You’ve got to hand it to Quad, it’s difficult to mistake its electronics for somebody else’s.
Even one thing as simple as this QSP stereo persistent amplifier (collection of fascia buttons: one) may just only be a Quad: its 33cm-wide chassis is a dead give-away.
As is the way in which with chronic amplifiers, the QSP’s attraction is overwhelmingly in regards to the sound it makes.
Quad QSP: Current-dumping
The casework is sturdily completed, sure, but if a power on/off transfer, a couple of RCA inputs and two pairs of speaker-cable binding posts are the level of a product’s exterior options it’s tricky to get over-excited.
At least the Quad is a bit more stimulating below the hood. Its claimed power output of 140W in step with channel into an 8-ohm load seems completely believable, and while Quad’s patented ‘latest dumping’ era sounds a long way from glamorous it’s undeniably effective.
Put merely, it utilises both low-power Class A amplification and a high-power current-dumping section so that you can combine the inherent finesse of the Class A output with the power and authority of the current dumper.
Quad QSP: Sound high quality
In motion, the Quad is a confident, lively concentrate. From the very top of the frequency range to the bottom of the midrange it’s an upfront performer, prepared to clutch recordings by means of the scruff of the neck and force them ahead inexorably.
Open and revealing, with an actual facility for vocal nuance and subtlety, it’s as enjoyably enthusiastic and poised a stereo continual amp as we’ve heard in a good whilst.
Problems, such as they're, concern low-end reproduction. Fed via our reference Bryston BP26 pre-amplifier, bass is fairly obscure, soft-edged and unsure – nearly the complete opposite, in fact, of the rest of the frequency vary.
Switching to Quad’s matching Elite pre-amp brings a deal extra solidity and sure bet to bass, however a lot of the thrilling clarity and expression of the midrange is going lacking on the identical time.
Verdict
This, then, is a power amp that calls for a great deal of system-matching.
Find its maximum sympathetic partners, regardless that, and you’ve as communicative a tool as £1200 can purchase.
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