Quad ESL57 and other Vintage British Speakers

 I've been very fortunate in that I've purchased a couple of Quad 303 power amplifiers recently. The first was published on Facebook Marketplace locally so I went and picked it up. It was in relatively good shape. I immediately took it apart to see how it looked inside. It had been repaired in the past since the box was labelled from a repair shop in New York state which no longer exists. I've ordered the DADA upgrade kit for this 303 since I haven't had a chance to actually power it on as I didn't have the necessary cables to test it until I picked up the 33 and 303 combination which came with all the necessary cords. Here are some pictures of it.

 I picked up a well maintained Quad 33 preamplifier and a Quad 303 power amplifier on eBay.  The price was very fair and the condition looked good. In fact, both pieces work. They are not perfect as the components seem to be all original and after a bit of clearing of dust, I powered them both up and they do produce music! The 33 preamplifier does produce a bit of a wave like sound from the left channel when first turned on but it's not objectionable and goes away fairly quickly. I sprayed Caig DeOxit into all the potentiometers which reduced the noise from built up grime on the contact surfaces. Then I blew off the dust inside the 33. I like the layout of the knobs and the switches are very clearly marked.  I've placed an order for the DADA Electronics upgrades for both units since they are 50+ years old. I'll update the blog when I start the upgrade. Here are some photos of the 33 before opening the covers and taken apart. The 33 was mounted in a cutout in a console so ...