Quad Fidelity on Arrivenet. http://editorials.arrivenet.com/entertainment/article.php/14933.html

We all have hi-fidelity audio equipment of some sort, be it an integrated music system, modern separates, probably Japanese or from Taiwan, or just a mere Ipod. In general we buy new audio gadgets as and when the urge takes us. Since the advent of the transistor and the integrated circuit these devices have become smaller and more compact and producing surprising power levels from small packages. Convenience and fashion are often the drivers for a new purchase, remote controls, modern styling and gadgetry being pushed by the manufacturers as the key selling points. Their aim is to sell as many units as possible replacing and supplanting the old kit with better specifications, higher wattages, better looking kit &c. The push never ends.

What this leaves behind is a surfeit of old unwanted audio kit, unloved and past it's best. This finds its way onto the second-hand market or is passed on as hand-me-downs to the younger generation. At worst the kit that is beyond reasonable cost to salvage is pulverised or buried in a landfill. Those items that survive these fates are left in a cold loft to gently rust and expire under a layer of thick dust.

The thing is, in all that time the manufacturer's promises may not have been all that they seemed. You are never quite satisfied with that new piece of kit. One day however, someone opens up the loft to find that hidden gem, dusts it off, plugs it in and finds that the sound from that old piece of kit is really not half bad. Strangely enough, it does not look too bad now that the fashions that superceded it have also found their way into oblivion.

That piece of kit might be a long-lost legendary Cyrus One or Two amplifier, it might be a Quad 303, 306 or a 405. It could be a Nad 3130. If it is something like this, it has a potential of which you have not yet dreamed, well almost. These amplifiers were the best of the bunch when they originally came onto the market. The Nad 3130 and the Cyrus One both defined the word quality in their sectors of the markets. They were both hard-hitting amplifiers well within the reach of the average buyer but bringing you a level of sound, quality and stability that had previously been unknown for the price. The build quality of the early Cyrus amplifiers was legendary, metal case, large toroidal transformer, beautifully laid out circuit board, good quality components, no integrated circuits, short pathways reducing unwanted interference, the list goes on. If by luck you have found a Quad 303, you may mistake it for a toaster, or a ruggedised bit of ex-military surplus, a geiger counter or something of that ilk, especially with the colour of the case. But it isn't, it is an amazingly stable, superbly competent audio amplifier from the legendary Quad Acoustical Audio company capable of delivering 45 watts per channel of absolutely distortion-free sound. All you need is the pre-amp that goes with it, now where is that old pre-amp?

Vintage hi-fi is an overlooked subject by the great masses, modern types just want the modern trash and precisely because of them overlooking these old gems a whole world of quality audio is available to you, the new audio enthusiast. You may have thought you could never buy the best that top-end hi-fi has to offer but you can. If you start looking at high-end kit from a few years ago, upgraded and brought back to life using fine-tolerance components that just weren't available when the units were originally made, you can find yourself with some audio amplification kit that can stand up to the best that is currently on offer for £1,000 or more. Each separate item, amplifier, pre-amplifier, CD transport from a Naim system is in excess of £1,000, yet most of the people that buy this sort of kit are gadget-freaks. The ones who love the look and feel and the expense - but you have to ask the question, can they really hear the difference?

If you bought a Quad 303, fully upgraded, cleaned, resprayed and tested, plugged it into a Quad 33 pre-amplifier and fed in some lovely signal from a Quad 67 CD player what would you expect to hear? If you have good speakers you would expect to hear crisp tight sound at the upper ranges, no distortion at all, stability of sound at all levels of volume, all the peaks reproducing just as they should with no clipping and no lack of punch. Even at a mere 45 watts per channel the Quad 303 delivers more punch than systems rated at twice the output with their weedy power supplies asthmatically trying to supply the power. The Quad 303 has huge input smoothing and output reservoir capacitors, a massive power supply and beautifully designed amplifier boards pushing out the power as and when needed, never pausing for breath like it's modern counterparts. Try this test, turn on your CD player, ensure you have no CD in the tray, just turn on your Technics or Matsushita amp and crank the volume to maximum. Is there an audible hiss? Does it ssshhhh at you? Try the same with a Quad 303 and listen to the sound, there won't be any, no hiss, no ssssssshhhhhh, nothing. That is 0.001% distortion that you are listening to. I've yet to hear it.

