Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops question)

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This page is interesting:
http://members.cox.net/surround/quaddisc/quadcds.htm
Thanks!

Notice you need a Quad decoder of one sort or another and also notice many of these are bootleg CDs 
likely made from the lousy quad LPs.

The Quad reels needed no decoder because they were truly 4 discrete tracks (ie quarter-track tapes 
that played in one direction). Some were Dolby B encoded (for which I have 4 tracks of decode). If 
the format had taken off, Teac would have sold many more A-3340 and 3240 machines. Sony and Akai 
also made quad reel decks for a brief time, and probably others. Teac/Tascam and Otari stayed in the 
4T/quarter-inch market for years after everyone serving the semi-pro and home-studio market. I have 
a last generation Tascam 44 and it's an excellent deck, both soundwise and buildwise.

There's not as much wrong with matrix-encoded surround sound, per se, as is what's wrong with trying 
to pull it off on scratch-prone and crosstalk-prone LPs. Dumb idea from the get-go and died in the 
marketplace quickly. Dolby Surround on VHS tapes proves the viability of matrix-encoding and 
decoding. If the VHS Hifi recording was done right at the duping plant and your playback machine is 
tracking it well, the effect is quite good for movie sound. Not as good as DVD but pretty darn good.

There's another guy on the web somewhere who has collected many a Quad LP and tape and sells 
Dolby-matrix 2ch CD's of them. I think the better way to do it today is DVD-Audio, which is true 
discrete multi-channel.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger and Allison Kulp" <thorenstd124@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 4:33 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops question)


> http://members.cox.net/surround/quaddisc/quadcds.htm
> http://scitation.aip.org/getabs/servlet/GetabsServlet?prog=normal&id=JASMAN000115000004001394000002&idtype=cvips&gifs=yes
>
> http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/6628585.html
> Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Yes, their RQR series. Your statement is too broad. 
> Pentatone only are reissuing the Philips
> classical recordings from the 70's, no others. I'm actually more interested in the quad mixes for
> various rock albums, although I do have some RQR and they are pretty good (too many mics for my
> taste with classical recordings). When SACD came out, most of the classic rock records from the 
> Quad
> era were either not reissued at all or remixed for 5.1 SACD, usually by the now-deaf original
> producer or engineer and most don't sound as good, to my ears, as the original 2-channel stereo
> masters. There are exceptions.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Don Cox"
> To:
> Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 11:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] commerical reels history (was Boston Pops question)
>
>
> > On 07/04/07, Tom Fine wrote:
> >
> >
> > > For me personally, the 2T mid-50's tapes are always worth getting at
> > > garage sales as long as the tapes aren't moldy or obviously
> > > warped/curled and the price is cheap. But the real prize for me is
> > > quad reels from the 70's. That's where you hear what producers
> > > intended for quad since they are true discrete 4-channels and not some
> > > unworkable matrix like the records. Some producers had very
> > > interesting ideas, some liked flying sounds around your head -- same
> > > as the short-lived multi-channel SACD remixes.
> > The Pentatone label has been specialising in licensing 70s quadraphonic
> > tapes and reissuing them as surround SACDs.
> >
> > http://www.pentatonemusic.com/index1.htm
> >
> > Regards
> > --
> > Don Cox
> > doncox@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Bored stiff? Loosen up...
> Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games.