LATEST Piece of Gear in Your Stack - What is it?

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Still stacking up those shelves with gold from the Magic Basement . . . and record store purchases! I'm starting to frame Quad album covers, which i'll arrange on the wall above the shelves. I'm hoping to get ten or so of them up there. I just happened to get an A, B, C cover with the first three! SM on Monday . . . it is hoped!
1673163329136.png

1673163426737.png
 
Last edited:
This will be easy. You have the multichannel analog inputs on that receiver; the outputs from the Surround Master will connect to those inputs. Use the tape rec output connection on the receiver to feed the input of the SM. When you want to listen through the SM, turn on the multichannel inputs (button 11, on the diagram you sent). Make sure the tape out mode is set to "Source".

With the receiver turned on, the tape output set to "source", and the multichannel input turned on, and the SM turned on as well, you're ready to adjust the SM. Start with the input level control in the middle detent setting. Set the SM to the Involve 4.1 setting. Play a record; slowly turn the input level control up until the red LED, directly over the control, begins to flash with the music. Back off of it slightly. You only want to see that flicker on extreme program peaks. Adjust it more if you need to. The level controls should start at the detent settings; you can adjust them to your taste as needed. Ideally, the level should be the same on all channels, but your listening position, and room layout, may dictate a different setting.

The Involve setting gives you both 4.1 and 5.1 settings. The 4.1 setting gives you the front and rear speakers, as well as your subwoofer. The 5.1 adds the center into the mix, as well. When playing music, try both settings. I prefer the 4.1 for music; try both and see which one you prefer. You have the same settings for SQ. The Involve mode does a great job with QS-encoded music, as well as Dolby Surround. It also does great things with stereo recordings, creating a very solid surround image with most. The effect will depend on the recording itself. The SQ mode should be used for SQ-encoded records; you could also use it with stereo records, but the effect is better with Involve. TSS is Two Speaker Surround. It created a wide soundfield with only two speakers.

Have fun with your SM. You'll rediscover your record and CD collection, all over again.
Oh, MAN! I'm tearing up as i'm typing! This is unbelievable! I don't have a red LED over any control, so i turned it to about 1 o'clock and turned the others to the same position. I put on Truck Turner, set it to SQ mode, and . . . mind BLOWN! Thanks SO VERY MUCH to you and @J. PUPSTER and @Sonik Wiz . Ima be sitting in this new sweet spot until, hmm, . . . April? (@jefe1 !)
9357D765-B5D8-4FA8-AD2D-4D4F5F25D6A9_1_105_c.jpeg

Screen Shot 2023-01-09 at 3.52.15 PM.png
And here's my trying to take a pano from LS to RS, ELAC speaker boxes strewn all over the floor!
1673301234699.png
 
Oh, MAN! I'm tearing up as i'm typing! This is unbelievable! I don't have a red LED over any control, so i turned it to about 1 o'clock and turned the others to the same position. I put on Truck Turner, set it to SQ mode, and . . . mind BLOWN! Thanks SO VERY MUCH to you and @J. PUPSTER and @Sonik Wiz . Ima be sitting in this new sweet spot until, hmm, . . . April? (@jefe1 !)
View attachment 87208

View attachment 87211 And here's my trying to take a pano from LS to RS, ELAC speaker boxes strewn all over the floor!
View attachment 87210
Awesome dude!!! I see in your pic of the SMv2 that it's set at 5(1), I'd recommend the 4(1) for that SQ and see if it sounds better that way.
 
Oh, MAN! I'm tearing up as i'm typing! This is unbelievable! I don't have a red LED over any control, so i turned it to about 1 o'clock and turned the others to the same position. I put on Truck Turner, set it to SQ mode, and . . . mind BLOWN! Thanks SO VERY MUCH to you and @J. PUPSTER and @Sonik Wiz . Ima be sitting in this new sweet spot until, hmm, . . . April? (@jefe1 !)
View attachment 87208

View attachment 87211 And here's my trying to take a pano from LS to RS, ELAC speaker boxes strewn all over the floor!
View attachment 87210

Congratulations Mr Clement! I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, you & the Surround Master! I'm sure you will keep us informed as to your explorations.

Now, maybe it's camera aberrations, but the pic you posted of your unit looks different than mine. With yours it looks like there's a blue LED to the side at 3:00 by the level control, and another straight above that on the panel. On my box there's just one blue LED at 12:00 above the input level. Just like the pic on the Involve website:

1673303013305.png


Hmmm???

And about that main level control, I like to clarify that is an input level control while the others are output. You want to keep the input level as high as you can without the level LED blinking. The decoding gets wonky otherwise & digital distortion is not a pretty thing.

Nice room. I like the boxes. They tie the room together.
 
