Old Zenith Allegro Combo Stereo cira 1974-75

[Mediaman67]

Hi All,

I finally found my childhood stereo that my parents owned in the mid 70's They never ran it in anything other than Stereo, and as a Kid I didn't even know it had Matrix build into it.

This unit has a turntable and an 8 Track player and of course, a tuner. it has in and out for the preamp (labeled Tape play and record lol) but it also has a switch for Stereo or Matrix with 2 or 4 places to connect your RCA style speakers... came with the allegro 1000s I think, but they only got 2 speakers - my Dad HATED seeing speakers in his living room, so no way they would have 4! haha.

They call this on the front, 2 x 2 Matrix.. I guess power windows on a car for that time

So, now my questions:

My first question is: would this be SQ encoded material that it is looking for? I don't want to invest in another type of encode and be wrong. Honestly the only thing I really wanna hear on this is Pink Floyd's DSOTM since it would be cool to see what Alan Parson had in mind when he mixed it.

My second question is: does the entire system decode anything that has SQ recorded content or only 8 tracks or only LP's?? Im assuming the tuner is N/A since I don;t think they ever broadcasted in quad did they? The receiver is really cool - it has that DIGILITE display...

Now my last question: - How does it work? - this is all analog of course, so how does a 2 track recording contain 4 tracks of information? where is it stored? I understand that it needs to be decoded in real time via playback of course, but I just am trying to figure that out in my head does it sort it somehow in the freq map? how is the content encoded to be decoded? very cool for it's time I guess?

Thanks to all - and lastly - can anyone recommend good quad material to listen to?

 

[winopener]

Welcome to the club!
If you can specify the exact model you're talking about we can at least try to understand what it can do. Pictures welcomed!

 

[par4ken]

Yes please post more information such as model number. Even though described as matrix I suspect that what you are describing in just a stereo unit with a Dynaco style (passive decoding) speaker connection. It was the cheapest way to (sort of) go quad. More information or pictures will tell us more.

 

[quadsearcher]

Maybe it's The Quadrille! This ad doesn't specify matrix type, but it says 4-channel discrete 8-track so maybe it is really a four channel system.
https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I...X/70s/High-Fidelity-1974-11-OCR-Page-0031.pdf
Then again, this author says there was also a 2-channel unit with probably a passive speaker phase network.
https://blogs.telosalliance.com/found-in-the-attic-zenith-allegro-modular-stereo

 

[Mediaman67]

Zenith Allegro F-589W
Is the model number - not as common as the wedge units some photos as well: - Thanks to all of you your your opinions and advice.

 

[winopener]

That Zenith F589W is a stereo system with a (99%) passive hafler circuit for the rear speaker. Tape is stereo, record is stereo. No discrete quad anywhere in sight.
But i had to say that i like how it looks.

 

[winopener]

My first question is: would this be SQ encoded material that it is looking for? I don't want to invest in another type of encode and be wrong. Honestly the only thing I really wanna hear on this is Pink Floyd's DSOTM since it would be cool to see what Alan Parson had in mind when he mixed it.

DSOTM quad had been released on digital format: if this is the only thing you want to try, the BluRay is your best option.

My second question is: does the entire system decode anything that has SQ recorded content or only 8 tracks or only LP's?? Im assuming the tuner is N/A since I don;t think they ever broadcasted in quad did they? The receiver is really cool - it has that DIGILITE display...

Given the system, it will "move around things" from any source, be radio, record or tape, but it is not a sq decoding.

Now my last question: - How does it work? - this is all analog of course, so how does a 2 track recording contain 4 tracks of information? where is it stored? I understand that it needs to be decoded in real time via playback of course, but I just am trying to figure that out in my head does it sort it somehow in the freq map? how is the content encoded to be decoded? very cool for it's time I guess?

A bit of history here: Quadraphonic sound - Wikipedia

Thanks to all - and lastly - can anyone recommend good quad material to listen to?

Too much to say.... it all depends what do you like.

 

[Mediaman67]

Thanks for all this!! - do you have a schematic for a halfler circuit like that? - just curious about it. I guess they had that for the folks that didn't want to feel "left out" of the quad scene? haha.

I guess a Sony or Laffette box is the best bet for a stand alone decoder for SQ? -

 

[winopener]

Thanks for all this!! - do you have a schematic for a halfler circuit like that? - just curious about it. I guess they had that for the folks that didn't want to feel "left out" of the quad scene? haha.

http://audiocircuit.blogspot.com/2011/09/surround-sound-decoder.html

I guess a Sony or Laffette box is the best bet for a stand alone decoder for SQ? -

No. This is: http://involveaudio.com/product/surround-master-v2/

 

[abby normal]

i wish my folks had something like that back in the day rather than what they did have [a big horizontal piece of furniture with no discernible stereo effect]

 

[MidiMagic]

My UQ-1 gives you more flexibility. It's a full passive RM decoder.

 

[par4ken]

i wish my folks had something like that back in the day rather than what they did have [a big horizontal piece of furniture with no discernible stereo effect]

As I recall almost everyone had that type of "HiFi" back then. Most people only had Mono records as well. The big old console did sound great if you sat directly in front of it while listening to an actual stereo source.

As component type systems became more popular, many people simply placed the speakers side by side to save space, so still no real stereo. In hindsight and in light of that fact it's easy to see why there was no mass demand for Quad as most people hadn't truly embraced Stereo yet. Most people still don't even care, they listen to music on their phones or over a single blue tooth speaker!