Most of my repairs and modifications to QUAD 22s have been made easier or ~ like the one shown below ~ even possible since I made a QUAD 22 RIAA PCB which fits neatly in place of the old EF86 valve bases of V1 and V2 to provide gain and equalisation and 47kΩ loading for 3mV6mV output Magnetic cartridges
The PCB [pdf schematic & layout] mounts the components that would be in a DISC adaptor plugin and on the Switch bank to provide cartridge matching and DISC equalisation ~ See QUAD 22 information for an explanation of the QUAD22 RIAA circuit and Modernisation & Modification for the changes to the switch bank required when fitting this RIAA PCB
Once the old V1 and V2 valve bases and the insulated posts mounting C2 C3 R17 and other EF86 components are removed the PCB can be fitted to provide the amplification and RIAA equalisation required for a better balanced DISC replay ~ The input switch bank is then free to provide more stereo inputs as required by a preamplifier today
The RIAA PCB is based on the original QUAD 22 schematic but provides more accurate RIAA equalisation and an improved channel phase and level balance while still being true to the original design concept
The QUAD 22 DISC EF86 design requires a load greater than 500kΩ but if a 'modern' recording device or TO is not used this will not be a problem
I fit silver plated PTFE insulated wires to test the assembled PCBs ~ PTFE is not easy to strip without the correct tool so I cut the wire to fit a QUAD 22 as shown in the pictures above and below which makes fitting the assembled board simpler as no wires should need stripping ~ The original brown heater wires should be carefully removed from tho old base and soldered to pins 4 and 5 of V1 on the PCB which will be tinned ready
The left and right input leads are the twisted white and black and red and black wires in the picture left ~ These are intended to connect to RCA Phono sockets that should be insulated from the back panel to eliminate internal earth loops and the Rean NYS367 connectors are ideal for this
Screened cables are not needed inside the QUAD 22 but keeping the input wires separated will prevent cross talk from unselected inputs as will wiring the switchbank to my "QUAD 22 Switching B" schematic which shorts unused inputs to ground
I sell asembled and tested PCBs complete with mounting posts and PTFE wires for £95 each including UK postage ~ If you buy the ready assembled board there is still a lot of work you need to do ~ Removing and cleaning the switch bank to accomodate the outputs from the RIAA PCB and additional line level inputs and fitting better input connectors
Ceramic valve bases are fitted to the solder or track side of the PCB which is mounted on M3 by 8mm stand off pillars using the holes left after removing the old valve bases ~ The ceramic bases are thus held between the PCB and the chassis allowing valves to be changed many times without damaging the PCB tracks as often happens with PCB mounted valve bases
The circuit is assembled using 1% MRS25 metal film resistors and 1% extended foil polystyrene capacitors for the equalisation ensuring a tight adherence to the RIAA replay curve and excellent channel level and phase balance which gives a more precise stereo image not normally experienced when using the QUAD22
Provision is made for separate Heater and HT supplies for each channel if required or you could use d.c. heater supplies ~ In the rather severe modification shown above the heaters are a.c. powered separately from each QUAD 11 power amplifier ~ The HT supplies are combined using 1N4006 diodes to share the load between the QUAD II power amps to reduce the likelihood of transformer meltdown
This PCB can also be used as a stand alone valve phono pre-amp or fitted inside other valve pre-amps ~ If required different equalisation like various course groove 78rpm or tape head can be applied and even different equalisation for each channel with 2 mono channels each specially optimised for a particular playback EQ
I have also made a triode amplifier and buffer PCB in the same format which can be used as a flat response 'line' stage with low output impedance in place of V1 and V2 in the QUAD22 or it could be used to make a standalone valve preamp when coupled with the RIAA PCB or a triode RIAA amplifier with passive equalisation
On the left a QUAD 22 control unit is modernised to the drawing QUAD 22 Switching C where the tape output [TO] phono connectors are used as another input giving 4 line level inputs
This is only possible because the switch bank is now free of the yellow channel DISC EQ components which are mounted on the RIAA PCB ~ It's a lot of work but worthwhile
Another significant improvement can be made to the QUAD 22 by changing the Tone Control section capacitors for polystyrene 1% 160V extended foil types ~ 5n6 for C18 C19 C20 and C21 ~ 3n6 for C22 C23 C28 and C29 ~ 1n5 for C30 and C31 ~ The original tone section capacitors were not the best when new and wer not suitably mounted
A kit of 1% 160V polystyrene capacitors and MRS25 resistors for the QUAD 22 Tone Control section is available for £22 inc. UK P&P or £16 if posted with the RIAA PCB or kit ~ C24 C25 C26 and C27 should already be 220pF 10% polystyrene but I can supply 1% 630V polystyrene extended foil types for an additional £2 each or I will supply 10% parts for C24 to C27 free of charge with the capacitor kit if requested
The old capacitors were originally soldered with leads only a few mm long in some places ~ When fitting any replacement capacitors especially the 1% 160V polystyrene I supply it is best to fit them as shown on the blue channel above ~ The old C18 C19 C20 & C21 for the Bass control can be cut out without unsoldering and the replacements soldered directly to the potentiometer tags
