Recently I ran across a thread started by
@Morepower inquiruing what is the ultimate piece if gear in the Sansui quad product line:
The holy grail of Sansui quad is...?
And soon there after I saw a post by
@slshearer asking what is the best SQ decoder out there:
Opinion: Who has the Best SQ decoder currently available as a add on to a Quad Receiver
Then I surfed around the ATMOS thread, read about the elaborate high tech room mods with networking and surround, etc. The juxtaposition was significant. For the most part QQ members seem to really love the old vintage stuff or think high tech home theater stuff is the only way to go even for music. Iām sure some people might have two systems set up in those respective ways but I still think there are two formidable camps here & I have concerns with both.
I love the allure of vintage gear & I understand the appeal. I have spent way to much time some days just looking at audio pics on Pinterest. But my biggest concern is the obvious: old quad stuff is just that, old, and expensive. The Sansui QRX-9001 that so many would love to have hovers around $1200 and even if it says ārestoredā you donāt really know how well or if itās even true. The Holy Grail tune up on an 8001 or 9001 is $1385 at QRXRestore. You now have a $2500 44 year old receiver. The European black panel version of the 9001 is the QRX-999 (that Jon has) sold for $3100 at QRXRestore.
The new home theater stuff irks me because it has such poor legacy connectivity. Iām sure that most people with this gear say, thatās right, time to move on. But you are trapped using only decoding modes inside & Iāve read (if I understand correctly) Dolby has changed ATMOS stereo upmixing with no permission from the owner for the worst. I read that thread about ATMOS music on Tidal & it just wants to make my head explode. I also notice the way power amps & wattage is done on modern home HT receivers. Often class AB amps are used for front & class D for others. They make a big deal out of, loose example, 1200 watts power total 11 chs. But then the only real spec given are for the front chs, who know what all the others are. An example is a high end Denon with 11 chs ATMOS & in the specs all it says is 140 watts stereo. Specs not given if that is each ch up front or combined which might be only 70WPC up front. Some how this just doesnāt seem best practice to me.
Iām do not mean to aggravate or troll anyone here for a response because what ever set up works for YOU is what really matters. The point Iām slow in making is what sort of middle ground is there? I see fairly often postās that say āIām new to quad what would you recommend?ā & I can not with confidence endorse the old classic quad stuff like Sansui, Tate, etc. Although I certainly have in the past when the only alternative was early Dolby matrix surround receivers. And thereās posts occasionally about how someone sold/lost/parents threw out all their quad stuff & they want to start all over again. Really itās the folks in these positions that got me thinking what worthwhile would I recommend, something that offers better performance than old quad hardware but still has a link to the quad days. What would be price competitive with vintage quad but still be reliable modern gear?
The answer I came to is one that probably you or I havenāt thought of in a long time: the stereo integrated amp. Two of āem. I used a set up like that mid 80ās with a couple of Kenwood integrated amps. Itās been so long I didnāt even know if this product category even existed anymore. But I looked at a lot of those today: Emotiva, Marantz, Onyko, Arcam. They all had good points & things you would never have on old quad gear like Bluetooth, or digital input, remote control. And because of the remote control there is almost no front panel controls such as L/R balance, bass/treble and indeed on one unit you canāt even easily adjust L/R balance; you set it up in the menu & leave it alone.
But I found a winner in the Yamaha A-S301 for only $350.00:
Yamaha A-S301 Stereo integrated amplifier with built-in DAC at Crutchfield
It has 6 RCA analog inputs & one is RIAA phono cart input, optical & coaxial digital input with (obviously internal DAC) and 60 WPC which was rather at the high end of for vintage quad, a lot of them being more commonly 40 watts. It does not do dts, DD, only accepts stereo LPCM ācuz yo know itās stereo not home theater. The noise & distortion are much better than the old stuff. And two of them for $700 takes you a long way towards a new quad setup. There is no tuner but you can find a matching Yamaha for $249 but who listens to FM anymore. Also it doesnāt have CD-4 as most vintage receivers would but if you really want to go there Pioneer or JVC demodulators can be had for $150>$200. Although it has remote control, which will come in handy, itās important to have front panel control also as as rear & front l/R balance can be adjusted independently and basically the F/B balance is determined by the relative setting on each units main volume controls. When all is tuned in the remote can be used to adjust over all volume, inputs, etc as each unit will respond in step with what is selected.
There is no longer any need to buy vintage decoders anymore, except for fun, as I think there is large agreement that the Involve Surround Master is the best QS/SQ decoder you can buy today & superior to the old stuff we love anyway. Our price with QQ discount is $499 plus shipping. But looking at total cost for two Yamaha A-S301 & one SMV2 itās $1200 which is quite price competitive with the higher end vintage quad gear and much cheaper if you consider restoring. I think I found something to recommend.
