Quad 33/303 pre/power amplifier
Rarely do I receive a press release about a new piece of hi-fi gear that prompts me to contact the sender by return asking for a chance to review said item. However, just such an email arrived heralding the new Quad 33 preamplifier and 303 power amplifier and off went my plea to the company. So what prompted this enthusiastic response? Like many who have been dipping in and out of this fascinating world of audio for a few decades, my first ‘proper’ hi-fi system had Quad at its heart.
In 1981 I purchased a Quad 44 control amplifier and a Quad 405 MkII stereo power amplifier with a pair of Rogers Studio One loudspeakers and a Luxman turntable and cassette player/recorder. They were joined a little later by the Quad FM4 tuner. That system lasted for over a decade and although I was eventually drawn to other components like the 606 and then the 909 power amplifier, I stayed with the 44 and FM4. I always found the Quad equipment to be reliable and robust, with a sound signature that suited me well.
Thus when the new 33 and a pair of matching 303 amplifiers arrived here at Kelly Towers I examined them closely before installing them. Although the new 33 takes its design cues from the original 1967 version, it is very much a contemporary piece. It eschews any digital frippery but boasts a front panel with the same orange and silver look of its illustrious predecessor. There is an Alps volume control, and below that four buttons for input selection. In the centre is receiver for the remote control and a full-sized headphone jack, on the right are three smaller controls, the bottom of which just impinges on the LCD panel which presents information in a delightfully old school dot matrix style.
Through these dials the user can control bass by plus or minus 3dB, applying ‘tilt’ to the bass and treble response, which was an original Quad tone control concept all those decades ago. Below the screen are four more orange buttons, for access to the phono input settings, the tone controls, the level of backlight and the standby power switch. Beauty is of course totally subjective, but I love the look of the the 33 – it has great rack presence.
The rear panel is clearly laid out. An IEC mains socket with an on/off rocker switch above, the option of XLR or RCA outputs to a power amplifier or indeed as in this case a pair of power amplifiers. To their right we have a pair of XLR inputs and three pairs of RCA inputs and another pair with an earthing post for turntable connection to the built-in phono stage. There is also a socket to add a 12V trigger system. The only concession to the digital world is a USB socket for access by service engineers. The 33 is a proudly analogue only device.
The 303 power amplifier takes its design cues from it illustrious forbears. Flying in the face of modern fashion it sits on the narrow side of its rectangular body. On the rear are two pairs of good quality multiway binding posts. Options for preamplifier connection via either XLR or RCA are on offer, as is a socket for adding a 12V trigger. Two buttons complete the rear panel topology; one is to switch between XLR and RCA inputs, the other offers the choice of using a single 303 in stereo or, if you have a pair, bridging each to work in mono. If using the 303 as single stereo amplifier it offers 50W into 8 Ohms and 70W into 4 Ohms. Bridged to mono the output climbs to a hefty 140W into 8 Ohms and 170W into 4 Ohms. For the majority of my time with these Quad units I of course opted to run the pair of 303s in bridged mode. I did for the sake of completeness run one of them as a stereo amplifier. A word of praise here for the remote control supplied with the 33. It felt solid in the hand with well spaced buttons that felt just right when pressed, itwas always a pleasure to use.
The rest of the review system was for the most part my own Linn Sondek LP12 with the Vertere Dark Sabre moving magnet cartridge fitted to the Ittok arm, my Yamaha CD S-3000 serving as DAC and silver disc player and my Harbeth Compact 7 ESXD stand mounted loudspeakers. Cabling was Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II to the loudspeakers, with the same company’s Ultra Silver II XLRs connecting the 33 to the two 303s.
Towards the end of my team with the Quads I received a pair of the new Wharfedale Super Lintons to review, so it was obviously sensible to try them with their stable mate amplifiers. I shall be reviewing the Super Lintons separately but will touch on them here too.
