Quad 66FM
Quad built the 66FM as part of the 66 system, not as a separate box.
Overview
The 66FM is not a tuner you buy on its own. Quad designed it as part of the 66 system, and the manual says so bluntly: the 66FM is built to take advantage of the 66 remote control system and is not intended for use with the Quad 34, 44, or earlier preamplifiers. If you own one of those older preamps, Quad's own documentation points you at the FM4 instead. So the buyer was someone who had already committed to the 66 preamplifier and its battery-operated control panel.
Physically, the tuner is identical to the Quad 66 preamplifier. Same width, same height, same depth - 321mm across, 80mm tall, 255mm deep plus connectors, weighing 2.8kg. Stack them and they look like a matched pair, which was the point. The display shows the preset "track" number and the tuned frequency. The track numbers repeat on an analogue-style display, because as the manual puts it, most people find it easier to remember where a station lives than to remember a number.
The tuning range is the standard 88-108 MHz with 25kHz channel spacing, 50kHz displayed. Nineteen presets is the headline number, and it is more than most users will ever fill. Quad's instruction book makes a wry observation here: even in countries with nineteen or more available transmissions, few listeners will want all of them, particularly given broadcasters' tendency to lean on compressed pop music to fill airtime. So the presets work as a filing system. Store the main news programme in position one, reachable at any time by pressing STOP on the remote, and arrange the rest however makes sense.
The inside is where the 66FM gets interesting. Quad states plainly that many tuners use an off-the-shelf front end, and that the 66FM was designed from aerial input to audio signal output to ensure performance is limited only by the quality of the incoming broadcast. That is a design claim, not a measurement, but the numbers back up the intent. Sensitivity is quoted at 1μV (1.2dBf) for mono 30dB quieting, 2.7μV (8dBf) for mono 50dB quieting, and 25μV (28dBf) for stereo. Full limiting arrives below 1μV. Signal-to-noise, measured with a 1kHz input at 1mV and A-weighted, is 76dB in mono and 70dB in stereo. Distortion at 1kHz with ±75kHz deviation is 0.15% in both mono and stereo. Drop to ±25kHz deviation and it falls to 0.05% mono and 0.1% stereo. AM suppression is 60dB, image rejection 80dB, pilot tone suppression 60dB, and cross-talk a nominal 40dB at 1kHz. Frequency response is quoted as +0, -1dB from 20Hz to 15kHz.
HiFi-Stereo (June 1993, p.42) ran the 66FM through Hirsch-Houck Laboratories, with Julian Hirsch noting the rear apron's AC power-cord socket, unswitched AC convenience outlet, audio output phono jacks, and a coaxial connector for a 75-ohm antenna feed. That rear-panel inventory matters more than it sounds. The unswitched AC outlet lets the tuner feed power to other units in a Quad stack, and there is also an optional DC power output on the right-hand side of the front panel — intended for powering the 66 preamplifier's control panel if its battery dies or if the owner wants the panel permanently sited by the tuner. Remove the battery when running it that way. It is a small piece of system thinking that only makes sense inside the 66 ecosystem.
Operation runs through the 66 preamplifier's control panel, using the CD function buttons. Press RADIO to put the remote and preamp into radio mode. TRACK then steps up or down through the nineteen presets, SEARCH scans ascending or descending, and STORE commits a found station to a slot. PAUSE selects mono, and mono can be stored with a particular station by selecting it before pressing store, which helps with weak or noisy signals. STOP returns you to preset one and cancels stepping mode. The aerial input is 75Ω unbalanced, output source impedance is 1kΩ into a minimum load of 47kΩ, and de-emphasis is switchable between 50μS and 75μS. AC input is 110-120V or 220-240V at 50-60Hz, drawing 6W.
Maintenance is close to nil. Quad specifies no routine maintenance. For cleaning, use a soft brush or a slightly moistened lint-free cloth with the mains plug pulled. No solvents, no abrasives.
The 66FM occupies an odd spot in Quad's catalogue. It is not a standalone tuner the way the FM4 was, and Quad said so directly. Collectors chasing one today are usually chasing it because they already have the preamp and the CD player and want the rack filled. Quad sold a dedicated rack for exactly that stack, order number QF6CDRK, along with a pedestal. Buy the tuner first and you will spend a while hunting the rest.
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Related Models
- Quad 33/303 (1967)
- Quad 50E (1966–1983)
- Quad 66 preamp
- Quad ESL-57
- Quad FM1 (1959–1968)