Friend of mine picked this up for me at a garage sale for two reasons. He knows about my radio addiction and it was cheap ($12.00). I have no idea if it even works yet and the dial glass is broke. My main question is why these quad units seem to have no value? Do they play any worse then a standard stereo or what? I know a lot of manufactures came out with these but they just seemed to fade away.
Stan Ski

Well, they don't have no value, but they are often worth less than one might hope because--

(1) They're old and often in mediocre or poor condition. Most were made in the early to mid 1970's. Most have been sitting a long time.
(2) By now, most of them have a tremendous "burden of service" that needs to be done. This tends to cost a couple of hundred dollars, often more; so, unless the owner has a special attachment to the gear, the unit goes into a garage sale, or gets handed to a thrift store. Over time, it will cost you somewhat more to own a Sansui four-channel than a similar-vintage stereo unit.
(3) Because they're kind of large and heavy, they've often sustained more nicks and scars over the years than a smaller, lighter unit.
(4) Although they're four-channel, they don't yield the same kind of surround effect as Dolby 5.1 or higher. Thus, they're not fully compatible with DVD and Blue Ray.

I sell a lot of vintage gear at my shop, since I'm also a licensed second-hand dealer. I don't get much demand for four-channel units, so when I get them they wind up in my boneyard. I did sell a Marantz 4400 on eBay a year or two ago, but the 4400 is a rare and special machine.

On a positive note, the consensus is that Sansui has the best four-channel circuitry. They held several of the fundamental four-channel patents. A properly-serviced QRX-9001, for example, will blow your socks off.

Fred
owner
Classic Audio Repair

In the early/mid 70's I sold stereo equipment for a local "salon" here.
I never, never cared for "quadraphonic" sound, but nevertheless I sold the stuff.
(I pushed good 2-channel systems more)
I knew back then it was just a quirk, a flash-in-the-pan-soon-to-be-gone idea.
I was right.
Even the best systems back then never really impressed me.
Add to that, most people didn't even know how to set up and adjust these complicated things.

I'm a 2-channel fusspot, and I won't ever change.

I worked on a QRX-5500 last year. Just for grins I recapped the driver boards and power supply. It was an excellent player except that the FM MPX chip was bad. For all other purposes, it was nice. I bought a Sansui QD-5500 quad reel to reel from the same guy. I kept the RTR and sold the receiver. I have a few quad albums and I was impressed with the sound.