Listening to the Quad 33/303
Since I joined the reviewing team at The Ear back in 2018, I have been lucky enough to have a lot of great audio products pass through my system, but I have seldom been so keen to get stuck into a review as I was with these. Having such fond memories of my own set up back in 1981, I chose to start of my listening with Pink Floyd’s magnum opus Dark Side Of The Moon, as that had been my first spin back then. From those opening heartbeats of Speak To Me/Breathe, through Clare Torry’s magnificent vocals on Great Gig In The Sky and on to the second side’s opener Money, sweeping through to the finale of Eclipse I was absolutely gripped. The music flowed effortlessly through the Harbeths, my notes simply said ‘majestic’.
I could lazily stop there because quite honestly the 33/303 never fell below that level of excellence no matter what manner of music I asked them to play. Delicate solo classical guitar from Julian Bream was delivered wonderfully, but switching to some heavy rock from Disturbed the amplification stepped up to the mark and gave an ornament-rattling rendition of their very dark version of Paul Simon’s The Sound Of Silence.
When I switched to CD replay, the double album entitled The Very Best Of Emma Kirkby on Decca, that wonderful soprano voice sprang into the room with tremendous realism, allowing me to hear her with a variety of early music ensembles recorded in different venues. The morning that I spent with those two discs was an absolute delight, and left me not only be utterly beguiled by the singer’s extraordinary voice but also to hear the prowess of her accompanying musicians so effortlessly through the 33 and 303s.
Returning to vinyl replay, I was impressed by the quietness of the phono stage built into the 33. Even with my ear hard against the speaker grille there was an inky black silence when no record was playing, even with the volume well advanced. This is a very well sorted device and would be more than good enough to accompany the level of vinyl replay system that most buyers might already own or are looking to purchase. I didn’t get to use the moving coil option but I can say that moving magnet one worked really well with my Vertere Dark Sabre.
When the Super Lintons arrived and had been installed on their dedicated stands in place of the Harbeths, I gave them a day to settle in before getting down to some serious listening. I started out with some vintage rock, in the shape of the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed. This was a perfect start, even though I was playing the 50th anniversary pressing rather than an original. Gimme Shelter got us off to an absolutely blistering start, with the Super Lintons sounding a shade darker than my Harbeths but with extra bass weight. Side Two, which starts with the excellent blues rock of Midnight Rambler and ends with the towering You Can’t Always Get What You Want was epic with the 33/303s in the driving seat.
A couple of days before I had to dismantle the system so that some other lucky scribe could get the Quads into their listening room, I reconfigured the amplification to use a single 303 as a stereo unit, to see how a 33/303/Super Linton combination works. The answer came very quickly; it works more than well enough to be an absolute audio bargain as a system. At normal listening levels the single 303 did a fine job with all the music I put through it, from the Allman Brothers’ At The Fillmore East through to ZZ Top blasting out their anthem La Grange on the Tres Hombres album, the Quad/Wharfedale team kept me wanting to play music. Isn’t that the whole raison d’être of any hi-fi set-up? Start with a single 303 and add a second later if you feel the need to upgrade, it’s an easy path when the time comes.
Conclusion
I have heard on the grapevine that the new Quad 33/303 units are flying off the shelves at UK retailers, and I am not in the least surprised. Back in 1981 the 30 year old Chris Kelly fell for the Quad sound and here we were, 43 years later and his older self has fallen for it all over again. This wasn’t just a wallow in nostalgia either, because this new Quad equipment more than holds its own against its modern counterparts. It feels well made, it performs magnificently and if I was in the market for new amplification that I could afford a 33 and a pair of 303s would be at the top of my shopping list.
The only thing I would add if I owned them would be a 12V trigger system so that everything powered up with a single button press. My own amplifier is an integrated model, so in the first few days with the Quads I simply forgot to switch on the power amplifiers before I sat down to listen, only to be greeted by silence. Doh!
There should be no surprise that these new Quad units are so good. The team behind them was led by two of Quad’s longest service engineers, as well as Peter Comeau, a revered audio designer at IAG and others with deep Quad experience. They have been respectful of the heritage but have created new designs which will surely keep the Quad brand not only alive but thriving as we enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century. I salute the Quad team for this achievement and can unreservedly recommend, nay urge, anyone looking for top flight amplification to find a Quad dealer and listen to the 33/303 pre/power combination. You will not be disappointed.