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Post by Clive on May 30, 2016 18:59:16 GMT
The audience was said to be "improved"....a bit of a put down.
Overall it was ok but was a copy without good interaction. It was only the first program to be fair. Evans could do with a subwoofer for his voice.
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Post by Clive on May 26, 2016 19:18:33 GMT
I think it will be great once windows 11-14 are out. I love vista right now, all the problems ironed out and hardly any annoying updates. W10 is the last version supposedly. There will be updates though so whether there are changes which are big enough to make it more like W11 is hard to say. I can't imagine why I'd use an old version of Windows as I have no problems with 10 and the upgrade for 5 machines costume nothing. I see Windows phones are drawing their last breaths.
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Post by Clive on Apr 25, 2016 13:32:05 GMT
Those 15 inch bass drivers hand over the 5 inch wideband unit at 180Hz with a slope of 12db/octave so orientation isn't really an issue. It's still at an experimental stage but it seems to be very good already. I'm itching to hear them.
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The Beast
Apr 24, 2016 17:22:39 GMT
via mobile
Post by Clive on Apr 24, 2016 17:22:39 GMT
Remember these are dipoles so fire both ways Bass is incredibly tight Exactly....just reverse polarity. Job done.
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Post by Clive on Apr 24, 2016 16:22:35 GMT
To be honest Mike I am hoping when I get the drivers they work just as well forward and with the baffle. It would only require a alteration for the full range driver to fit but will take it as far as I need too in order to achieve the same results I've read good things about the 5" full range unit John, it's been on my radar for when I do a larger design myself, so also following your experiences with interest. What is the reasoning/ requirement for the bass units firing backwards? I'm not aware of a technical reason for the bass drivers being backwards. I think the reasons are more to do with a straight frame in front of the driver would look at least as strange as the reversed drivers which are at least in full view. Also in this config the wideband PRV driver can easily sit between the two closely spaced bass drivers making for a relatively compact 3 driver setup.
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The Beast
Apr 24, 2016 10:43:09 GMT
via mobile
Post by Clive on Apr 24, 2016 10:43:09 GMT
Hi John, I'll go over to hear the Baffleless Open Baffles (Opens?) When the PRV basses have arrived. I'm very keen to hear the Opens.
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The Beast
Apr 23, 2016 22:43:12 GMT
via mobile
Post by Clive on Apr 23, 2016 22:43:12 GMT
It will have been the excellent new Temple Bantam One integrated. I must take my upgraded Quad 306 over to try with them.
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Post by Clive on Apr 23, 2016 11:41:44 GMT
By the way, in my opinion Enid Blyton was a class author and gave me many, many hours of enjoyment as a child. She was a person of her generation and should not be judged by today's standards. I totally agree and I wonder how what we do today will be judged in 50 years. We'll either be viewed as too heartless or too soft....it's hard to to which, it depends how the mass migration ends I suppose and the eventual fall out. Sorry for being off topic.
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Post by Clive on Apr 22, 2016 14:23:36 GMT
Sorry if my "tax evasion" example confused anyone, there is absolutely no suggestion that NVA are involved in any such things.
It was just an example of things that I can't abide, and a reason why (as another example) I won't use Amazon.
I have no reason to doubt the excellence of the NVA product, but after the personal abuse I have received from RD, and his forum cronies there is no way I could ever deal with him, even if he would let me. Agreed, it's called having principles.
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Quad 306
Apr 19, 2016 21:25:04 GMT
via mobile
Post by Clive on Apr 19, 2016 21:25:04 GMT
Tonight I finished the upgrade to the 306. Playing into my 100db sensitivity open baffles and some 88.5db reflex speakers I'm impressed. The sound is fast, dynamic, clear and super clean. I'll review once I have some more hours on the changed capacitors.
With upgrades the amp has cost me £250. Amazing value.
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Post by Clive on Apr 15, 2016 11:31:04 GMT
Having listened further to the 306 and contrasted it with the new Temple Audion Bantam One and my 300B SE amps, my conclusions are that the 306 is very good. Vs the One the 306 is marginally less detailed and less "fast". The 306 flows a little more from note to note vs the start/stop capability of the class d One. Vs the 300B the 306 has much of the flow of the 300B but is closer to having the detail of the One. The 300Bs present the bones of the music really well but ultimately don't provide the same level of resolution.
