Obscure QUADRAPHONIC RECEIVERS & AMPS....any good??

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Quadrockasaurus, too bad the German stuff never made it to the U.S. for the most part, they made really nice electronics back then, though they would have been horribly expensive once imported over here. My parents had a Blaupunkt mono hi-fi console they bought in the '50s and it sounded great, had a really fantastic radio. The Wega looks really nice, and their stuff was high-end in its day. I think that they still make TVs, but I'm not sure.
 
The Heathkit AA2004/2010 Integrated Quadraphonic Amplifier:

AA20042010.jpg

This image is from The 1972 Christmas catalog.

Doug
 
The Heathkit AA2004/2010 Integrated Quadraphonic Amplifier:

View attachment 3262

This image is from The 1972 Christmas catalog.

Doug

QuadJoe...yea its a shame none of this European stuff was properly exported to US or Australia..(although a few brands "Phillips" "Grundig" did make it). There seemed to be some price premium attached to Euro stuff and that really ultimately buggered up the Euro hi-fi industry. Plus the DIN only connections (..in place of RCA's) were a pain in the butt...although the Wega has RCA's & DIN's, it wasn't exported that I know of.

Cheers Doug....(y) Awesome!!........Love the Heathkit Quad stuff, almost none of it made it down here to Australia, and I believe it ain't particularly common in the US either. I didn't realize this Quad Heathkit Amp dates all the way back to '72....amazing...:eek:
 
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Quadrockasaurus, too bad the German stuff never made it to the U.S. for the most part, they made really nice electronics back then, though they would have been horribly expensive once imported over here. My parents had a Blaupunkt mono hi-fi console they bought in the '50s and it sounded great, had a really fantastic radio. The Wega looks really nice, and their stuff was high-end in its day. I think that they still make TVs, but I'm not sure.

For more european stuff look here:
http://wegavision.pytalhost.com/

catalogues, manuals, advetisements, etc..

-Kristian
 
I'm glad this thread has found new life as it is a great one!

A little more info on the Heathkit AN-2016 Modulus system. There was a choice in power amps to add to the central control unit. You could get the AA-1505 @ 35 WPC or the AA-1506 @ 60 WPC. Buy one for stereo or two for quad (each is a stereo amp). Or, you could even get the "Superamp" AA-1640 @ 200 WPC! Imagine two of those in a quad system!

The first two were styled to match the AN-2016. The last brute couldn't be because of its size but was still a very handsome unit.

I will try to post more of the Heathkit quad units as I get time.

EDIT: And, the only real difference between the AA-2004 and AA-2010 amps (pictured above) is that the 2004 had the earlier matrix decoder which was the equivalent of the Electro-Voice early decoder. The 2010 had the later, universal decoder, also EV equivalent.

The CD-4 module available for the AN-2016 was a late model with the QSI chips installed (probably very similar to the Technics SH-400). The SQ module had full-logic circuitry.

Doug
 
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Kristian......Thats a great site..(y), actually one of THE best on the net for rare obscure European Equipment...

Doug...Thanks for the info...the big HEATHKIT AN-2016 Tuner/Preamp has gotta be one of the meanest looking Quad units ever, and any info on it is welcome. I wonder if anyone ever used it with a pair of stereo tube amps? ...That would be cool..!!...:smokin
 
Masterworks.

Sold by Columbia Records.

Budget units.

But not ultra-low budget.

Don't see too often.

Had one in the 1990s that worked well until sold in the 2000s.

Unsure what Japanese firm built it with the Masterworks label upon it.

It's appearance was different from any other output from the major manufacturers who likely used excess manufacturing capacity to contract out to CBS records.
 
Masterworks.

Sold by Columbia Records.

Budget units.

But not ultra-low budget.

Don't see too often.

Had one in the 1990s that worked well until sold in the 2000s.

Unsure what Japanese firm built it with the Masterworks label upon it.

It's appearance was different from any other output from the major manufacturers who likely used excess manufacturing capacity to contract out to CBS records.

"Columbia Masterwork"....That is an obscure one Obbop.

You see the "Masterwork"..as opposed to the later vinyl "Masterworks" name mentioned in old 70's Billboard Ads listing companies producing Quad equipment, but the equipment itself, you never actually see....(...gets very confusing when they revive an old similar brand name for something else..:mad:@:)...