The old filter section caps C30 and C31 and the wires from the PCB tags to the filter potentiometer should be removed after lifting the ends of C26 and C27 ~ The long leads of the new 1n5 capacitors can be used to replace the wire removed as shown
There are 2 options shown above for the treble control caps ~ note the tag where used is only for support and not soldered ~ When fitting new resistors carefully remove the insulated wires before removing the old resistors and fit the capacitors and insulated wires last preferably with a single soldering operation
A good solder sucker is a must have tool for cleaning the tags of solder ~ Lead/Tin solder should be used to fit the new parts ~ Lead free solder is not suitable for repair work on vintage equipment and I even use vintage rosin flux solder for many repairs because it sits on the tags like the orignal joints and does not run down them so readily
Assembled and tested PCBs or complete kits for this project are available ~ If the circuit is built to the schematic and following the silk screen on the PCB it should work first time and last for a very long time
Bare PCBs are £5 each or supplied with 2 valve bases and mounting kit are £18 each including UK postage ~ Complete kits with mounting pilars as shown below are supplied in a 'really useful' project box for £55 each including UK postage ~ Assembled and tested with mounting kit plus PTFE wires fitted are £95 including UK postage
If you buy the Kit you should find it very easy to assemble following the schematic and these picture instructions ~ Note the component values now supplied are not as pictured so follow the schematic and marked PCB ~ Resistor colour codes can be found here
Start by fitting the lowest profile parts first ~ The MRS25 resistor leads are bent close to the body and with them fitted either a few at a time or all together the board is turned over on a paper pad or card and the leads soldered and cut flush
Next fit C4 and C14 and then the 1% extended foil polystyrene capacitors C1 C11 C2 C6 C12 and C16
Although the ends of extended foil polystyrene capacitors often look rough it is the fact that the 'extended foil' ends are "spattered flat" and soldered over that makes these parts very low loss and good for audio and even RF ~ Take care when fitting as the leads need to be bent close to the capacitor body
Next fit C3 C5 C13 and C15 and that's all the parts on the component side fitted
When I design PCB layouts I often make custom footprints and silk screen outlines to get a consistent style or odd parts to fit ~ In this case some footprints had to be reduced to fit the tight space while allowing clearance for the high voltage and signal tracks ~ The valve base footprint requires some pin bending . . .
I found a small footprint B9A ceramic valve base without gold pins ~ The pitch circle diameter [PCD] of the pins has to be reduced slightly to fit the PCB ~ By bending the pins out at about 45˚ and then back close to the base they fit the custom footprint with its reduced PCD ~ Before soldering check that the shoulder of the pins is tight to the PCB pads and bend the pins inward on the component side to lock them in place as seen in the last picture below
The valve bases are mounted on the solder side of the PCB with M3 spacers to position the ceramic body in the chassis holes ~ The M3 machine screws are fitted from the component side then a lock washer and the spacer are fitted on the solder side and tightened so that they stay in place when fitted to the chassis with the M3 nyloc nuts ~ Imagine the chassis between the spacer tops and the nuts shown in the picture
Before fitting the PCB to the chassis prepare and fit the wires for Ground ~ HT and Signals (supplied with built and tested units but not the kit) ~ Input signal wires do not need to be screened ~ Twisted wires for ground and signal to each DISC phono are easier to work with and do not pick-up hum or cause crosstalk if short and routed directly
For the PCB shown brown wires link the heater connections and the original brown heater wires to V2 will be soldered directly to pins 4 and 5 of the V1 base on the component side
Built and tested PCBs are supplied with PTFE insulated wires attached unless you do not want them ~ I have not gone to the extent of making a test jig for the assembled PCBs plus the test pins would have to be on the same side as the valves ~ which is awkward ~ so PTFE wires are soldered to the boards for test connections as seen above
PTFE wire is difficult to strip without the correct tools so I fit stripped lengths such that the board can be wired directly into the QUAD22 chassis with HT taken from the R18R19 junction as shown above where I have also provided extra supply decoupling in place of C8C9 which were removed as part of the mod
If you are building the kit the table below may help you prepare the leads which should be 0.5mm diameter solid wire or 7/0.2mm stranded to best fit the PCB holes ~ The wires need to be soldered to the PCB before it is fitted to the chassis ~ Black wire is used for all ground/chassis ~ OutY and OutB do not have a corresponding ground wire
Wire from | Wire to | Colour | length |
InB/GndB | Left channel input phono | White/Black ~ Twisted | 150mm |
InY/GndY | Right channel input phono | Red/black ~ Twisted | 150mm |
OutB | Left output to switch bank | White | 100mm |
OutY | Right output to switch bank | Red | 100mm |
HTB | Junction of R18 and R19 | Orange | 80mm |
HTY | Junction of R18 and R19 | Orange | 110mm |
H1 & H2 | H3 & H4 | Brown ~ Twisted | 70mm |
Gnd x 2 | Chassis posts near V1 V2 | Black | 50mm |
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