Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Free Quad schematics, service notes, manuals


Dada Electronics & Quad Spot have a great collection of Quad documents. They are all public domain so you can get them for free. Just send an e-mail to info@dadaelectronics.eu and we'll reply with the document you need attached.

Every week we add new documents in the library. If you have a document that is not in the list, please help us by mailing it and we'll put it in the list below.

What we have:
  • Diagrams for 33, 34, 44, 240, 303, 306, 405, 50E, 50D, 510, 520, 520F, 606, CD66, 707, 909, FM1, Multiplex Decoder, FM2, FM3, FM4, ESL57, ESL63, Quad II 40
  • User Manuals for 33,34, 44, 306, 405, 50E, 240, 510, 520, 520F, 66, 707, 99 series, 909, FM1, MD, FM2, FM3, FM4, ESL57, ESL63
  • Service Instructions for 33, 34, 44, 303, 306, 405, 606, CD66, FM3, FM4, ESL57, ESL63, Quad II 40
  • Most of the other manuals for vintage Quad tube equipment, ask!
Cheers, Stefaan

Monday, August 07, 2006

Quad 33 Revision - Illustrated Guidelines

These are the step-by-step guidelines for upgrading the Quad 33 amplifier to modern high-end standards.

You can order the components from your local dealer or you can use the 33 upgrade-kit available via www.dadaelectronics.eu or via the Ebay webshop - Objectnumber 200014330586.


All resistances are Metalfilm low-noise 1% and all capacitors are Audio-grade (except in the power-supply) and 25 Volt or more.


Watch the polarity of all diodes & electrolyt capacitors!


If you need a (free) copy of the schematics or the service-manual, send an e-mail to info@dadaelectronics.eu
. You can also get 7/7 technical support about upgrading the 33 via this e-mail.

Step 1 - Modifying the power-supply from 11 to 16 Volt

Increasing the power-supply voltage to 16V makes the pre-amp more stable. The reason why Quad used an 11 Volt power-supply was the size of the capacitors at the time the 33 was designed.

We will also remove the 5V line on pin 4 of the output that was intended for switching on the power-amplifier but that was never used with the Quad power-amps.
  • Desolder the wire-beam and the mains-connections on the power-supply board. Remove the power-supply board (2 screws holding the transformer flanges). Remove all components except the transformer from the board.
  • Replace R500 and R501 with 27R resistances
  • Replace MR500 with a 1,3W 16 Zener
  • Replace MR501 & MR502 with 1N4004
  • Replace C500 & C501 with 4700MF. Mount them pretty flush so you can still access the screw hole in the transformer flange
  • Replace C502 with 1000MF axial
  • Remove R502, MR503, C503 & C504

  • Watch the polarities. The 3 diodes have the Katode (the black band) to the center of the board. C500 and C501 have the - on the topside and C502 has the + on the topside.
Step 2 - Changing the Balance-caps on the motherboard

Those 2 electrolyt caps are old and have dried out.
  • Replace C5 & C6 on the motherboard with 100MF
Step 3 - Upgrading the amplifier boards

We will reduce the sensitivity of the Radio 1 & Radio 2 inputs from 100mV to 250mV. This will allow for "modern" sources like CD-players to be connected without distortion and this will also improve the signal-to-noise ratio with another 6dB.

This is optional, if you only use Quad input-sources (and no CD-players ore sources with line-voltage) you could skip this step by not replacing R411/412.

Of course we will also replace all the old electrolyt-capacitors.

Repeat these steps for both amplifier-boards.
  • Replace C401 with 2,2MF
  • Replace C405 with 47MF
  • Replace C406 with 22MF
  • Replace R411 with 1K (optional)
  • Replace R412 with 1K2 (optional)
Step 4 - Upgrading the Phono preamplifier board

We have to change R300 to adapt the phono-preamp to the new power-supply voltage of 16V & we'll replace all electrolyt capacitors. R305 & R308 are replaced with 1% metalfilm for better stability.
  • Replace R300 with 1K5 to adapt the board to 16V power-supply)
  • Replace R305 & R308 with 82K
  • Replace C300,C303,C307,C308,C311 & C312 with 47MF
  • Replace C301 & C302 with 100MF
  • Replace C313 with 220MF (or 470MF)

  • Mount the capacitors fairly tight otherwise the board won't fit in the amplifier.
Step 5 - Adapting the Disc Adaptor Board

As we decreased the overall amplification we should increase the sensitivity of the Phono-input to stay around the same level.

Other combinations or the 4 resistances are possible to adapt the Disc-input to the PU-element.
  • Replace R105 & R106 with 560R
  • Replace R107 & R108 with 100R
Step 6 - Replacing resistances on the Tape Adaptor board

4 resistances on the Tape-adaptor board are replaced with Metalfilm resistances.

C202/203 are replaced with 2,2MF to improve the bass response and the phase coherence.
  • Replace R203, R204, R215 & R216 with 220K
  • Replace C202 and C203 with 2,2MF, the + side to the end of the board.
And... That's it!

Stefaan

Saturday, August 05, 2006

The Dada Electronics Ebay-shop is open now!


On Ebay I opened the Dada-electronics Vintage-hifi components shop this week.

There are already upgrade-kits for the Quad 33 and the Quad 405 available as well as most Quad replacement components.

The 303 upgrade-kit will be launched in the coming days.

In the coming weeks most components for the 33, 303 and 405 will be available here, also the hard-to-find ones like the replacement-transistors, the Burr Brown chips or the bipolar caps.

New replacement-boards for the 303 and the 405 with several improvements (like built-in loudspeaker DC protection circuits) will also be launched in the coming weeks.

Take a look @ the Ebay-shop, click "Products" in www.dadaelectronics.eu.

Stefaan