keeping another pair of QLS1's alive

cdfac

cdfac

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
so i've FINALLY got a pair of QLS1's from the chicago area in my possession (now residing at my father-in-law's for the month), though i had some serious competition from someone who likely frequents AK and at least claims to know a lot about the speaker. this was an ongoing enterprise since march, when the original for-sale post was discovered on bobby shred's guestbook. whew! i must say that i hold the seller in the highest regard for not selling out in the last several weeks to what must've been a lot more money than we had already agreed to, and for being such a nice feller when my brother-in-law and i stopped by to seal the deal tonight. the QLS1's were originally the father's in ~'78, and the son powered them with a CR-2020, which was not optimal but a better alternative than many - I hope the EMITs are ok. i am more than excited to fix all of the broken midrange tinsels and refoam the watkinses.

i must say that the cabs are in better shape than the pair that just sold on eBay, though i should probably do a bit of steel-wooling and restaining while i am at it. that is not to mention the work that the crossover will require, but i am already versed the difference than a recap can make and can't complain too much. i know that i will need some help with this, and i implore those that have gone before me (banffsking et. al., IIRC) to force-feed me advice. a mid-bass also needs replaced, which i have already taken care of. supposedly the EMITs are all functional, so i'm going to take that and run with it for now. i sincerely wish i had some pictures to post, but the cell phone didn't produce and we forgot the digi-cam. i'll post some when i can.

on a more solemn note, i implore my infinity obsession to cease and desist immediately. i've gotten everything that you've asked for! please let me study for my graduate physics qualifying exam for the next several months! haha, fat chance with these laying in the basement of my new house... cheers!
 
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Congrats!! Please post some 'before' pics so we can see how they look at the outset of your restoration.
 
cdfac,
Congrats. Increasingly difficult to obtain, no doubt, As Tedrick stated, please keep us posted.

Vito
 
Thanks to everyone else for all the congratulations. the restoration shouldn't be TOO hard, though fixing 10-20 tinsel wires will be very frustrating. i may hit up army's buddy jim for help with that and the woofer refoam. i'm most worried about collecting enough money for new amps. i suppose a cheaper short-term solution would be to get a couple GFA-555s and vertical biamp, but i don't know how well they handle 2 ohms. the next step up for me would be some similar wattage autoforming mcintoshes also in a vertical setup, which will be double to triple the adcoms' cost but should be worth it. but my new house only has a medium-sized room to put them in, so there's no hurry to go big.

i wonder how many QLS1s are left in the US - a couple hundred, perhaps? anyone have an idea how many they sold in the first place?

can anyone give me an idea of how it compares to the subsequent models RS2.5, RS4.5, and RSII/A/B? i confess that i haven't heard anything better than my own current system (because i'm new to this, not because mine is all that great) and don't really know what to expect. i read somewhere (not on AK) that supposedly the integration of the woofer and the midbass was poor, comments on that or any other weaknesses? thanks!
 
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Hey cdfac

Congrats, bet you can't wait to get them up and running!

Once you get them up and playing, the offer is still open to stop by my place and give the RS 2.5's and the 4.5's a listen.

As for the integration of the woofer midbass, IIRC it was a problem with the Watkins woofer bottoming out because the cabinet wasn't quite big enough and at high volume it would bottom out.

Lastly Bunny :nono: use the AK classifieds dude!
 
Army said:
Once you get them up and playing, the offer is still open to stop by my place and give the RS 2.5's and the 4.5's a listen.
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heck with waiting, i was thinking a friday or saturday in one of the upcoming weekends, if you're around. i'll send you a PM.

Army said:
As for the integration of the woofer midbass, IIRC it was a problem with the Watkins woofer bottoming out because the cabinet wasn't quite big enough and at high volume it would bottom out.
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actually, after some looking i was able to find the following thread, which is exactly what i was referring to. but perhaps they're just some infinity haters? i'm not expecting perfection.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1188955498&openfrom&1&4#1
 
cdfac said:
heck with waiting, i was thinking a friday or saturday in one of the upcoming weekends, if you're around. i'll send you a PM.



actually, after some looking i was able to find the following thread, which is exactly what i was referring to. but perhaps they're just some infinity haters? i'm not expecting perfection.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1188955498&openfrom&1&4#1
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I highly doubt anything coming out that forum you linked to nor anyone posting there ever fell in love with an older pair of speakers cdfac , let alone spent the time to rebuild anything!

Do we know better...I think so!

Not saying the QLS1's will be audiophile world killers...but not very far behind :no:

Pm sent with my cell, give me a call... hopefully we both have time available.
 
Hey cdfac
There is not a day that goes by that when I flip on the power switch
I regret putting the time into rebuilding the speakers. I to would like some different amps to power them as they do require a lot of wattage. I am still using an Onkyo M-504 which seems to handle them pretty well but once in a while a passage with heavy bass comes though and you can see the lights dim on the power meters. Anyway good luck and I will be glad to share what I have learned about these great speakers.