Now, maybe it's camera aberrations, but the pic you posted of your unit looks different than mine. With yours it looks like there's a blue LED to the side at 3:00 by the level control, and another straight above that on the panel. On my box there's just one blue LED at 12:00 above the input level. Just like the pic on the Involve website:

And about that main level control, I like to clarify that is an input level control while the others are output. You want to keep the input level as high as you can without the level LED blinking. The decoding gets wonky otherwise & digital distortion is not a pretty thing.

Nice room. I like the boxes. They tie the room together.
I'm sure that's just camera lens reflections there SW, you funny!

But yes Clement, back down those output F&R levels and try to get that Input level knob up to maybe 3:00 o'clock (y)
 
I'm sure that's just camera lens reflections there SW, you funny!

But yes Clement, back down those output F&R levels and try to get that Input level knob up to maybe 3:00 o'clock (y)
wOw! Okay, i have the input at about 3 o'clock and i'm listening in 4.0. All sounds WONDERFUL! If a light is supposed to turn on above the input level control, it has yet to come on, and i cranked it up all the way! The SMv.s is doing a GRAND job decoding Truck Turner, and my copy is pretty damn clean! More M- than VG+! Woo hoo! I prolly didn't need that center speaker! Well, i will be able to play my surround stuff down here now, and much of that does make use of the center channel, but this Quad LP sounds rilly groovy in 4.0! Thanks, comrades! Stay Surrounded!
 
wOw! Okay, i have the input at about 3 o'clock and i'm listening in 4.0. All sounds WONDERFUL! If a light is supposed to turn on above the input level control, it has yet to come on, and i cranked it up all the way! The SMv.s is doing a GRAND job decoding Truck Turner, and my copy is pretty damn clean! More M- than VG+! Woo hoo! I prolly didn't need that center speaker! Well, i will be able to play my surround stuff down here now, and much of that does make use of the center channel, but this Quad LP sounds rilly groovy in 4.0! Thanks, comrades! Stay Surrounded!
Just my own preference and opinion, but if your doing a Quad album, in any format, generally I like to stay outputting it to pure Quad / 4.0!
 
Congratulations Mr Clement! I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, you & the Surround Master! I'm sure you will keep us informed as to your explorations.

Now, maybe it's camera aberrations, but the pic you posted of your unit looks different than mine. With yours it looks like there's a blue LED to the side at 3:00 by the level control, and another straight above that on the panel. On my box there's just one blue LED at 12:00 above the input level. Just like the pic on the Involve website:

View attachment 87214

Hmmm???

And about that main level control, I like to clarify that is an input level control while the others are output. You want to keep the input level as high as you can without the level LED blinking. The decoding gets wonky otherwise & digital distortion is not a pretty thing.

Nice room. I like the boxes. They tie the room together.
Yeah, that's just the way the picture turned out. Mine looks the same as the website. Got those boxes broken down and thrown out right before my wife came home! She opened the downstairs door (we stay in a two flat) and her eyes got HUGE and her jaw dropped to her chest! Ah, marital bliss. Hmm, maybe it was the new lava light and not the speakers . . . wOw! This Truck Turner is KILLER! I'm on the last track on side 3 (played 1 & 4, then 2 & 3, just like the old days!)
1673306553942.png
 
Last edited:
. Got those boxes broken down and thrown out right before my wife came home!
View attachment 87217

Yes Sir, sometimes these projects must be briskly completed within the time frame I call The Wife Window. Maybe it should be genderless & just call it the Spouse Window.


My first experience of this sort came when I purchased my first really cool TV upgrade. Good bye Sony. Hello Toshiba 40" CRT RPTV. It was standard def but widescreen & Laserdiscs looked marvelous on it.

Anyway when working it was my habit to take a few days PTO around Thanksgiving & have the whole week off. I took that opportunity to have the TV delivered early in the week when my wife was at work.

I paid the delivery guy a few $$ to help me unbox it & carry downstairs. Being RPTV it was quite a large box. I broke it down & carried it a side of the house you can't see too well. I covered it with branches & yard debris. I felt like I was hiding a dead body.

At$2k a big purchase for me & I felt it must be introduced properly to the family. So on Thanksgiving I took everyone downstairs for a big surprise. They all loved it but the main thing was the presentation was sort of anti-climatic with all the other stuff going on. Mission accomplished.
 
Fortunately, my wife is a pretty good sport about purchases within reason. With Christmas and new receiver I was getting (which she knew about) I figured it would also be an excellent time to get a second sub-woofer because... well, the receiver could support two so it seemed like a waste to have that plug empty.

Wife and daughter were out doing some Christmas shopping and I figured I could get the desired sub-woofer home from Best Buy before they got home.

Went in, searched an unreasonably long time for a worker to help me, then walked out with a huge, heavy box in my hands. (In retrospect, the use of a cart wouldn’t have been a bad idea.)

