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In Reply to: Having modded a couple of Quicksilver amps posted by Mark Kelly on May 1, 2007 at 19:21:58:
why you don't like the QS. It was always been a reliable and basic unit, and while it is made in the US, their prices have been relatively very modest. Just my opinion, of course, but I am always open to other opinions.
Follow Ups:
Stu,this is just my opinion; when I work on a piece of equipment I feel that I get a sense of what the designer was thinking - there's a "footprint" left on the design, if you will.
I was somewhat underwhelmed by the thinking that went into the Quicksilver units I modified. The reason I modified them was that they had failed in service and I felt that that failure was due to design issues more than anything else. I changed the design to one which ran somewhat more conservatively.
Based on limited experience, I would not advise anyone to buy them. Again, this is my opinion and nothing more should be read into this. Hey, I don't even like Audio Research gear, everyone else seems to love it.
I've owned my pair of Quicksilver 8417 amps since 1992 without a single issue. As long as the amps are used to drive suitable loads they have behaved well (in marked contrasts to some other tube/hybrid designs of US origin which have had stability issues, at least in my hands).
Yeah, Mike sticks to the basics, but that's why I find his designs interesting. No fancy regulation, just plain ol' plain Jane layouts with very basic designs. No blacked out transistors like ARC. Simple, and easy to mod, actually, since they are so basic. His first full function preamp was a bit more ambitious, with a PS that seemed more suitable for a power amp.Well, I guess with everything in life, to each their own. I would definitely agree with you in that every designer has his particular 'mark' on every product they design.
oh i dont know, I dont like audio research gear as a rule at all. I had the sp-14 line stage for a long time and it was the sleeper i thought, because it was a fet line stage with a tube phono. After a few mods it was a really good value. But I have generally foiund a lot of their stuff to be soft in the bass when it's tube design and tizzy in the highs when it's not. Basically the thing that bugs me about them is that the stuff cost a lot of money, but of course audio stuff usually gets so devalued that some of it is a bargain by now.
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