hifiblueprint

II

Power amplifier, Quad, 1953

A compact 15-watt monaural KT66 power amplifier that stayed in production from 1953 to 1970, with about 90,000 units made according to Wikipedia.

Quad II, isometric drawing
Quad II, photographed

A-04, isometric, same camera for both

Drawing
A-04
Introduced
1953
Produced
1953 to 1970
Made in
United Kingdom
Designed by
Peter Walker
Launch price
Not confirmed
Size
330 x 125 x 165 mm
Weight
8.3 kg

Peter Walker founded Quad in London in 1936 and moved production to Huntingdon, England, in 1941 after wartime bombing. The Quad II followed in 1953 as a mono power amplifier that also powers the companion QC II control unit and Quad FM tuners. It uses two KT66 output valves, two EF86 input valves and a GZ32 rectifier. The company still sells a recreation, the QII-Classic, which Quad says uses Peter's circuit with equivalent valves.

In the collections of National Museum of Scotland (per Radiomuseum listing) and Das Rundfunkmuseum, Cham (per Radiomuseum listing).

Front elevation of the Quad II, 330 mm wide and 125 mm high
Front elevation, dimensions in millimetres. Drawn from published dimensions and descriptions; detail is simplified.

Specification

ItemAs published
Output15 W, 20 to 20,000 Hz
Valves2 x EF86, 2 x KT66, 1 x GZ32
Frequency response20 to 20,000 Hz within 0.2 dB; 10 to 50,000 Hz within 0.5 dB
ConfigurationMonaural, one amplifier per channel

The house

Founded
1936
Founder
Peter Walker
Origin
London, United Kingdom (moved to Huntingdon in 1941)
Today
Quad HiFi has belonged to the IAG Group of brands since 1997 and is based in Huntingdon, England.

Further sheets

Sources

  1. https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/acoustical_ii.html
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quad_Electroacoustics
  3. https://quad-hifi.co.uk/products/qii-classic

Notes for the record: Radiomuseum dates the amplifier 1954 with a question mark and asks for proof of 1953 sales; Wikipedia gives production from 1953 to 1970. Radiomuseum lists 466 DM as the first-year German price, a German price, so launch_price is null. Walker is credited by inference: Wikipedia names him founder and Quad's QII-Classic page refers to Peter's circuit; no opened source states plainly that he designed the Quad II. Dimensions and weight are Radiomuseum's 330 x 125 x 165 mm and 8.3 kg. The museum entries rest on Radiomuseum's museum mentions alone.