Commercial Matrix Quadraphonic Cassettes?

[doity]

I’m wondering if the last holdouts of classical LP’s in quad (Columbia and Angel) kept their records as single inventory status out of just sheer stubbornness. As in “We made the investment, so we will be damned sure that we are going to use it”, even though they didn’t really promote it as such. Could be?

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I’m wondering if the last holdouts of classical LP’s in quad (Columbia and Angel) kept their records as single inventory status out of just sheer stubbornness. As in “We made the investment, so we will be damned sure that we are going to use it”, even though they didn’t really promote it as such. Could be?

I don't know . I'm still miffed that they went S I so very fn late !! Why not sooner ,if your Matrix Encodes really are stereo compatible . They should of had the brass balls to back up their own investment and SQ invention. That's a sure fire way to convince the record buying public that quad is the real deal for the future of music.
.
Add to that last (Classical) quads labels list single inventory from the likes of ; Eurodisc , Harmonia Mundi , Supraphon ,Peter's International ,VOX/Turnabout/Candide , Vanguard, Sonic Arts , RCA , JVC., Nimbus .and (probably Sony).
I'm not too certain when Acanta , Bellaphon , and EMI/Electrola quit with their releases ,but late 70's makes sense.

FWIW in the late 70's, I used to see plenty of Harmonia Mundi SQ albums, fr/Spain , France , Germany ,and I think Italy?

 

[fizzywiggs41]

@doity

So in cassettes I suppose the only ones you had to ascertain for Quad matrix was Angel ?
Or are there others.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

@MidiMagic

What Capitol Records albums were made in QS prior to the 1972 U.S /Canadian SQ's ?? My 2nd request btw.

 

[jaybird100]

@MidiMagic

What Capitol Records albums were made in QS prior to the 1972 U.S /Canadian SQ's ?? My 2nd request btw.

Actually, none. That was a rumor that no one was ever able to confirm, nor prove.

 

[MidiMagic]

I have this clipping I found online several years ago. I don't know where I got it.

 

[par4ken]

I have this clipping I found online several years ago. I don't know where I got it.

View attachment 73978

Does anyone have a stereo copy and can they confirm that it is in fact QS encoded? Where all stereo copies QS? What about The Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab re-release? That article creates a lot of questions? What were the other 11 albums mentioned in the article?

Fizzy, any thoughts?

 

[fizzywiggs41]

What about QS precludes wide stereo effects?

If the 4-corners encoder is used, a full stereo width is missing because of how it encodes LS and RS positions.

But a fully panable encoder like the one I use allows a full stereo mix using the front half of the encoder. So a QS record can have wide stereo.



There are a few wrinkles here.

1. Capitol originally chose QS, but then became part of the Columbia group.

NO , "Capitol Records did not originally choose QS , then became part of the Columbia group" as you surmise.
Capitol Records SQ albums were released in 1972 .

That article , which btw is an unproven rumour , appeared firstly in Billboard Magazine in June 1974 . The 15th of June ,1974 ( page one I believe).
Also ,later.....some 12 releases (the same as that June article) are being repeated as in a QS report by Sansui Cheif , Miyake on page 3 ,of Billboard mag from an article in Los Angeles ,at the International Radio Programming Forum , September 07th 74.(Billboard mag September 07 th 1974 page 3 to be exact)
FWIW The only album mentioned as a possible QS ,was Pink Floyd - DSOTM . The other 11 were not mentioned.

That'd be a full two years for that disclosure since they went with the handful of SQ vinyl ( mostly Samplers ,sans John Morello), and then committed to Q8 only.

-fizzy


See next post below.....for Capitol Records commitment to Q8 .

 

[fizzywiggs41]

And just as above ◇post 128... The Capitol Q8W program went into full swing .