The work I've done on the 306 so far is just to replace the main PS capacitors and reduce the gain little. My next step is to implement the rest of the Dada Electronics upgrade, probably late next week. This replaces the small value ceramic capacitors with polystyrene and polyprops for the slightly bigger ones. The two remaining elect caps will be replaced too, and 10 decoupling caps will be fitted. The opamp circuit will be modified to use the values used in the later 606mkII and 909, it seems these are better optimised.
I hope I like the changes! The amp is easy to work on and a pleasure to work on. Even with the cost of the upgrade kit the amp is one heck of a bargain.
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Post by Clive on Apr 8, 2016 10:51:00 GMT
I installed the new PS capacitors last night. I've not been in the mood to fully assess and compare the sound with my other amps as my dog died, my best friend of 12 years. It'll sound OTT to non-animal lovers but this hard. Anyway, from a quick listen using my 100db sensitivity open baffles I found the sound to be flowing and rhythmic with plenty of detail. Where a good class D amp (eg Temple Bantam One 40W) does "start/stop" and dynamics in spades the Quad sound is more flowing and closer to a valve SE amp yet it's not short on dynamics either. I need to reset the gain on the 306 so I'll pop out to get the required resistors. All in all it's very promising but very early days in terms of my assessment.
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Post by Clive on Apr 4, 2016 9:22:30 GMT
I too worry about heat and elect caps. I once had a 2A3 heater regulator which the designer said was fine but I was never convinced. Due to the ripple current running through the caps they were constantly so hot I couldn't touch them. Ok they were 105C rated but it's asking for trouble.
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Quad 306
Apr 3, 2016 13:52:59 GMT
via mobile
Post by Clive on Apr 3, 2016 13:52:59 GMT
I can't tell what the VA rating is for the PTX; it's an ILP but they've stopped producing toriods. The PTX looks a decent size. Dave's point about case size is salient. Making the case the same size as the preamp and tuner was aesthetically a good move and no doubt margins were improved but I can't help thinking some vents would have been a good idea.
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Quad 306
Apr 3, 2016 9:07:47 GMT
via mobile
Post by Clive on Apr 3, 2016 9:07:47 GMT
It looks like the capacitors were manufactured in 1988. 28 years old. I glad I'm changing them.
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Quad 306
Apr 2, 2016 23:35:01 GMT
via mobile
Post by Clive on Apr 2, 2016 23:35:01 GMT
My DMM only goes to a couple of uF so I can't check their spec. Given the caps in 306s suffer from heat I'd rather bin the 85C ones for 105C new ones and get greater capacitance to boot. Mis-shapen sacrificial plastic covers can't be a good thing, it suggests to me heat is an issue.
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Quad 306
Mar 31, 2016 21:19:04 GMT
via mobile
Post by Clive on Mar 31, 2016 21:19:04 GMT
The tops of caps are often just a soft cover. It might have nothing do with them being ready to blow. I did consider that but didn't want to take the risk as the amp is renowned for those caps being a problem. Dave, the 306 opamp isn't in the signal path but the zeners powering them benefit from caps across them as there are knovk on effects on the rest of the amp.
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Post by Clive on Mar 31, 2016 17:12:39 GMT
The Dada kits are really good and with detailed pics and instructions. Those BHC should be good quality, but maybe had they been 63V ones, they might not have aged like that? IAG Quad service dept will fix faults and fit update kits as necessary, but it seems to me from past 1990's dealings history, that they DON'T replace things for the sake of it unless asked specifically to do so. In 2009, the supply caps may have looked far better and in all honesty, in the days of the mk1 405, it only took eleven years of a few hours a week for them to bulge and leak. Leaving on 24/7 may not as been so kind, although the caps wouldn't be heating and cooling inside so may not have suffered so. Computer motherboard caps only had a two year life quite often before terminally bulging. I have Dada's instructions, I don't need all they offer and it's not clear if their caps are 50V or 63V or whether they've increase the capacitance a little. Anyway I have 4 Kendeil 6,800uF 63V 105C caps due hopefully tomorrow. I've removed the gassy ones in readiness. It's clear from the flux residue left by IAG that they replaced the binding posts, RCAs and maybe even the transformer. The soldering on the PC caps looks to be original with no flux residue so I'd agree they look like the original caps. I'll clean up the IAG work before powering up....
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Post by Clive on Mar 30, 2016 12:43:51 GMT
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Post by Clive on Mar 27, 2016 13:13:19 GMT
I'll report back...with pics. I'm committed to high efficiency speakers for all sorts of reasons, one of which is that exotic amps are not needed or indeed that helpful. Many modern speaker may be technically closer to ideal but the requirements they make on amplifiers is not ideal. We all have our own individual philosophy where this is concerned...there's room for all.
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