This article comes from a
special session about audio industry in Japan from the December 11, 1971 issue.
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A new experience: 4-channel sound.
December 11, 1971
QUADRASONIC SOUND MEANS NEW CHALLENGES AND NEW OPPORTUNITIES
MOST MANUFACTURERS WON'T ADMIT they desperately needed it, but the Japanese audio equipment industry has found its lucky four-leaf clover in the shape and sound of four-channel stereo. And just in time.
Sales of Japanese high fidelity equipment at home and abroad have soared in the last decade, and as the market expanded in the mid-1960's, so did the role of the sound industry in the country's overall economic picture. Most of the leading manufacturers banked heavily on the continued glowing health of the hi-fi market and made substantial capital investments in plant facilities, distribution and sales networks abroad. Throughout the late 1960's the makers of high quality tape recorders, tuners, speakers, stereo amplifiers and players were riding a mounting wave of demand for their superior-line products, while the Japanese OEM manufacturers and gadeteers were busily building profit pyramids in the car stereo field, portable cassette players, low cost modular units and other mass-appeal audio electronics.
The introduction of four-channel stereo- which actually began in Japan in 1970 with Sansui's "quadralizer"-came at the peak of Japanese success in the audio world. Sales of hi-fi equipment were still growing, but not at the rate they had enjoyed in 1968-1969.
The market was showing signs of leveling off in 1970 and early '71 and top makers like Sony, Pioneer, Trio, Sansui and others were stressing quality and innovation with an eye toward heading off an expected slowdown, at least in terms of continued growth.
Then in July of this year came the news that America—Japan's major market-was retreating into what most Japanese consider an era of protectionism. The 10 percent import surcharge and the floating of the dollar (with resulting pressures on the Japanese yen), have dramatically changed the outlook of the Japanese audio equipment industry.
This is not to imply that four-channel stereo is Japan's last hope to maintain its role in the audio equipment world.
It does mean, however, a promise of a new challenge for the industry.
There are problems to be sure. The most obvious is the question of matrix-versus discrete systems; some equipment manufacturers favor one or the other, while other makers are covering all bases by designing equipment capable of handling both. There is also a shortage of four-channel software, although this problem is rapidly being lessened through the efforts of RCA Victor, CBS/Sony, Columbia, Toshiba and several other record and tape manufacturers who, in cooperation with their foreign licensors, are stepping up their releases of software designed for four channel playback.
Sansui has no direct ties with any software producers in Japan or abroad.
Yet statistics show that their "quadralizer" series of hardware is among the best-selling equipment of its kind in the world. Following the October, 1970, announcement of their "quadphonic Synthesizer QS-1," they have continued to introduce new products in the line, including an encoder/decoder series for use by recording studios,
FM radio broadcasters, and other professional or semi-pro users.
Their system is not unique, but it has captured the imagination of users in Japan and abroad and helped dispel the feeling that a synthesizer is a "pseudo" four-channel approach.
Sansui engineers claim that four-channel systems using "logic" circuits cannot be used in true high fidelity systems. But this point is strongly argued by Sony which is producing the "SQ" four-channel series in partnership with CBS. The "SQ" is a matrix system employing logic-circuit technology developed by the CBS Labs in the U.S.
According to Sony president Akio Morita, his company is solidly committed to the SQ system which, as mentioned, is a matrix system. The Victor Company of Japan, on the other hand, is the leading advocate of the discrete system and believes as do a few others in the industry—that it will be the four-channel sound standard of the future.
Victor's "CD-4" system was largely developed at their experimental labortory near Tokyo. Unlike the Sony and other matrix systems, it is not compatible with two-channel systems, as it requires a special pickup cartridge.
Victor argues that the matrix systems used by their competitors do not afford the true separation required to produce effective four-channel sound fields.
Victor of Japan and its associate companies are stepping up the production of "CD-4" software in the Japanese and foreign markets.
Aside from Sony-CBS's "SQ" and Victor's "CD-4" systems, which appear to be the major contenders for the favored pole position in the four-chan-nel race, other Japanese audio equipment makers have introduced systems of their own. In addition to the Sansui "SQ" line, here are several others: Toshiba's "QM," Sanyo's "Quadsonic Control System," Trio's "QR," Matsushita's "RS," Hitachi's "Ambiomatrix System," Mitsubishi's "QM," Pioneer's "Phase Shift Quadralizer," and new systems by TEAC, Onkyo, Toyo, Nippon Columbia, and most other major and minor manufacturers.
From the Japanese point of view, the state of the art in four-channel hardware is just beginning to reach definable proportions. Audio fans can expect continued advances in the quality and selection of Japan-made four-channel hardware over the next few years.
Although there are few positive indications of it at present, it's even possible that the question of compatibility between matrix and discrete systems may be resolved by agreements between the advocates of each.
Meanwhile, despite this basic obstacle, the Japanese audio industry is looking "fourward" to maintaining its reputation as a productive high fidelity equipment supplier.
Couple hears surround sound in a mobile setting.