From Billboard August 03rd 74

CAPITOL Records In The U S are releasing 11 Q8 'S from Pink Floyd (2) , The Steve Miller Band -The Joker , Grand Funk Railroad (2) , Helen Reddy (3) , John Lennon imagine , and 2 (Scott Joplin) on Angel Records .
They are available as the Q8W series says Chris Cornelli , Capitol Records Creative Project Manager
(August 03rd 74 page 53 , BB)

The same 11 Q8's were released almost simultaneously in Canada . (BB , page 67 ,August 10 th 1974)

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Does anyone have a stereo copy and can they confirm that it is in fact QS encoded? Where all stereo copies QS? What about The Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab re-release? That article creates a lot of questions? What were the other 11 albums mentioned in the article?

Fizzy, any thoughts?

I believe it was originally mentioned as a rumoured quad matrix master that was used by MOFI (as being SQ) in MCS REVIEW or Evolution .

According to AIG Magazine the Mofi DSOTM contained the SQ. Something Brad Miller may have been reluctant to mention . Him being a big Discrete only supporter.
I'll see if I can dig up that AIG article.

 

[par4ken]

I believe it was originally mentioned as a rumoured quad matrix master that was used by MOFI (as being SQ) in MCS REVIEW or Evolution .

According to AIG Magazine the Mofi DSOTM contained the SQ. Something Brad Miller may have been reluctant to mention . Him being a big Discrete only supporter.
I'll see if I can dig up that AIG article.

I doubt that MOFI issued the SQ album. It sounds like the rumoured 12 albums were the Q8 releases not QS encoded LP's! Funny how the rumours get started. Sansui might of been demonstrating stereo albums though the synthesize function of their decoder. That could of been misconstrued as being stealth quads, especially with Floyd and another 11 albums coming out on Q8 at the same time?

 

[jaybird100]

I have this clipping I found online several years ago. I don't know where I got it.

View attachment 73978

I'd like to know where, and when, this was published, along with a list of albums allegedly released in QS. Capitol had denied this ever happened. I do have the MFSL DSOTM, and it is not quad. However, there's an Angel "Bolero" album that was released on MFSL that is clearly identified as SQ, and I can confirm it is.

 

[doity]

I don't know . I'm still miffed that they went S I so very fn late !! Why not sooner ,if your Matrix Encodes really are stereo compatible . They should of had the brass balls to back up their own investment and SQ invention. That's a sure fire way to convince the record buying public that quad is the real deal for the future of music.
.
Add to that last (Classical) quads labels list single inventory from the likes of ; Eurodisc , Harmonia Mundi , Supraphon ,Peter's International ,VOX/Turnabout/Candide , Vanguard, Sonic Arts , RCA , JVC., Nimbus .and (probably Sony).
I'm not too certain when Acanta , Bellaphon , and EMI/Electrola quit with their releases ,but late 70's makes sense.

FWIW in the late 70's, I used to see plenty of Harmonia Mundi SQ albums, fr/Spain , France , Germany ,and I think Italy?

I think I read somewhere that the labels didn’t like their classical LP’s ending up only in the ‘Quadraphonic’ section of the music store(s). Classical music buyers would not go looking there if they had no previous knowledge I guess was their reasoning.

 

[doity]

I doubt that MOFI issued the SQ album. It sounds like the rumoured 12 albums were the Q8 releases not QS encoded LP's! Funny how the rumours get started. Sansui might of been demonstrating stereo albums though the synthesize function of their decoder. That could of been misconstrued as being stealth quads, especially with Floyd and another 11 albums coming out on Q8 at the same time?

Yes because weren’t the British LP’s released in SQ quad? So why would their American counterparts turn around and remix the master tape(s) in stealth QS instead of just using the same masters that they used to decode into Q8’s (DSOTM) and release that marked as an SQ release? That is beyond unbelievable.

 

[doity]

@doity

So in cassettes I suppose the only ones you had to ascertain for Quad matrix was Angel ?
Or are there others.

