Here it is: the JCQS-440 A.F.V. also known as the Wurlyscope.

[Wurly1]

Hi all, i've been posting a lot of informations during the development
of the JCQS-440 project on the "My DIY Audio Scope so far (will update)" thread
started by another member: doity. Thank you for your support doity!

A lot of details can be found there but now i think this project deserve a proper thread
to discuss it.

First i must say that all JCQS-440 units (10) i had available for sale
have already found new homes in the Quadraphonic Quad community.
If interest continue to grow, there will likely be a mk-II model next winter.

Stay tuned for more informations and future development of mk-II model.

In the mean time, have a closer look of the JCQS-440 A.F.V. a.k.a. Wurlyscope.

 

[Wurly1]

You can check this previous thread started by doity to learn how it all started.
( Page 11,12 &13 contains some cool videos posted by users discovering and testing their new units. )
Here is one of the few videos with all 9 completed mk-I units together under the same stereo signal but set in different modes. (not all modes are shown)
https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...-so-far-will-update.28531/page-13#post-572067

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Yes indeed, the JCQS-440 deserves a thread of it's own. I had a full evening last night of watching music. It's nice when it can be visually confirmed what your hearing. For example the Head Hunters SACD has bass center back in Chameleon which is pretty unusual. At some point I'll dig out my old SQ record & compare. I will need to spend some more time to grasp the value of the differential mode.

The LED's have the perfect brightness level. I think in the MK II it would be good to have a dedicated LED strip for center front. I know... then it's not a quadscope. And if listening to 4 ch material with a center front action, the in-between LED's show it quite nicely. However with real 5.1 being played it's odd to just see the scope be inactive when clearly there should be something there. Natch, I don't care about displaying the .1 LFE since that doesn't contribute to direction.

The other thing I must ask about is the input sensitivity level, which seem too low. Whether I use the Surround Master, my Oppo, my TT, it all goes through my Anthem AVM 30, and then straight to Adcom power amps. Utilizing the nice extra set of parallel outputs on the 440 makes that easy. But the volume level must be played quite loud to get good action from the LED's and I have input levels all the way up. Now of course, I like loud, but not always. Late night listening or conversing with friends I don't want big dB's just to watch the scope. Is there a IC feedback resistor on the inputs I could change to raise the sensitivity? Or trim pots to be adjusted? I haven't peeked inside but any advice on this situation would be most appreciated.

Thanks again for an amazing project.

 

[Wurly1]

Yes indeed, the JCQS-440 deserves a thread of it's own. I had a full evening last night of watching music. It's nice when it can be visually confirmed what your hearing. For example the Head Hunters SACD has bass center back in Chameleon which is pretty unusual. At some point I'll dig out my old SQ record & compare. I will need to spend some more time to grasp the value of the differential mode.

Try settings on page 13, it can help you understand the way it work.
In this mode, try the balance control.

The LED's have the perfect brightness level. I think in the MK II it would be good to have a dedicated LED strip for center front. I know... then it's not a quadscope. And if listening to 4 ch material with a center front action, the in-between LED's show it quite nicely. However with real 5.1 being played it's odd to just see the scope be inactive when clearly there should be something there. Natch, I don't care about displaying the .1 LFE since that doesn't contribute to direction.

I'm working on a solution about a "pseudo 8" mode allowing additional signals to be displayed.

The other thing I must ask about is the input sensitivity level, which seem too low. Whether I use the Surround Master, my Oppo, my TT, it all goes through my Anthem AVM 30, and then straight to Adcom power amps. Utilizing the nice extra set of parallel outputs on the 440 makes that easy. But the volume level must be played quite loud to get good action from the LED's and I have input levels all the way up. Now of course, I like loud, but not always. Late night listening or conversing with friends I don't want big dB's just to watch the scope. Is there a IC feedback resistor on the inputs I could change to raise the sensitivity? Or trim pots to be adjusted? I haven't peeked inside but any advice on this situation would be most appreciated.

