Dragan's Q63's

Hi Rob,

I have now finished the bases for the speakers and my got job is officially done. Pics attached… Hope you like it.

I had a few weeks to listen as I waited for my friend to finish the bases and all I can tell you, this speaker doesn’t differ in the slightest in comparison to the stock 2805. If anything, it has deeper bass. It could be the room but I believe it goes deeper.

As you can see I used tweed-like fabric as oppose to more acoustically transparent material also available to me. I was after a particular look… While thicker then the 2805 fabric, the material I used isn’t all that much thicker then the stock 989. I does seem thinner though then the tweed Quad used in their Classic versions. Despite this, I found no ill effect whatsoever. Granted, the speaker sounds the best without metal grille and fabric but keeping it like that wasn’t an option for me.

The sound is just glorious, almost from the first moment I plugged the speakers in for the first time. The charge of the panels seems to be in an instant and I notice only a tiny little bit of “relaxation” as the speaker is breaking in. Dead quiet too.

Before my gut job started, I had a bit of apprehension about it, you noticed it :-)… It wasn’t about the work but about how I ensure equal and consistent spread of materials across all panels I worked on. Glue in particular. But I found the way and I couldn’t have been more exact - what I have left is exactly half of everything, which is exactly what the instructions call for - enough material for two sets of panels.. give or take bit…

The work itself was straightforward, your instructions couldn’t be better, plus you were near by throughout.. Very grateful for that. Once I was ready to start, my comfort level couldn’t have been higher and I truly enjoyed every minute of the process. Even through mistakes… I made a mistake with the foil. The sucker tore on my first attempt to stretch it, just by my looking at it. From then I taped the whole perimeter and it never tore again.

The second mishap was the “filthy” coating on one of films. I think I emailed you about it… I ended up ripping it and redoing it.

All in all, this was my first Quad rebuild and I enjoyed the process very much. The end result, in my mind is at least equal if not better than stock.

I thank you again, Rob, for everything - for making this kit available to us and for your help during the process.

All the best to you and will speak again soon,

Dragan

Dragan from Serbia wanted to restore his Quad 989 speakers but also wanted to change the cosmetic appearance and cut them down to be the same size as the original Quad 63’s, which he believes to have better overall performance than the 989.

This is his story.

Some further correspondence took place recently.

Hi Rob,

I had to email you the latest, please forgive my being a pest.

On Sat. three of my friends showed up, I expected one, the 57 guy… Needless to say, all three are Quad lovers, extremely knowledgable, very experienced audiophiles and genuine music lovers. One of them was a Quad distributer for the area for decades. The third one is a musician, on top.. Good guys, very dear friends of mine.

I played the new speaker first and for approx. two hours. They were floored, in utter shock and disbelief. Then I switched to 2805 but they wouldn’t have it for more then a few songs. All three were screaming - "please, go back to the new one”. I knew the new speaker was getting more and more relaxed, so-to-speak, but, as I listened that morning, before they came, I became fully convinced that the sonic difference between the two speakers isn’t subtle any more. In all the Quads I owned in my life, I do not remember one of them sounding like your kit. Apparently, neither did any of my friends. Stunning, stunning sound…

Please know (although something tells me you are already fully aware of the quality of your own product), your kit transforms the original speaker into something it has never been. The sonic difference is shocking. Not sure about experiences of others, but this is the result I got. I looked hard for ways to credit myself for some of it, at least :-) but in the end, you and you alone deserve the FULL credit. I just followed the instructions meticulously… I have no clue how many times I thanked you but I thank you again, Rob. I expected the new speaker to be on par with the stock but I never expected this…

As for the 57 guy, I had a long talk with him, took him to my shop and showed him my broken down panels. He asked for your info and I gave him. I also told him everything you said. I know he is tempted but no decision as of yet. I’ll stay with it and keep you posted…

All the best,

Dragan