So far that is the only one. I am still waiting for the “I Nomadi” tape that is on it’s way from Italy. The Angel tape decodes very well but the sound quality is a bit lacking.......even though it is an XDR release. You even get those tones (blips) at the beginning and end of the tape, which I kind of like for some odd reason. I have a feeling that it would sound a lot better through my Marantz with auto-azimuth correction, but I am too lazy to yank that out of my main 2-channel system to test that theory. I will wait till the other tape comes I guess.

 

[par4ken]

Yes because weren’t the British LP’s released in SQ quad? So why would their American counterparts turn around and remix the master tape(s) in stealth QS instead of just using the same masters that they used to decode into Q8’s (DSOTM) and release that marked as an SQ release? That is beyond unbelievable.

Yes the British and some other countries released the album in SQ quad. They also released separate stereo versions. Not likely that those stereo releases were actually QS encoded and not likely the US would release stealth QS mixes in place of stereo, different than the rest of the world. The whole story is unbelievable for sure! I think the author got some facts wrong and made some wild assumptions.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Yes because weren’t the British LP’s released in SQ quad? So why would their American counterparts turn around and remix the master tape(s) in stealth QS instead of just using the same masters that they used to decode into Q8’s (DSOTM) and release that marked as an SQ release? That is beyond unbelievable.

Well for a short time after their Dual Inventory program, EMI UK did release Single Inventory SQ albums of Pink Floyd.
I have a copy of Atom Heart Mother with absolutely no quad SQ indication , (nor quad indications) on the front or back fold out jacket . I bought it still sealed ,and when I took off the shrink-wrap , sure enough inside was an SQ quad album. Plus the quad markings included within the gatefold as identical to my other SQ quad AHM .

Ditto with my UK copy of Pink Floyd -Wish You Were Here..... with the all black shrink-wrap which I purchased at the Quadrophonic Record Center IN GOOD OLDE London Town via mail . Once again no indication of this album being quad. I thought oh no ,gotta send it back! But upon opening this album .....sure enough it was the quad SQ version .
The Black shrink-wrap had nothing... I repeat nothing ..,to indicate quad ,no stickers ,nothing.

As to Pink Floyd's - Dark Side Of The Moon , I saw more quad editions than any others from the UK
At any import store or imports bins. Almost 3 to 1 for the Quad UK copy.

I might include John Lennon 's SQ Imagine as well. As in the late 70's Peter's International Catalogue (USA) had this listed as the preferred copy for sale by them as "a classic in quad" for any import record collector .

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Yes the British and some other countries released the album in SQ quad. They also released separate stereo versions. Not likely that those stereo releases were actually QS encoded and not likely the US would release stealth QS mixes in place of stereo, different than the rest of the world. The whole story is unbelievable for sure! I think the author got some facts wrong and made some wild assumptions.

Remember they were sent the SQ masters from EMI for their Capitol Q8 's ,or should I really say that with those 2 Pink Floyd SQ masters in place of the Q4 copies , they should have been used for what they were made for, vinyl records.
Capitol screwed up, and should have issued SQ albums instead Of some weird upmix's. Those Pink Floyd Q8'S
would have eventually been released.

 

[doity]

Yes the British and some other countries released the album in SQ quad. They also released separate stereo versions. Not likely that those stereo releases were actually QS encoded and not likely the US would release stealth QS mixes in place of stereo, different than the rest of the world. The whole story is unbelievable for sure! I think the author got some facts wrong and made some wild assumptions.

Everything was in “stealth quad”.......but only those in the know really knew about this. Top secret you see. In the industry they were known as ‘ITKSQ’ releases.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Yes the British and some other countries released the album in SQ quad. They also released separate stereo versions. Not likely that those stereo releases were actually QS encoded and not likely the US would release stealth QS mixes in place of stereo, different than the rest of the world. The whole story is unbelievable for sure! I think the author got some facts wrong and made some wild assumptions.

Maybe Miyake ,Cheif of Sansui was thinking about their own QS/ RM partner ----Toshiba/EMI and their issue of the EMI Quads in Regular Matrix. Made specifically for the Asian/Japanese consumers.