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Quadraphonic sound experience?

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Craig75 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 26 Jun 2020 at 11:23pm
i have a spare smallish room that im struggling to think what to do with.

I watched a review of the first new quadraphonic record in decades and of course started putting two and two together and came up with rabbithole.

Has anyone any experience with quadraphonic sound?

Disappointing money pit?
Awesome money pit?
Good set ups?
Viable in 21st century? (I saw a nice selection of 1970s quad krautrock and ambient which is a genre i do enjoy)

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lfc jon View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lfc jon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2020 at 7:21pm
Hi Craig
I'll go for number one on your list
1st of all how many recordings in Quadraphonic have you got to play
2nd wound you need a Amp that could play Quadraphonic sound like a surround sound amp, not the best for stereo sound or a stereo amp with 2 pairs of speaker outputs ( don't know how the amp would spit the 4 channels to the 4 speakers) When stereo 1st came out you needed a new stereo amp to play stereo recordings. 
3rd How often would you use it in quadraphonic 
And 4th Why not put the HiFi in there? A nice room all to yourself (a man cave) if it's too small then putting two more speakers in there is only going to make things worse.
I'd say save your money or spend it on new music
    Jonathan
  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Craig75 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jun 2020 at 10:17pm
hi Jon,

Main stereo is in another room. Theres no tv in the house so the stereo is the main room. 

Im slowly getting priced out of my main music habits of last 15 years - everythings quadrupled in price since i started buying west African music so i need a new genre to buy. Quadraphonic 70s ambient and electronic seemed like an unlovedish genre and not too pricey. 

Theres enough space to get a decent separation of speakers and a sofa in the middle of the room.

And in theory it doesnt look that expensive to pick up a universal demodulator and a couple of small power amps second hand. Of course once you factir in 4 speakers and another turntable.. but im choosing to.pretend that expense isnt a thing.

Stylus ive got no idea about and im assuming theres a number of other pitfalls i.know zero about.

I just find concept really interesting to experience. Im sure if i just heard it once in a demo my curiosity would be satisfied. Hard to know if im experiencing lock down madness and i should be ashamed of myself for not being able to think of a better use for the room or whether listening to Florian Fricke or Ashra Tempel in 4 channel sound would be endlessly amazing.

Of course if id never seen the documentary about the first quad vinyl release in decades then i wouldnt have even had this issue.

Hope everyones safe talking of lockdown.

C.


Edited by Craig75 - 27 Jun 2020 at 10:17pm
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fluddite View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote fluddite Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 12:49am
Originally posted by Craig75 Craig75 wrote:

hi Jon,

Main stereo is in another room. Theres no tv in the house so the stereo is the main room. 

Im slowly getting priced out of my main music habits of last 15 years - everythings quadrupled in price since i started buying west African music so i need a new genre to buy. Quadraphonic 70s ambient and electronic seemed like an unlovedish genre and not too pricey. 

Theres enough space to get a decent separation of speakers and a sofa in the middle of the room.

And in theory it doesnt look that expensive to pick up a universal demodulator and a couple of small power amps second hand. Of course once you factir in 4 speakers and another turntable.. but im choosing to.pretend that expense isnt a thing.

Stylus ive got no idea about and im assuming theres a number of other pitfalls i.know zero about.

I just find concept really interesting to experience. Im sure if i just heard it once in a demo my curiosity would be satisfied. Hard to know if im experiencing lock down madness and i should be ashamed of myself for not being able to think of a better use for the room or whether listening to Florian Fricke or Ashra Tempel in 4 channel sound would be endlessly amazing.

Of course if id never seen the documentary about the first quad vinyl release in decades then i wouldnt have even had this issue.

Hope everyones safe talking of lockdown.

C.

Hi Craig

I always thought that quadrophonic was for people with 4 ears.... Wink

Quadrophenia, on the other hand, is splendid... in stereo.

Seriously, tho' - with the increasing number of 5.1 remixes now available on a variety of - admittedly digital - formats (Steven Wilson seems to be churning them out at an alarming rate for a variety of 70s acts), why not just go for that as a "ready-made" surround-sound solution? With quad, you'd really have to weigh up how many Ash Ra Tempels etc. would be easily available/affordable to play on that esoteric setup - and I'm also bound to add that ART and (solo) Fricke already sound pretty damn marvellous in straight stereo. If you save the quad money for records, think how many more 70s Germanic goodies you could buy - you could make the little (?) room into a mini-Wumme or Inner Space....

Either way, keep well yourself in That Lockdown!

Frank
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote morris_minor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 9:56am
I assume we're talking about SQ (or QS) matrix systems here? CD-4 was a whole other ballgame with it's FM-like carrier frequency needing to be tracked (though this did see the birth of the Shibata stylus!).

As far as I can recall SQ channel separation wasn't all that great, and some decoders apparently had a kind of pumping action that was audible. I think it was most successful in providing concert=hall ambience in the rear channels on classical recordings.  

Is there really a newly released 4 channel LP? Shocked

I don't know about rabbit hole (black hole maybe!) - but if you have the records and the inclination to experiment it could be fun Big smile.
Bob

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lfc jon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 3:43pm
Hi Craig
You were saying about the price of music these days you are right. A CD £8 to £10 Vinyl records £16 to £18. I'm talking new here. Second hand well for CDs I had a look in a charity shop they were selling them for 5 for a £1 I saw one I liked so I paid a £ for it well I thought it's going to a good charity The man in the shop said to me, we can't give them away these days. they did not have any Vinyl the man said if we get any in we get someone in that we trust to give us a price for them. WELL I'm getting off track here. I did not think about the Stylus I know for mono you need a mono stylus to get the best out of a mono recording. I had look on the internet for quadraphonic stylus nothing came up, So I can't give you any thing on that.
I'm going to stay with good old STEREO and buy more music (ON VINYL) GOOD Luck on your quest for quadraphonic sound. 

Jonathan
Reflex M, Solo (both with PSU-1) CuSat50, Lautus, Spatia & Spatia links cables. Ortofon Bronze.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Craig75 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2020 at 4:29pm
i was paying a maximum.of £50 for nice clean copies of African 70s vinyl. Those same records are £200 these days. I was hoping prices would fall off and that it was just a fad.. but no they are stuck way out of my league now. So im trying to move awsy from that genre into something i can afford. Ive ended up with a lot of 70s euro electronic/classical hybrid albums which ive enjoyed but once in a while i see a quad pressing and think hmmm... vinyl surround sound... does it work. 

I must admit ive bought a lot more cds recently. I saw the new tubby hayes boxset on fontana and it was £60 on cd and nearly £200 on vinyl .. thats a big difference.
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