Banffskiing
 
banffskiing said:
Hey cdfac
There is not a day that goes by that when I flip on the power switch
I regret putting the time into rebuilding the speakers. I to would like some different amps to power them as they do require a lot of wattage. I am still using an Onkyo M-504 which seems to handle them pretty well but once in a while a passage with heavy bass comes though and you can see the lights dim on the power meters. Anyway good luck and I will be glad to share what I have learned about these great speakers.

Banffskiing
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i will definitely be hitting you up about crossover work. i'm definitely replacing all the caps, but i'm also thinking about putting some new wire in throughout. is that a difference i'm going to notice with a set of adcom amps, or will it take something nicer before i see any gain?
 
Pictures as promised. Not that great for now since they're in an awkward position (one is facing the wall about three feet away, and the other is facing the back of the first with about six inches to spare), but hey, it's getting crowded down there ;)

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The fronts of the speakers are in very good shape, all things considered. Most of the scuffs are on the sides and would completely disappear if I restained. There's only one small veneer chip that I can see, thank golly. I was able to examine test the drivers in the Kappa's pictured by dragging them over to an old Sansui in another basement corner, but I still haven't been able to test the EMITs in the QLS1's since they're harder to move. Visually they're a little wrinkled, but are clean and at least seem intact. On first speaker, at least 11 of the 12 midrange tinsels need to be repaired. The seller was very surprised to find that and has no idea what happened. I cannot complain, however, since that is what enabled me to snatch them for pennies on the dollar.
 
Those look to be in very nice condtion :yes:

BTW I know a guy that refoams Watkins woofers cheap and has a pair of RS 2.5's and RS 4.5's you could listen to when you drop off the woofers :D
 
Army said:
Those look to be in very nice condtion :yes:

BTW I know a guy that refoams Watkins woofers cheap and has a pair of RS 2.5's and RS 4.5's you could listen to when you drop off the woofers :D
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i just might have to take that guy up on it :scratch2: :) i took one of the woofers out and was happy to find that either the factory or the previous owner etched the wire colors above the terminals, so i don't have to worry about hooking them back up. i had hoped to bring the watkinses and kappa 9 woofers home with me from chicago, but no dice, so the refoam/speaker audition will have to wait.

if you've read my other recent thread, you know about the kappa 9's i also just picked up. i had hoped that i could convince my wife to let me keep both, but that hope is disappearing quickly, so i'm most likely having to get rid of one pair. that would be the kappa 9's, no brainer...right? at first i thought that i wouldn't have second thoughts at all if it came to that. they are like-new, which is cool, and only need the foams done before they can immediately rock again, but they're far less rare and not quite in the same league, as i understand it. still, there's something about them that's very impressive when you're standing there taking them in - they have a cutting-edge yet smooth and organic feel to them, whereas the QLS1's are clunky and intimidating in comparison.

advice or thoughts? pretend you have no chance at either pair :nono: ;), and please no PM offers to buy either :)
 
cdfac said:
advice or thoughts? pretend you have no chance at either pair :nono: ;), and please no PM offers to buy either :)
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While the thought of having to repair all of those dome mid tinsel leads makes me break out in a cold sweat - I'd still keep the QLS-1's.
 
QLS it is, then :smoke:

a quick question about horizontal biamping and the QLS. if your amps don't match and don't have gain controls, then you need an active crossover, correct? on the other hand, with vertical biamping, you assume that since the channels of the stereo amp are identical, the highs and lows will be fed the same power the crossover will inherently provide the level matching?
 
If you read the stereo review paper on the QLS you will find Infinity
recommend vertical Bi Amping. The reason is that if you Horz Biamp
the Amp driving the Woofers can be sucked dry by the demands of the Watkins.

When Horz Bi amping the amps do not need to be the same you can
use the higher watt amp for the bottom and lower watt amp for the highs.
When Vert Biamping you should have identical amps.
When you mention the use of an active crossover you can
use it to match gain but it is really meant to divide the freqs sent to
the drivers.
I would see if I could find two of the same amps with gain controls a plus for these and Vert Biamp
If you do not have two of the same go Horz until you do.

Oh ya the
QLS1's are clunky and intimidating
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so you do not want them just let me takem of your hands and you can enjoy those refined Kappas :D:D
 
thanks, goat, makes sense. getting an active crossover just for the gain controls would be a bit overkill.

the use of the word "clunky" wasn't the best choice for the QLS, but i was trying to avoid the redundancy of "boxy."

goat67 said:
so you do not want them just let me takem of your hands and you can enjoy those refined Kappas :D:D
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and sorry. you were at the top of my list, for the brief time there was one. sure you don't want the 9's? :naughty:
 
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cdfac said:
thanks, goat, makes sense. getting an active crossover just for the gain controls would be a bit overkill.

the use of the word "clunky" wasn't the best choice for the QLS, but i was trying to avoid the redundancy of "boxy."



and sorry. you were at the top of my list, for the brief time there was one. sure you don't want the 9's? :naughty:
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Now you are taunting me huh.....:D Well I wish ya luck with the QLS I would love to hear them once you get them all fixed up.
Keep us posted on your progress :thmbsp:
 
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