermittently. I swapped the right and left channel tubes in the AES AE-3 preamp this morning and made no difference to the sizzle. So there is yet another problem with these speakers, that sound so nice and yet give me so much grief. To solve the right channel going in and out (a problem related to the tube socket for that channel in the AE-3, which is temporarily solved by cleaning the metal contacts in the socket) I put in my old Copland CTA301 MkII preamp and was pleasantly surprised at how much nicer it sounded. I am aware that all change sounds nicer - at first! The main attraction of the AE-3 was the remote volume control. However the right speaker still sizzled like a huge mosquito was trapped in the middle of its three panels. Next I enlisted my son's help and swapped the 989's for their predecessors, a pair of Castle Winchesters. Sizzle gone! But I was listening to hi-fi, and not to music. Was I ever listening to hi-fi - I hadn't appreciated how very much there was less signature sound to the Quads until I did this. So this evening I have had the grumbling son help swap them back. The Castles were solid favourites for many years, yet compared to the Quads they seemed somehow small and artificial. I should explain that I have only one ear, and cannot hear directional sound, so soundstages, width and depth of stereo images are meaningless to me, but I still want my music to sound the way it does when I am in an opera house!
A little while ago, I compared the sound of our own, familiar, system to the feel of an old pair of shoes that fit so well; they may not be the best fit, but our feet are used to them. I'm going to have to send one of these huge and heavy speakers back to Ontario (if there is still a distributor there, I think the guy I sent the last failing speaker to has gone out of business) since I plainly don't want to live without them. Perhaps I should start saving for replacements from the new generation of Quad electrostatics (or the next, by the time I have saved...) since they are said to be more reliable! I feel those devils in Huntington are like pushers who have addicted me to their sound.
Chris
Last night I realised I had two problems with the current system - not only was my right Quad 989 emitting a horrible sizzling noise after being on for a couple of hours, but the whole right channel was going off intermittently. I swapped the right and left channel tubes in the AES AE-3 preamp this morning and made no difference to the sizzle. So there is yet another problem with these speakers, that sound so nice and yet give me so much grief. To solve the right channel going in and out (a problem related to the tube socket for that channel in the AE-3, which is temporarily solved by cleaning the metal contacts in the socket) I put in my old Copland CTA301 MkII preamp and was pleasantly surprised at how much nicer it sounded. I am aware that all change sounds nicer - at first! The main attraction of the AE-3 was the remote volume control. However the right speaker still sizzled like a huge mosquito was trapped in the middle of its three panels. Next I enlisted my son's help and swapped the 989's for their predecessors, a pair of Castle Winchesters. Sizzle gone! But I was listening to hi-fi, and not to music. Was I ever listening to hi-fi - I hadn't appreciated how very much there was less signature sound to the Quads until I did this. So this evening I have had the grumbling son help swap them back. The Castles were solid favourites for many years, yet compared to the Quads they seemed somehow small and artificial. I should explain that I have only one ear, and cannot hear directional sound, so soundstages, width and depth of stereo images are meaningless to me, but I still want my music to sound the way it does when I am in an opera house!
A little while ago, I compared the sound of our own, familiar, system to the feel of an old pair of shoes that fit so well; they may not be the best fit, but our feet are used to them. I'm going to have to send one of these huge and heavy speakers back to Ontario (if there is still a distributor there, I think the guy I sent the last failing speaker to has gone out of business) since I plainly don't want to live without them. Perhaps I should start saving for replacements from the new generation of Quad electrostatics (or the next, by the time I have saved...) since they are said to be more reliable! I feel those devils in Huntington are like pushers who have addicted me to their sound.
Chris