In article <4nieku$du1@agate.berkeley.edu>, eichdsgn@ais.net says...

> I have just bought a pair of Quads with their Quad II amplifiers,
>(the same set-up I had 25 years ago in college) and am looking for any
>feedback from present and past owners on the finer points of both the
>speakers and the amps.

I would consider adding capacitors (that were included in the
later Quads intended to be driven by the higher voltage capable 303
amp) to the crossovers to protect the (rather fragile) tweeter panels from bass frequencies, if the caps are not already present in series with the tweeter panels.

> A couple of basic questions about the speakers first -
> What speaker cables have others had good experience with ? I
>will be mounting the amps within probably 4 feet of the panels, so
>length of run is not important.

The impedence curve is a tough one due to the transformer coupling,
and the capacitance of the electrostatic speaker: near short at
subsonic and near-supersonic frequencies, with much of the curve
around 16 ohms, with a high bass rise, as I recall.... Therefore different wire gauges/lengths will sound different (16 gauge zip of about 12 feet sounded best to me with many transistor amps - heavier wire will bring up the already plentiful high end (with low output impedence transistor amps), thinner wire will drop the high end response. The Quad II's that I tried sounded VERY rolled-off in the
high end compared with transistor amps, and there is the further complication of relatively high amplifier output impedence when it
comes to choosing wire type, gauge, and length. Experimenting is necessary!

> Is there a wisdom in using a cable that is a bit brighter than
>reference?, (as I know that the highs will be somewhat attenuated with
>this set-up).

Maybe....! ;-)

> Does anyone have experience hardwiring the speaker cables to the
>speakers themselves? I do not replace cabling unless I find to have
>made a serious error and have always gotten great results with
>hardwiring both electronics and drivers together. (A long time ago I
>replaced the bannana plugs with a hardwiring of a crimped pin on the
>end of a pair of monster cables soldered directly to the circuit board
>in a pair on LS3/5a's and the results were phenominal.)

I would not do it - the wire impedence is very important here,
and if you use good-quality terminals, well attached, the wire characteristics will swamp the connector effects, I think. It
would be useful to be able to change wire easily, if you change
amplifiers.

> Placement ideas? I remember placing them aproximately 3 feet
>from the walls and the room corners. I assume that the same rule
>applies.

Panel speaker placement is CRITICAL!!!! EXACT placement, tilt,
rotation, and symmetry will reward with a smoother response and
better image. I found that it is usually preferable to listen close, with the Quads flattened slightly (relative to on-axis listening),
and with the speakers tilted up a bit with maybe 3/4" added under
the rear legs. These are definitely one-person speakers, and when
set up carefully, are capable of VERY fine reproduction quality!
Set casually in the room, with little effort expended in matching components, their sound quality sinks a LONG way down - to the
level of ordinary good speakers. Carefully set up, Quads are capable
of unsurpassed detail, transient reproduction, voice realism, and
stereo image, IMO (and they do test with nearly perfect impulse response, and will do square waves [showing flat frequency/phase response] over a wide frequency range - not bad for a 1953 design!). They can sound utterly accurate, allowing you to listen back through mixes, mic types, etc. to the original sound.

> A couple of amplifier questions -
> What experience do others have with tubes? I have looked for
>KT66's and find either the Nationals from Thompson @ a reasonable
>price of find NOS tubes @ about $50-75 each. Is this amplifier tube
>sensitive?
> Are the 7581A's a good replacement? Is there a sonic difference?
> What about interconnecting cables ? (When I had this equiptment
>the last time, we used what came in the box. In my last system I have
>used MIT-330's and found them very nice.)
> Lastly, what about power supply cabling? This is a fairly new
>topic to me, and since these amps have come without the power cable,
>it needs to be replaced anyway.

I would worry most about speaker placement and speaker wire (and
choice of amp [stable with capacitive loads, and under 30
watts/channel, preferably]), less about the tubes, and not at all
about the interconnecting cables and power cord......
Hope This Helps