No lie... as I walked out of Best Buy, my wife and daughter drove up. Just so happened they had been shopping in a nearby store and my daughter recognized me. My wife rolled down the window and said, “Watcha got there?”

I tried the Jedi-mind trick, “This is not the husband you’re looking for.” Turns out I was. I said it was a sub-woofer (and a heavy one at that) and that was enough for her to lose interest, content in the knowledge that we all knew I was busted.

I think she enjoyed the rest of the day buying what she wanted, knowing I wasn’t in a position to say jack-poop about it.

Very blessed to have the wife I have. Like I said, she’s a good sport about my music hobby.
 
My wife has always said "Love me , love my speakers." She has gotten quite an affinity for opera lately so almost anything I want to do gets no resistance. She also concedes that there are much worse hobbies a guy can have.
 
... I said it was a sub-woofer (and a heavy one at that) and that was enough for her to lose interest, content in the knowledge that we all knew I was busted...
Ah, I thought the punchline might be that she helped you carry it, and with such joy in the air and surrounded by puzzled shoppers, you renewed your marriage vows on the spot.
 
Ah, I thought the punchline might be that she helped you carry it, and with such joy in the air and surrounded by puzzled shoppers, you renewed your marriage vows on the spot.
If we were ever to renew vows with a music theme, I’d push to fly to Japan and do it in front of the Tower Records in Shibuya. Never been there, but I loved Tower as a kid and the thought of a multi-story TR is exciting.
 
Fortunately, my wife is a pretty good sport about purchases within reason.
My wife and I figured out a way to never fight about money. Both of out paychecks went into a joint account, and the bank scheduled a transfer once a month of a set amount (same for both of us) into our individual accounts. I call it my allowance, and she never complains about my purchases from that fund.

She can buy 200 pairs of shoes a year, as lomg as they don’t end up on my side of the closet, and I can buy speakers, records, movies, or whatever out of my money. Utilities and groceries, etc., come out of the joint account.
 
My wife and I figured out a way to never fight about money. Both of out paychecks went into a joint account, and the bank scheduled a transfer once a month of a set amount (same for both of us) into our individual accounts. I call it my allowance, and she never complains about my purchases from that fund.

She can buy 200 pairs of shoes a year, as lomg as they don’t end up on my side of the closet, and I can buy speakers, records, movies, or whatever out of my money. Utilities and groceries, etc., come out of the joint account.
Sounds like a fair deal!
 
My wife and I figured out a way to never fight about money ... She can buy 200 pairs of shoes a year, as long as they don’t end up on my side of the closet...
So if the 200 pairs of shoes do end up on your side, who pays for a bigger closet?

"Look, I don't care if you buy 200 pairs of shoes - I've even said so in public - but they're taking up too much space in our shared closet!"

"Don't talk to me about "taking up too much space"!! I don't care if you buy speakers for your hobby, but I can't move in the living room because of your speakers!!"

"I thought you'd say that, so I rearranged them, maybe you can do the same with your 200 pairs of shoes? Go and take a look."


e12505405301633ffe15af5b110395d5.jpg
 
So if the 200 pairs of shoes do end up on your side, who pays for a bigger closet?

"Look, I don't care if you buy 200 pairs of shoes - I've even said so in public - but they're taking up too much space in our shared closet!"

"Don't talk to me about "taking up too much space"!! I don't care if you buy speakers for your hobby, but I can't move in the living room because of your speakers!!"

"I thought you'd say that, so I rearranged them, maybe you can do the same with your 200 pairs of shoes? Go and take a look."


View attachment 87271
The theater equipment is quarantined in the theater. It’s MY space, although she may use it whenever she wants to. So we do respect the boundaries. Well, I still have another room of stuff that remains packed in moving boxes… And the electronic parfs I inherited from my dad last year.
 
my wife is a pretty good sport about this Audio Video thing I have going on. She looks at it this way ( in her words ) - I could be boozing, womanizing
gambling or whatever money vice a man can have. Instead she allows the endless influx of shiney discs. BUT - I have been given a few rules -
Rule 1 - "pick up your discs and be organized."
Rule 2 - "TURN THAT SHIT DOWN ! "

Overall - she puts up with me. She is a gem

BTW - discs / equipment / AV goodies are Always delivered to my work. I get home from work before her ;) .
 
Last edited:
my wife is a pretty good sport about this Audio Video thing I have going on. She looks at it this way ( in her words ) - I could be boozing, womanizing
gambling or whatever money vice a man can have. Instead she allows the endless influx of shiney discs. BUT - I have been given a few rules -
Rule 1 - "pick up your discs and be organized."
Rule 2 - "TURN THAT SHIT DOWN ! "

Overall - she puts up with me. She is a gem

BTW - discs / equipment / AV goodies are Always delivered to my work. I get home from work before her ;) .
Smart move! I use to do the same but I’m retired now!!!
 
Back
Top