Francois Lay, Export Sales manager at Tannoy, uses a pair of 215DMT Studio-monitors, the absolute top-range in professional audio.
He has put his McIntosh aside and uses the 2 channels of one 303 with new Dada High End boards to drive the two speakers in each of the monitors in biamping mode.
The result is... well here is what Francois says himself.
Stefaan
"Everyone knows about Tannoy, like everyone knows about Quad.
I own a pair of 215DMT. These main studio monitors use a 15’ bass driver and a 15’ Dual Concentric per channel.
The design is not really for "home use" ;-) and it is really because they sound quite well that my wife hasn’t left me yet.
Nevertheless the 215DMT have been designed to be matched with powerful amplifiers - more than 300 watts - and a very high damping factor is more than welcome to control both drivers which are playing partially on the same bandwidth.
Thus, matching a simple Quad 303 with these speakers could be a challenge… 45 watts and limited performances in terms of control of the membranes, but an inimitable midrange and a exquisite atmosphere could be the final result with these 98db/W/m speakers… at least if the amplifier is working well, which was not the case with the one I bought some month ago in France.
The first step has been to find someone who could repair this amplifier. My search on internet brought me to Stefaan from Dada Electronics, who suggested to send him the unit. A few days later the verdict came: one board was broken, the other one was not reparable… But I agreed with Stefaan to give a chance to this old and respectable Quad 303, and to give it a rebirth with Dada Electronics’ High-end driverboards and PSU.
The second step has been to ask Stefaan if he could find and upgrade me a second unit, as the idea came to me to Biamp the speakers. Fortunately Stefaan had another Quad 303, which has been adjusted precisely in order to work identically with the first one.
Few weeks later I received my new toys…What about the result? Simply fantastic.
First of all the power is now almost 60 watts, which is never too much with these speakers. The “Quad sound” and its wonderful midrange are still there, but with an extended response in the low frequencies. The transients are much faster, the high frequencies are simply better, more detailed, and the soundstage is much wider and deeper than before, and gives you the feeling that you will permanently rediscover your music…I think that I will stay with this new setup for a while!
Thanks Stefaan, and congratulations for the fantastic work!"
Francois Lay
Export Sales Manager
Tannoy Limited
Skype: francoislay
