I've been enjoying more quad today than in the past two years combined!! How can that be? Well - went to play Zappa Apostrophe on Q8 this morning and was greeted by the typical loud, unacceptable pops that would not stop from right rear speaker. A problem with my QB restored 9001 for years now. I've troubleshot all else and it remains. So - last year I scored a Marantz 4400 on ebay and bought it with intentions of getting it restored and having another good unit to work with. Well, my denon 4310 failed after my 3808 failed and my tv (older dlp) died, so spent summer dealing with these modern failures. Today, however, I said to myself WTF! I've amassed my good collection of all things quad (minus reels), why can't I listen to my music? So, I disconnected the 9001, connected this untested 4400, and began listening. Of course, there are some blue dial lights out and there were scratchy slider and other knobs which I tried to treat with deoxit straight from front of knobs (this unit is heavy and I didn't want to spend another minute trying to take the cover off and do something from there), and VOILA - Quad!!! I listened to Apostrophe, then tested CD-4 Aretha Franklin Greatest hits (having been inspired by reading this morning here about Rhino release of same on disc) - Awesome!, then Joni Mitchell Court and Spark on CD-4, and am now listening to Lennon's Walls & Bridges on Q8. Have I ever missed hearing such great sound from my Klipsch La Scalas and Heresys and just the warm sound of real vintage stuff. My Akai CR80DSS is playing great and so is the Technics. Still having trouble understanding how the dbx SNR-1 are integrated in the system and dbx 400 switchers had some initial scratchiness, but bottom line - all is well and this is why I got into this hobby anyway!!! I love my hi-res discs and have spent quite a bit of time with 2 channel vinyl and m/c hi res. playing, but quad just feels good and right! I hope everyone's Saturday is going so well! Now - I did post elsewhere about opinions on fixing the 9001. Now that it is disconnected, I am more motivated, but now ambivalent about whether the 4400 might be better to fix up. It has NO restoration and is this old and working this well, whereas the 9001 has been supposedly fully QB restored at tons of expense and has had this right rear channel nonsense (hope it didn't hurt my speaker) for nearly the whole time. It is supposed to be the superior unit. Any opinions on this as far as which is better unit? I don't know how to activate QS on the Marantz because I haven't looked at the manual yet, so maybe that is something the 9001 has over the 4400. Also, have no idea how to play with scope - should be fun and maybe it will even work. 2nd Question, then, if I were to get 9001 fixed, what should I expect it to cost (all else should hopefully be fine besides the one right rear channel problem)? I live in Columbia, SC, so shipping will factor in (the further away the greater the cost), but mainly need it truly fixed once and for all (or get the Marantz restored). So, please advice with knowledge, opinions, hunches and whatever else! I'd be glad to open up the 9001 myself if it were a fix I could actually do myself, but the only thing I know how to do with a soldering iron is open the RCA Q8s rivets with it! Is soldering anything one can learn by themselves? Just a thought! Okay - this has gotten long, but listening right now to Lennon say "you don't know what you got until you lose it. . ." - Glad I have found quad again, even if through an untested unrestored receiver! Thanks in advance for your insights!
Laura
Laura