Thanks again for an amazing project.

Yes you can!
All inputs are buffered to prevent each signal from messing the others.
This is a picture of your A.F.V., you can change the 27k resistors R103, R203, R303 and R403 for higher values. Do not put a too high value there because it could introduce noise. I suggest values between 33k and 100k max.
Please read the warning on page 24 before opening the back cover.

The next design will have different input design allowing better control of gain.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Try settings on page 13, it can help you understand the way it work.
In this mode, try the balance control.


I'm working on a solution about a "pseudo 8" mode allowing additional signals to be displayed.



Yes you can!
All inputs are buffered to prevent each signal from messing the others.
This is a picture of your A.F.V., you can change the 27k resistors R103, R203, R303 and R403 for higher values. Do not put a too high value there because it could introduce noise. I suggest values between 33k and 100k max.
Please read the warning on page 24 before opening the back cover.

The next design will have different input design allowing better control of gain.

Thanks!
When I open it up I'll see if the input buffers operate in the inverting mode. If so it would be pretty easy to calculate input resistances on Lf/Rf to add center front to each .707 V or -3dB. That would give me pseudo center front. But then I'd have to drill a couple of holes, add a couple of sockets. Dilemma cuz I don't want to mess with the Wurlyscope to much. I'll think about it.

 

[Wurly1]

Thanks!
When I open it up I'll see if the input buffers operate in the inverting mode. If so it would be pretty easy to calculate input resistances on Lf/Rf to add center front to each .707 V or -3dB. That would give me pseudo center front. But then I'd have to drill a couple of holes, add a couple of sockets. Dilemma cuz I don't want to mess with the Wurlyscope to much. I'll think about it.

The input buffers are non-inverting.
Maybe the best solution at this point would be to build an external buffer module to mix your center signal prior to being processed by the AVF. That way no harm is done to your Wurlyscope!

 

[Wurly1]

I have made progress in developing a new matrix on which four additional signals will be superimposed, Left, Front, Right and Rear. These will have absolutely no effect on the way the 4 channel audio fields are displayed. The new matrix will behave just like the mk-I.
I started to look at some cool LEDs. The big challenge here is to find bi-color LEDs the same intensity and colour as the single color ones.

 

[doity]

Here is my entry into the Wurlyscope video sweepstakes. This is a 2-channel recording as I have yet to get my gear up and going since my move. The audio is coming from a microcassette believe it or not. Actually sounds kinda good, especially with the Angrom type microcassette. I had it running in both slow/fast modes for demonstration porpoises.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Vanish poor humor post.

 

[doity]

Vanish poor humor post.

You weren’t making some kind of sick porpoise joke were you? You are a sick, sick man .

 

[Sonik Wiz]

You weren’t making some kind of sick porpoise joke were you? You are a sick, sick man .

No. It had something to do with Bonnie Riatt operating in slow/fast modes. I think.

 

[Wurly1]

Here is my entry into the Wurlyscope video sweepstakes. This is a 2-channel recording as I have yet to get my gear up and going since my move. The audio is coming from a microcassette believe it or not. Actually sounds kinda good, especially with the Angrom type microcassette. I had it running in both slow/fast modes for demonstration porpoises.

Wow stereo microcassette! Never seen a portable stereo microcassette player/recorder.
I have seen a deck on techmoan YT channel i think but never saw one in person.
The microcassette tape recorder i had in the 80's to take notes was far from this quality.
Sounds amazing.

 

[doity]

Yes indeed, the JCQS-440 deserves a thread of it's own. I had a full evening last night of watching music. It's nice when it can be visually confirmed what your hearing. For example the Head Hunters SACD has bass center back in Chameleon which is pretty unusual. At some point I'll dig out my old SQ record & compare. I will need to spend some more time to grasp the value of the differential

On my long-forgotten attempt at building a quad scope I thought that maybe dead center in the display maybe one of those magic eye things could work and it would modulate as the center channel signal went in and out. That way a 5.1 signal could be displayed.......in a roundabout way. Problem was that after I mounted the boards there was no room left to work with. I wish that I would had thought that project out a bit better as it could had turned out pretty cool. Maybe I will try to offload it on EBay now that I have the Wurlyscope .