Once upon a time I worked at Our Price records with Bindi Harris (Rolf's daughter). Karen Wrack and Spike the manager. The LPs were played on a Dual deck and the power was delivered by a Quad 33/303 in perfect combination. I always wanted that system but could never afford it. Now the years have passed and I can afford it. I have a set of the Quads in my front room. In the process of rebuilding them I suddenly realised that there must be others like me that want the same. That's when I started re-building Quad kit and selling it on the internet, on ebay at first and then via my own shop, "Quad fidelity". Let me tell you about "Quad Fidelity".

Quad Fidelity, is a small company specialising in the restoration and repair of Vintage hi-fi audio equipment. We overhaul and upgrade Quad and Cyrus/Mission hi-fi components for selling via the internet. We are not directly associated with the Quad Company but have always held their products in high regard, especially the vintage products from sixties and seventies. Therefore, the main products we supply are renovated and restored Quad, Cyrus and Mission audio separates from the late 1960s to the mid 1990s. The items we select for sale are vintage high quality audiophile electronic audio components with an in-built design capability for upgrading to modern standards. Quad kit has been praised as being at the head of audio quality engineering since the 1960s. The kit has been widely used by professionals, hi-fi enthusiasts and amateurs with good taste and whilst being affordable has always remained as a top-of-the-line brand.

Quad Fidelity buy second-hand, broken, non working, functioning but only just, Quad hi-fi kit from the 1960s to the 1990s. We take them and clean them inside and out removing any broken components replacing them with original or new replacement components of equal or better quality. We upgrade the critical components in the item and finally respray the shells. They are then tested using high quality inputs and are then packaged for delivery via courier to anywhere in Europe.

All the items we sell are rugged and well respected audio items providing high quality audio sound at prices which are accessible. Cyrus/Mission have made a series of industrial grade audio separates since the 1980s. These items are well suited to restoration and improvement using modern audio-grade components. All our products are easy to use and offer exceptional durability and value for money. The quality at this end of the market is very high and the build and design standards of Cyrus/Quad kit easily matches or surpasses high end audio equipment in manufacture today. The only difference is the cost.

Quad Fidelity also sell hand-made interconnects and accessories using high quality cables and connectors to enhance and complement your Quad or Cyrus kit. We also sell input shorters, interconnects and power cables, upgrade kits and technical documentation.

Please note I only sell through ebay and through the on-line shop. If you are of a certain generation you will be asking yourself, is payment via the internet secure? The answer is YES. When you visit enter your details or when you visit Quad Fidelity's payment gateway you will notice the URL changes from HTTP to HTTPS. This indicates that we are using a secure certificate supplied by COMODO to ensure all transfers of information between our website and the payment gateway are securely encrypted. You will notice the little padlock appearing on the bottom right hand corner indicating that our site is a secure site and you will also see the Comodo "authentic and secure" corner image on all our pages. We also use only highly secure payment gateways. Our main payment gateway for all credit card purchases is Paypal Pro, Paypal is respected and used throughout the world, being used for almost all 'person to person' ebay purchases worldwide. We use Paypal Pro as our 'person to business' payment gateway as it comes highly recommended by other sellers.

We also use Google Checkout as this is also well-known and respected by buyers and sellers all around the world. If you have a paypal account you can buy from us using Paypal Express, if you have a Google Checkout account you can buy from us. If you have a credit or debit card in your hand you can pay using Paypal Pro. Whatever method you choose, hopefully, we've got it covered. All of our orders are shipped by courier and are processed within 48 hours of receipt and shipped within 1 to 3 business days thereafter unless notified otherwise. Once your order has been shipped you will be notified via email.

If you have always hankered for that tasty bit of Quad/Cyrus kit, well. now's the time. You can order safely and be sure that the piece of kit you will receive will be better then the original in key respects. Please feel free to contact us and discuss your needs.

Quad Fidelity is run by LightQuick Web Design, our parent company. You can visit Quad Fidelity's website at the following address: www.quadfidelity.co.uk. We look forward to receiving your visit.