Entertainment For Lively Minds
An interest in Hi-Fi: nature's way of saying you've got too much time on your hands
Posted by David Hepworth on 9 October 2008 - 11:16am.
On the podcast lately we've been wondering whether anyone out there still has quadraphonic. It's more worrying than that...
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5.1..
..was never going to set the world on fire as far as music goes.
A/ It only benefits the person sitting front and centre and
B/ Live music just doesn't sound like that.
..and what a lousy copy of Pretzel Logic!
How is he turning 4 discrete channels into 5?
QS
I thought that the Sansui QS system was matrix-based; not discrete? Surely, of the many quadraphonic vinyl systems of the 1970s only JVC's CD4 could truly claim to be discrete.
Er...I'll get me coat.
I bet...
his name is Clive.
Apologies to anyone out there called Clive.
Sir!
In defence of Clive Bunker, Clive Dunn, Clive of India, Clive Epstein and Derek and Clive, I protest.
I was thinking of...
Clive Sinclair.
I like the fact that the obsessive
who films his prized hifi set up calls his Kenwood amp a Sony in the accompanying text. He's not a real obsessive - probably married and has friends even.
Er...
..hate to be a hi-fi dweeb, but it's the encoder he's using thats a Sony.
"You want a bag on your 'ead as well?"
So would that make the big lump
with Kenwood written on it a decoder? Where is the Sony bit of kit hidden then? I can't believe I'm typing this btw.
maybe its a Sony Secret Agent
Pretending to be Kenwood in case the sound screws up.
Dear God this is Uber Anal.
I bet he live close by a railway station. Imagine a Choo Choo in 5.1. CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
No, no
The Sony Secret Agent (KGB007-F series and later) postdated the Quad phenomenon by several years. You could use it to transfer regular stereo vinyl to Hi-Plasticinium cassettes, but it had no Quad functionality. You'd need a Sony Trumptron (EBGB-4000) for that, which this lamer evidently doesn't have.
Archie
I don't know if that's true or not but if it is my friend, you need a night out with me to sort you out.
I'd bring along my little Creative Stone which doesn't have Quad functionality either but should get you through the night if you need a music boost.
If you're buying, you're on
Just make sure it's Tweakspleen's Old Chancre served at eleven degrees Celcius with a head tolerance of 1.5-2.2 inches. No, hang on, make that twelve degrees, it's Gussetbräu Maroon Label that's optimal at eleven. What was I thinking?
iQuad?
I have 2 ipods so its feasible surely.....
viPod
It's big, I'll grant you that, but it sounds fabulous.
Whaayepod
Bought it in Newcastle. Spent lots on songs but can't manage them so have lost most of them.
But did it have the upgrade....
But did it have the upgraded biphase linearity feedback shift register circuitry ?
Of course
Didn't yours?
brings back memories.....
... of sitting through Electronics lectures and making this stuff up in the notes just to confuse the hell out the mate who was too hungover to make it that morning........
I was more concerned that
his techsavy didn't go as far as a tripod and some editing software why do people not trim their vids on you tube have not seen even a minutes worth of tv?
The worst part of his set-up...
... is that shitty USB turntable! Got suckered into buying one of these myself, absolute crap! It now belongs to a previously, 'lots of vinyl but nothing to play it on' friend who at least has a shitty turntable to play it on now!
I've just opened my vinyl boxes after a move
So I slapped on Emmylou Harris's Elite Hotel for old time's sake. Goodness gracious me. I'd forgotten what music used to sound like before it was systematically chopped up into little bits, stuck back together again with little bytes of virtual Sellotape and compressed until its lungs go "Pffffffffft".
What utter wondrousness.
and adding electrickery
to make it sound like Emmy lou is singing in the kitchen wouldn't making it sound any better I'll warrant.
Or even
That she is singing in the kitchen and playing her guitar in the hall.
Hang on....
This is the same word massive that have moved to listening to music on a PC / iPod "for convenience" rather than on a proper CD player..... and now we are back to that age old argument that it always sounded better on vinyl...... ?
this is true
the USB turntables (see ads in Sunday newspaper magazines passim) are not what y'might call "hifi". But better than nowt (just).
As for Quad then when I were a lad (mid-1970s) the dad of a schoolfriend of mine was for a time quite the gadget freak, including -yes- Quad Hifi...altho he didn't seem to like much actual music. The best bit, I remember, was putting on an album and twirling the joystick Balance control on the amp, at speed, to send the sound weaving around the living room. Probably whilst guzzling a Sodastream fizzy pop. Happy days eh.
A pedant writes...
quad is quad, Quad is stereo.
The initial capital on Quad makes ALL the difference!
In fact, Quad should be QUAD as it's an acronym whereas quad is an abbreviation.
Clear now?
no but .... confessions
I do still have my SQ copy of Dark Side of the Moon. A photo taken when the kids were small clearly shows my enormous Sansui quadraphonic receiver in the background, so I've taken to ogling the vintage hifi section of ebay, but most similar kit is in the US. Then I started bemoaning the loss (sale!) of my Thorens TD125 electronic turntable with SME arm. Oh, happy days.
My coalfield
I have a Mike Oldfield vinyl box set which includes quadraphonic remixes of the first three albums. Never seen a quad system on which to play it though.
It's only redeeming feature was a different version of 'The Sailors Hornpipe' at the end of Tubular Bells; with Viv Stanshall narrating as he drunkenly staggers around The Manor behind Oldfield who appears to be playing the tune, equally drunkenly, on a mandolin.
Ironically my amp and speakers say Quad on them, but there's only two of 'em :-)
Dark Side in Quad
Back in '73, I opted to buy the quadrophonic vinyl version of Dark Side Of The Moon. This was for a number of reasons: -
a) Quad vinyl was pressed to classical standards; i.e. they didn't pop or crackle so much. During the 70s, because of the oil crisis most pop albums were pressed out of recycled vinyl and had a touch of the Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast about them.
b) The quad remix (by Alan Parsons) sounds amazing, even in stereo. Some Pink Floyd nuts consider this to be the definitive version of the album - this mix has been used for one of the recently issued high-end DVD audio versions
c) The record shop had sold out of (cheaper) stereo copies.
Everything I know about electronics
The man behind the brand 'Kenwood' was called Ken Wood. This is a fact.
However, I have just discovered via our friends at Wikiplodia that this Ken Wood was the maker of the 'Chef' and not the hi-fi people. So, as you were, forget I spoke, I'll just sit quietly at the back, etc.
I thought he made unwatchable B movies...
oh no, what am I thinking? That was his brother Ed...
The future...
Hif-fi: something only men care about
I like to think I've got a nice hi-fi set-up: nothing too esoteric or wallet-shakingly expensive but quality stuff.
But I'm sure this is a men-only (and not all men, clearly) thing. For women - and yes, it's a sweeping generalisation, but this is the internet, not Politically Correct HQ - the only thing that matters is the music.
Still, good kit does help you hear extra detail and gives music enormous depth. I'll always remember hearing Naim equipment in a demo room, when I discovered notes deep down in my copy of Crosby and Nash's Daylight Again that just made the heart soar. I'd never been able to hear them before. OK, so the Naim set-up cost more than my car, but what price can you put on music that makes you feel uplifted to the heavens, eh?
The bit I like on the video
is right at the end when the needle hits a great big scratch in the surface of the vinyl and then jumps! Should sound great in his digitally converted quad mix......