MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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My Dad passed away last year and he had an old Quad 306/34/FM4 set up. it hadn't been used in years as he was using something else. There are also some Mission 780SE speakers that i have with the Quad. I have just tried setting it all up and it all powers up fine but the volume coming out (via my iphone plugged into it via a rca to 3.5mm jack) is very low despite turning the phone volume up and the volume on the Quad.
I only had one speaker plugged in as there was only one set of plugs on the wires stored with it, but I have tried both speakers and still the same.
Any ideas what might be wrong? what i might be doing wrong?
Thanks.
There's a reasonable chance the capacitors have gone in the amp / pre amp unless it's been serviced at some point due to its age.
Before assuming this - it could also be a mis-match in input levels, but hifi sources of that age tended to be lower level, so the problem is the opposite when using a modern source such as a phone - loud even with the volume control right down. Have you tried the pre and power amps separately if you can to isolate the problem?
Do check it over or have someone do it anyway, you don't want dangerous electronics in the house !
If it does need servicing they're quite easily serviceable - not like modern disposable kit - Quad themselves will still do it, there are third party companies who can also upgrade / mod - or you can buy a kit and instructions if you're confident with electronics.
I have my Dads Quad 405 (he's alive and kicking - just moved on from Hifi) and it needed this - the amp was barely working and the pre not at all. I bought a kit from here https://www.dadaelectronics.eu/ and it's now working great.
Electrolytic capacitors of that age (45 years?) are likely to have spilled their dielectric innards. So it is likely to need re-capping.
Have you proved the speakers using another source/amp?
(via my iphone plugged into it via a rca to 3.5mm jack)
What are those RCA jacks labelled as? If it's a Line In input then a headphone jack should drive that fairly comfortably. If it's Phono then it's expecting a considerably lower voltage / signal generated from a record player cartridge and you've potentially* just fried it.
(* - sorry)