seti Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 I have owned my Belles for about 8 months now and I am very pleased. However, I do not know when they were built as the serial numbers were removed. It has the AA croassover and I was curious if anything on these speakers should be tweaked or upgraded? Are these better left untouched or are there must do upgrades or maintenance? Also, I have always wanted a pair of vintage quadII monoblocks and I was curious how forum members rate them? They were the first tube amps I ever listened to so I suppose it would be more of a nostalgic purchase more than anything. it was too long ago for me to remember exact details or compare to current system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 I use the newer QUAD II-Forty monoblocks. KT-88s instead of KT-66s, with 40wpc instead of 20wpc. Redesigned by Andy Grove of Audionote to run the KT-88s. I love 'em, and rate them pretty high compared to the other things I've tried. Without the serial numbers, there is no way to really know how old your Belles are. However, if they were built in the 70s, then in all liklihood you would experience a nice performance increase by replacing the old can capacitors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted July 12, 2004 Share Posted July 12, 2004 Welcome to the forum! Your Belles' were made sometime between the early'70s and '81 there should be serisl numbers stamped into the frame somewhere in the rear even if the labels are gone. The only upgrade for your Belles' I can recommend is to replace the 30 year old capacitors in the type AAs. Three ways to do this are with Al Klappenhamer's very nice sounding ALK x-overs which you can build yourself or buy from AL (I am using them in my Klipschorns right now). See all about them and download the specs at:http://www.alkeng.com/ Two forum members build new type A and AA networks Dean (AK-4 and Bob (always BEC on the forum) Another option is to replace the motor caps on your own AAs with new F&F or oil caps. I'll leave comments on the Quads to those who are more experienced with them. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted July 12, 2004 Author Share Posted July 12, 2004 Interesting are you using the QC-24 preamp? I noticed that the only preamps that use the 6111WA tube are from quad & audionote. Since Andy Grove redisgned the quads I guess this isn't just a coincidence. I am considering the QC-24 as a preamp but I would wait for one with a phonostage which is in the works right now. Thanks for the advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted July 12, 2004 Author Share Posted July 12, 2004 I have never heard of the stamped serial numbers excellent. I have seen a coupl crossovers for the klipsch but I was leary of non-klipsch products but the oil caps upgrades seems resonable. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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