28-07-2017, 06:58 AM
And excellent write-up Steve.
I'm actually quite a fan of the 33. Back when I was 16 (1972) I lusted after a 33/303 so badly it was almost painful, but could never afford them. Instead I built my own pre and power amps. Both are beautifully made.
However, Ross Walker, in an interview in Ken Kessler's book about Quad was very mealy mouthed about the appearance "When the 33 came out, people said "I'm not buying it with that bloody marigold thing on it". Well, Peter loved that, he thought it was great. And customers would come up and say "Well, I'm not going to buy that unless you take that marigold thing off. You'll have to change that". And he'd say "Well I'm not. Bugger off. Go and buy a Leak. Go on, bugger off"" He continues in the same vein. The interview is worth reading, if only for his reasons that the company bombed out under his watch.
Of course you can now buy these at affordable prices, so our kitchen system, fed by the LG television and an FM4, is a 33/303 with ceiling speakers. Both with new electrolytics throughout. And an auxillary headphone system is a 33/405II feeding Koss electrostatic headphones. And I don't mind the marigold at all ;-)
Craig
I'm actually quite a fan of the 33. Back when I was 16 (1972) I lusted after a 33/303 so badly it was almost painful, but could never afford them. Instead I built my own pre and power amps. Both are beautifully made.
However, Ross Walker, in an interview in Ken Kessler's book about Quad was very mealy mouthed about the appearance "When the 33 came out, people said "I'm not buying it with that bloody marigold thing on it". Well, Peter loved that, he thought it was great. And customers would come up and say "Well, I'm not going to buy that unless you take that marigold thing off. You'll have to change that". And he'd say "Well I'm not. Bugger off. Go and buy a Leak. Go on, bugger off"" He continues in the same vein. The interview is worth reading, if only for his reasons that the company bombed out under his watch.
Of course you can now buy these at affordable prices, so our kitchen system, fed by the LG television and an FM4, is a 33/303 with ceiling speakers. Both with new electrolytics throughout. And an auxillary headphone system is a 33/405II feeding Koss electrostatic headphones. And I don't mind the marigold at all ;-)
Craig
