Quad 988 / 989 reliability ??

We sold the first 25+ pairs of the new speakers. It was a task trying to keep them working. The circuit boards were very thin and the delay line coils would come loose and fall off. Also the panels seemed to be very inconsistant. The speaker is not a Quad product in the old sense as the Walkers have nothing to do with this company any longer. We are close to the US service center and problems are still present. Make certain you have a dealer who will replace out of box failures or take care of warrenty for his customers. Also they have econimized the board system by placing all the electronics on 1 board instead of the 3 boards used perviously . If a failure occures the whole electronic needs replaced.

No need for Quad with Piega which are totally realiable.

For anyone interested in what makes the new Quad tick compared to the old here is a breakdown of the differences as we see them.
There is a fairly good deal of difference in the way these spaekers sound compared to the original 63's and the later 63 USA monitor. First The construction quality is not at all the same as they have used a much cheaper plastic to contain the electronics than in the 63's. All the electronics are now contained on a single circuit board of a lower quality creating several problems. If you have a problem with protection it requires a new board ,if it's delay lines,a new board ,if it's power supply ,a new board.This certainly will cause a higher cost to the customer after the warrenty period if work is needed. Along with the lessor expensive parts come some distinct differences in tonality. We still sell after market speakers certified with full warrenty form the 57's to the latest 63's and find a more desirable balance over the new models. In my opinion ,and I've sold the speaker for 20+ years and have used hundreds of different components ,the new speaker offers some advantage in volume but never in the area for which they became famous ,long term listenability.As for the realibility we are in close contact with many people who are intimate with these speakers and issues still exist with realibility.. In one of my home systems there sit's a pair of 30 year old 57's and there great. I think better than any of the products produced since, but I certainly recommend auditioning more modern designs be they one's I carry or any other qualified dealer before purchasing the newer speakers. There are many that will produce a higher level of detail, sheer dynamics, better listenability and will not fall apart under maximum listen conditions.

When we first began bringing the new Quad to the U.S.,and yes we picked the first 20 pairs of speakers directly from the U.K.. We had no idea that there was going to be the problems that existed. After selling numerous pairs, and replacing a number at our expence ,we became suspicious of the qc. We started to sell the electronics, particularly the tube pieces, and had further breakdown and this is when we said what is up here. During this time we modified and replaced binding post and tried to make the speaker more appealing to new customers and one's who were owners Quad who might want the new product if it was superior to the original. Not once did I claim it was the superior to the 57 and was only different from the 63. We never carried ProAc ,still recommend Dunlavy and haven't sold Merlin since the middle 80's. We held great hope for the new Quad but it failed to meet our expectations. I would still reccommend a Quad for certain types of listening or for environmental reasons over others we sell but it is a case to case basis. This is why we have 63's on constant display in our showrooms.

Very sadly the old saying "you cant judge a book by it's cover" is true in far too many cases in this business. It may be true we supercede brands as do many other dealers and most of the time there is good reason. In some cases it's reasons that are beyond the control of the dealer and in others it mutual. Sometimes design flaws make it impossible to offer the kind of service necessary to maintain relationships ,sometimes personalities don't jive. Whatever reason the fact remains most relationships begin with good faith. Many of the companies we sell are 20+ year relationships and many more are the longest some manufactures have with a dealer, but some do become short lived. If from our side you could look at the short lived one's service and reliablity are the reason for most that end. Still yet we will always service and maintain every piece we sell to the absolute best of our ability. You don't stay in business 23 years otherwise.

The question here is about reliability. I am giving a straight answer as to our experiences. No attack is being made on anyone and QS&D is a quality service center to maintain all Quad speakers.I'm glad your experience is a positive one. That's what this hobby is all about.

In responce to Mbonn. The cost of shipping ,to replace parts and to handle all the logistics was completely on our dollar. IAG did stand behind it's warrenty but left the cost of these other items up to us. We shipped all speakers on palette truck freight to avoid complications so the cost of this alone was substaintial. Ship to the customer,from the customer,to the service center, replace to the customer. If it happens at a 5% rate this is the industry standard but at much higher numbers, and Quad is not the only product this can happen with, it becomes a nightmare. With the large base of friends and customers we have,23+ years and somewhere around 15,000 ,the numbers become staggering and must be closely managed.