Turntable for Quad ensemble

Stylesound · Apr 17, 2015

I am restoring an ensemble of Quad (British equipment company, NOT quadraphonic) of a 33 preamplifier, a 303 power amplifier and two ES-63 loudspeakers. Was there a British turntable favored for such a setup? There is Garrard, but I think many Quad buyers wanted something better. How about a British cartridge to go with it? I am new to collecting and restoring British audio equipment, my favorite for style is Bang & Olufsen. The styling of the Quad components is interesting and the sound is unique and pleasing. Any suggestions?

Pio1980 · Apr 17, 2015

Garrard Lab 80 comes to mind. Dunno about the cart other than DECCA London, which is a bit of a risky choice.

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Art K. · Apr 17, 2015

Linn LP12 or a Michell deck of you choosing.

Mister Pig · Apr 17, 2015

British buyers wanting better than Garrard. Humph I kinda think a Garrard 401 was one of the finer choices of the time period. Nor would most turn their nose up at a sweet 301 either.

Of course a period correct LP 12 or Ariston would also fit the bill. But a well sorted out 401 in an appropriate plinth is a hard machine to beat.

As far as a British cartridge. Perhaps you could find a Mission Rosewood? Truthfully I can't think of many British made cartridges outside of the London Decca's. Ortofon and Benz Micro seemed to dominate the European market.

Regards
Mister Pig

grottyash · Apr 17, 2015

Goldring cartridges, the 1042, upwards. Goldring is still firmly a British company. If you go for the LP12, then one of the current range of Linn cartridges, apparently based on and built by Goldring would be good choices. There's also the Roksan and Audio Note cartridges.

My pick would be the classic 401/Sme combination, with a top flight Goldring. I don't think Decca would be a good match for the SME arm, but could be wrong.

Mister Pig · Apr 17, 2015

grottyash said:
Goldring cartridges, the 1042, upwards. Goldring is still firmly a British company. If you go for the LP12, then one of the current range of Linn cartridges, apparently based on and built by Goldring would be good choices. There's also the Roksan and Audio Note cartridges.

My pick would be the classic 401/Sme combination, with a top flight Goldring. I don't think Decca would be a good match for the SME arm, but could be wrong.

Ah yes I am a forgetful pig. Who could forget Goldring, heck I used to own a 1042. The Eroica MC was also a good cart from them, not sure what their current MC's are though.

Regards
Mister Pig

Pio1980 · Apr 17, 2015

grottyash said:
Goldring cartridges, the 1042, upwards. Goldring is still firmly a British company. If you go for the LP12, then one of the current range of Linn cartridges, apparently based on and built by Goldring would be good choices. There's also the Roksan and Audio Note cartridges.

My pick would be the classic 401/Sme combination, with a top flight Goldring. I don't think Decca would be a good match for the SME arm, but could be wrong.

DECCA London carts worked best in the DECCA unipivot arm, the SME liked period MM carts. The SME "Improved" with the removable headshell was designed for the Ortofon moving coil unit cart/headshell as well as others.

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chicks · Apr 18, 2015

Not British, but my favorite match for my ESL-63s is the Sony PS-X65. The black/walnut finish complements the QUADs perfectly, and I can't think of a quieter, uncolored, more refined turntable I've owned (and I've owned many). Period correct, too; both from the early 80s.

KentTeffeteller · Apr 18, 2015

Period correct turntable would be a Garrard 301 or 401 for the man of the house with a SME 3009 tonearm. There often would be a Garrard Lab 80 for casual background music and the lady of the house and family usage.

FONSguy · Apr 18, 2015

FONS CQ-30 with SME Type 2 Improved and Fluid damper and Grace F9e?

fiddlefye · Apr 18, 2015

Transcriptors perhaps?

KentTeffeteller · Apr 18, 2015

For SS era Quad, the Fons would be a great choice.

Pio1980 · Apr 18, 2015

fiddlefye said:
Transcriptors perhaps?

Thot about that but cannot recommend a TT I wouldn't want to use myself.

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fiddlefye · Apr 18, 2015

Pio1980 said:
Thot about that but cannot recommend a TT I wouldn't want to use myself.

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If it boiled down to Brit tables I would actually buy from the period the list isn't that long. Garrard 301/401, Ariston and Linn. The Fons would certainly be nice as well, but good luck finding one.

Dazaa · Apr 19, 2015

fiddlefye said:
If it boiled down to Brit tables I would actually buy from the period the list isn't that long. Garrard 301/401, Ariston and Linn. The Fons would certainly be nice as well, but good luck finding one.

For anyone curious as to what a Fons CQ30 is, here's mine, MINT condition I might add.

grottyash · Apr 19, 2015

There's also the wonderfully-named STD turntables.

Mister Pig · Apr 19, 2015

Have we mentioned Townshend yet? There should be versions of the Rock from this time period.

Regards
Mister Pig

Pio1980 · Apr 19, 2015

Ariston with an SME and Goldring cart' makes sense.

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fiddlefye · Apr 19, 2015

Pio1980 said:
Ariston with an SME and Goldring cart' makes sense.

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I really enjoy my RD11/SME 3009 S2. Not the ultimate table, but it makes really good music from a huge range of LPs, more than I can say for some combinations.

keilau · Apr 19, 2015

The impact of QUAD

Stylesound said:
I am restoring an ensemble of Quad (British equipment company, NOT quadraphonic) of a 33 preamplifier, a 303 power amplifier and two ES-63 loudspeakers.

In reality, many of the higher end phono equipment were designed for quadraphonic during that era. People soon found out that tonearm(very low effective mass) and cartridge (high compilance) designed for quad sounded particularly good when used for stereo reproduction. The reason was very simple. The quadraphonic need frequency response up to 4-50,000 Hz with very linear phase response. Most of the stereo cartridge then and many (not all) of today's have a several dB frequency bump under 20 KHz and sever phase shifting that starts early. The tonearm and cartridge designed for quad pushed the high frequency resonance to way beyond the audible range that allows them to recreate a wide and stable sound stage. This is also one of the reason that makes Moving Coil cartridge popular.

I am just talking about generic. Yes, there were quadraphonic equipment from that era that sound terrible too. I am not saying that "ALL" quadraphonic equipment were good.

Turntable for Quad ensemble

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