I was planning on buying a sheet of that acrylic plastic cut to size that is embossed with diamond shapes and attach it to the display to give it a cool 1970’s color organ vibe, but forgot about it. There is a plastics place close by but the scope is still in a box after my move. I bet I could get a few grand for it then.......just call it “Rare” and watch the price go way up .

 

[doity]

Wow stereo microcassette! Never seen a portable stereo microcassette player/recorder.
I have seen a deck on techmoan YT channel i think but never saw one in person.
The microcassette tape recorder i had in the 80's to take notes was far from this quality.
Sounds amazing.

Wurly, yeah at one time I think I had 3 microcassette stereo thingys at the same time. I had a Sony component deck, this boombox, and a Walkman that I still have around somewhere. I actually took the Walkman and a bunch of tapes on a Caribbean cruise a few years back. I was probably the only passenger rockin’ a microcassette player! The reason the tape sounds as good as it does is the recording is so punchy and the Angrom tapes are really suited for those types of recordings. Normal bias tapes sound like crap on microcassette, stereo or not.

You know it’s funny.......I was looking through the old thread just for old times sake and I could had sworn that it was you that was working on a project similiar to mine. But his was a lot better as it incorporated a round display like a true scope. Turns out it was not you after all, but the forum member Soundfield. So when you popped in with the prototype Wurlyscope I just assumed that you had went in a different direction with the design. Isn’t that funny how you just assume things that turn out to not be true?

 

[Soundfield]

You know it’s funny.......I was looking through the old thread just for old times sake and I could had sworn that it was you that was working on a project similiar to mine. But his was a lot better as it incorporated a round display like a true scope. Turns out it was not you after all, but the forum member Soundfield. So when you popped in with the prototype Wurlyscope I just assumed that you had went in a different direction with the design. Isn’t that funny how you just assume things that turn out to not be true?

I abandoned my project! I clearly don't have the dedication of the Wurly Man!!

 

[Wurly1]

On my long-forgotten attempt at building a quad scope I thought that maybe dead center in the display maybe one of those magic eye things could work and it would modulate as the center channel signal went in and out...

You give me an idea for the .1 as in 5.1 . It would be relatively easy to add an LED in the dead center that would be intensity modulated by the sub signal. I wonder how it would look?

 

[doity]

You give me an idea for the .1 as in 5.1 . It would be relatively easy to add an LED in the dead center that would be intensity modulated by the sub signal. I wonder how it would look?

I have an idea. You could use the LED dead center for the center channel and include a small cutout somewhere on the cabinet with a real bright white LED inside the cabinet with a overlay, maybe with red lettering, that says “Sub” or “Subwoofer”? I don’t think that a tiny LED would do justice to the extreme power that is emitted by a subwoofer . Or you could use bar graph LED’s but that might subtract from the overall look of the Wurlyscope and might make it look too busy.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

You give me an idea for the .1 as in 5.1 . It would be relatively easy to add an LED in the dead center that would be intensity modulated by the sub signal. I wonder how it would look?

I think it should be in the center and a cutout in the shape of a heart. With a red LED behind it. A red bass beating heart...

Anyway here's a Q&D vid that shows the Wurlyscope in the differential mode. The track is taken from the QS side of the BBC Quadrafile record & then played back through the SMv2. Visually it confirms the SM is doing a great job of fast high separation decoding from an LP source:

 

[Soundfield]

I think you meant to say the HFN/RR Quadrafile set Sonik ('twas nothing to do with the BBC).

 

[doity]

I think you meant to say the HFN/RR Quadrafile set Sonik ('twas nothing to do with the BBC).

Details, details. Now your gonna tell us that The Beatles weren’t from London.....right? Can’t fool me.