On Sep 4, 6:57 am, "Phil Allison" wrote:
"Andre Jute"
Acoustical in Huntingdon. (Acoustical was Peter Walker's company; it
was not called QUAD then; QUAD was the Quality Unit Audio, not a
suitable company name!).
** I read " QUAD " was short for " QUality Amplifier Domestic " ?
I was looking for the words from which the acronym was formed in my
archive of QUAD materials. I now wonder if they ever announced what it
stands for. The word "unit" is repeatedly used in the literature,
admittedly more often in the combination "control unit". I have seen
"Quality Unit Amplifier Domestic" but cannot now remember where.
"Unit" in this use may be what modern manufacturers more pompously
call "modular"; the QUAD was from the beginning intended to be part of
a *system*.
The exact name hardly matters: the two important points are that the
QUAD brought BBC *quality* into the *domestic* setting.
That even in an acronynym, however it may be derived, Walker should
honour the conventions of English, U after Q, once more demonstrates
his punctillio in everything, not only audio engineering.
In the QUAD (that is, first series, after the QUAD.12 and before the
QUAD II) promo/operating booklet, it is categorically stated that
Acoustical did "all metal work, finishing" etc in-house under the
supervision of the AID department (whatever that may be).
** AID = " Acoustical In-house Design " - surely ?
Are you pulling my leg, Phil?
"In-house" is surely an anachronism. Besides, it sounds a bit self-
conscious to me for an Englishman of the time and place, especially
considering that Acoustical grew out of a design consultancy, where
"in-house design" was so axiomatic as hardly to rate a mention (and
would be offensive to customers like the BBC as implying that they
were so incompetent they couldn't do the job in their own house(1)). I
wondered whether it might mean "Assurance and Inspection Department"
or even more bluntly "Adjustment and Inspection Department".
Andre Jute
Visit Jute on Amps at
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(1) When Prof F Porsche founded his auto design consultancy about the
time Acoustical was started, he called it not the "Porsche Design
Office" but more politically the "Porsche Development Office",
implying that his customers did the creative work and he merely
undertook the dog-work of developing their brilliant ideas, whereas
the truth was the other way round.