Involve Audio Super Surround Preamp (Preliminary info)

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
psychoacousticly, chucky, I've always wondered if the early Japanese Quad matrix format 'QX' with 5 speakers (two front, two side and one rear center) was a sort of a precursor to the later and also now defunct DTS-ES 6.1; and whether we got it all wrong (with matrix systems at least), considering all the problems with SQ etc. -just throwing up stuff while you're busy as hell compadre ;)
As far as the technical aspects of all this, I have little clue, but I do use the SM-v2 in Involve mode to decode my QX albums and they sound great!

View attachment 112808
View attachment 112809
View attachment 112810
View attachment 112811View attachment 112812
View attachment 112813
A lot like the Dynaco diamond! I think that most people don't like having a speaker directly behind thier head. Two surrounds one on each side is so much more pleasant to listen to.
 
psychoacousticly, chucky, I've always wondered if the early Japanese Quad matrix format 'QX' with 5 speakers (two front, two side and one rear center) was a sort of a precursor to the later and also now defunct DTS-ES 6.1; and whether we got it all wrong (with matrix systems at least), considering all the problems with SQ etc. -just throwing up stuff while you're busy as hell compadre ;)
As far as the technical aspects of all this, I have little clue, but I do use the SM-v2 in Involve mode to decode my QX albums and they sound great!

View attachment 112808
View attachment 112809
View attachment 112810
View attachment 112811View attachment 112812
View attachment 112813
Hey Pup

Actually that is the first I have heard about the QX system!

There is some good sense to it as speaking from a psycho our directional sense up front is way better than our rear directional sense particularly when there is content up front. Also contrary to what most people think we generally process audio serially and can only spot one direction at a time (in similar audio frequency bands). This is one of the rocks all us matrix guys hide under- playing the psycho acoustic shell game.

The upside of the dreaded SQ is based on solid psycho acoustics - that we are less sensitive to rear and so the SQ matrix heavily reserves its separation to the front and cludges some rear action in 3dB. I can see why it was supported at the time.

Interestingly enough the way I got into psycho acoustics is that I did a year of psychology prior to 2 engineering degrees as I was too young to gain entrance to the engineering university at the time. When my mum was house maid to the nuns, I was just on 4 years old and the nuns decided I was ready for school! No one noticed I was that young through the years because of my height but the engineering university had an age restriction so I killed year doing psychology. I later found out that my prime psych teacher, a very attractive tall Dutch blond had "thoughts" about lil ol me- the cradle snatcher!
 
Last edited:
Hey Pup

Actually that is the first I have heard about the QX system!

There is some good sense to it as speaking from a psycho our directional sense up front is way better than our rear directional sense particularly when there is content up front. Also contrary to what most people think we generally process audio serially and can only spot one direction at a time (in similar audio frequency bands). This is one of the rocks all us matrix guys hide under- playing the psycho acoustic shell game.

The upside of the dreaded SQ is based on solid psycho acoustics - that we are less sensitive to rear and so the SQ matrix heavily reserves its separation to the front and cludges some rear action in 3dB. I can see why it was supported at the time.

Interestingly enough the way I got into psycho acoustics is that I did a year of psychology prior to 2 engineering degrees as I was too young to gain entrance to university at the time. When my mum was house maid to the nuns, I was just on 4 years old and the nuns decided I was ready for school! No one noticed I was that young through the years because of my height but the engineering university had an age restriction so I killed year doing psychology. I later found out that my prime psych teacher, a very attractive tall Dutch blond had "thoughts" about lil ol me- the cradle snatcher!
SQ retains full separation left to right across the front and across the rear. Decoders that use any amount of fixed blend across the rear pull the rear sound image inward. Front to rear separation is where the compromise is, only 3dB without enhancement.

It has been said that pair wise mixing does not work for side signals. I somewhat disagree, however Imaging is not nearly as distinct as across the front or across the rear. SQ did take full advantage of that psycho acoustic phenomenon.

I believe that the reason the surround master sounds OK to excellent on stereo material (without using phase blend) is due to the same psycho acoustic phenomenon. Sound emanating equally from front and rear is not always perceived that way.
 
SQ retains full separation left to right across the front and across the rear. Decoders that use any amount of fixed blend across the rear pull the rear sound image inward. Front to rear separation is where the compromise is, only 3dB without enhancement.

It has been said that pair wise mixing does not work for side signals. I somewhat disagree, however Imaging is not nearly as distinct as across the front or across the rear. SQ did take full advantage of that psycho acoustic phenomenon.

I believe that the reason the surround master sounds OK to excellent on stereo material (without using phase blend) is due to the same psycho acoustic phenomenon. Sound emanating equally from front and rear is not always perceived that way.
Well corrected, I agree
 
Back
Top