The only "masterwork" equipment images I can find (Stereo) is this listing on "Google Books" in Billboard, but that pre-dates the Quad era...
Billboard - Google Books
 
Saw this at the local thrift store for $5 and couldn't resist. Magnavox EE 1908 Quad receiver. Can't find ANYTHING about it on the internet, and it has stupid RCA speaker outputs, I can't imagine it's that great of a receiver. Anyone heard anything/know anything about these?

Pixxxx:

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e0f558e9.jpg
 
Masterworks.

Sold by Columbia Records.

Budget units.

But not ultra-low budget.

Don't see too often.

Had one in the 1990s that worked well until sold in the 2000s.

Unsure what Japanese firm built it with the Masterworks label upon it.

It's appearance was different from any other output from the major manufacturers who likely used excess manufacturing capacity to contract out to CBS records.

I would guess Sanyo. They were ultra-low budget. Rear channels had less power (ok for ambience only recordings I suppose).

Did MX ever have a quad unit?
 
My brother-in-law used to have the Fisher 601 way back when (and long gone, don't you hate that). All I remember is the sweet rich sound. Plenty of power and fabulous tuner section.
 
Here are the Heathkit AA-2005A quad amplifier and AR-2020 quad Receiver both @15 WPC from 1975.

They had built in decoders which were optimized for SQ but would handle other formats too. This makes me think the decoder was the EV universal.

Heathkit15wattQuadPieces.jpg

Doug
 
I own an ar2020 and it works great!! It doesn't have a good sq decoder, pretty much non logic non steering, but the amp and tuner sections are clean as a whistle and work great. It is the center of my den setup.

MTGC
Michael
 
Geez, this thread is kinda quiet :fly: ...it seems there are VERY few people out there that have used, or are using, any of the units above.......I guess they genuinely are rare.

Anyway.....here's another obscure unit.


The 1972 ARS-747 Allied Radio Shack Quadraphonic Receiver. You probably notice the word FISHER on the front. As much a I can figure, this is a Fisher 601 Quad unit with a unique radio shack catalog no.

The top of the Fisher line was briefly the 701 and then the 801 with the cordless remote mentioned in my initial post replaced it. The 601 was (as far as I know) the baby of the range....

dare I ask.:rolleyes: .....anyone used one of these??....or has anyone else got some more obscurities??


I just got one of these today for free. What should I look for ? I plan to go trhough it and try to restore it. It need a few new buttons and id love to replace the face plate .

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Athanasios
 
Athanasios, see post #8 for the Radio Shack catalog page featuring your receiver.

Hopefully, that faceplate will clean up acceptably.

Doug
 
Thanks Doug, I did see that but i can not read all the writing on the face plate. Its all worn off on mine. Id like to at some point maybe use some rub on lettering close to the original. But first i have to make sure it works.

Not much info on the internet about this unit.

Going to take it apart this week end and do some cleaning of the PCB's and contacts and lube the tuner.

Athanasios
 
Maybe Mr. Quadrockasaurus would be kind enough to repost the picture of the 747 in a larger size so the lettering would be legible?

What say you, mate?

Doug
 
Man this thing was dirty!

Top Side obviously will collect the dust and grime.

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Underside looks bran new!!!!

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The tuner knob would not turn the tuner drum( grey box on left), a little Radio Shack tuner cleaner and lubricant
loosened it up and now it turns freely.

No speaker to hook up but i had set of headphones and it was all static, a lot of the same cleaner
in the two slider volume controls eliminated it . I was surprised to be able to catch Toronto's 97.7 Hits FM station
with no antenna connected!!!

Head phone sounded really good.

Tomorrow I'll get to cleaning all boards on top section, you can see i did clean one in the top pic.

This will be fun.

Athanasios
 
Far out...someone has actually found a Radio Shack/Fisher ARS747....:)

You can find more info and a better image of the unit here (...where I found it) in the 1972 'shack catalog online (Page 17...I'm Pretty sure you can zoom in for more detail) - 1972 Radio Shack Catalog

Let us know what it sounds like and how well the Quad stuff works once you get it up and running...

Cheers.
 
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