Please welcome Bob Vosgien to QQ, the mastering engineer of the CTA Quad DTS Disc!!

[Quad Linda]

What's a BR player? Ah, you must mean Big Records. SQ or CD-4? lol!! When my kids were little, that's what they called 12" vinyl, my Big Records.

I mean, if the argument for not buying a BR player is "well there's just not enough stuff to play on it," that argument changes rather quickly if we're including movies as well.

 

[elmer]

I mean, if the argument for not buying a BR player is "well there's just not enough stuff to play on it," that argument changes rather quickly if we're including movies as well.

Well, I'm including movies, yeah. Why wouldn't I? I was responding to the comments "Not got into blu-ray as there is not enough good quality product Audio or Video" or "I don't buy into the image "quality" so I'll only get it if there is more BD Audio. I take these comments to mean that Blu Ray doesn't offer a superior visual experience nor is there enough content available to justify the purchase of a player - when to my ears and eyes that is simply not the case. The surround experience on a Blu Ray movie can be spectacular - even if you hate James Cameron and the concept of Avatar the movie, even in 2D it is a spectacular visual accomplishment. It also presents an unparalleled surround experience that I can have in my home using a player that costs less the $100. There are many more great BR experiences both movie and concert video (as I stated in my previous post). So, the argument that there isn't enough good quality audio or video quality BD content out there - just doesn't ring true to me.

 

[grill]

Avatar on 3D TV is still fanatastic (although not an IMAX 3D experience ofc). Wish the blu-ray technology would have already been discovered in the quad era!

 

[jaybird100]

Triad was actually Taiyo Yuden's first attempt in the US - it was sold and distributed by Harmon Kardon. With That's it was a redesign and a foolish attempt to go direct - head to head with TDK, Maxell, Sony & Denon. All of the type II tapes were pretty comparable, give or take. They were trying to hang their hat on the Metal Bias Sonos tape -which was quite good if I say so myself - but they didn't have the marketing guns to go up against the big boys - it was a fun trip but a short one.

And yes, we have driven this thread completely off it's original course - and I will share equal blame for that - perhaps it should be renamed. " Say farewell to Bob Vosqien - we hardly knew ye!'

We may have gone off-course, but it's a pretty lively discussion. And I agree, if he was still around, we probably chased Bob off.

 

[kap'n krunch]

We are DERAILING the thread, my fellow QQ mates!

BD image quality should have another thread....

Back on track...Mr. Vosgien; if you are there, would keep us up to date and at least tell us where you are ( Capitol??? Which dept,?) and what might be the future of Quad releases?

Cheers....

 

[winopener]

I remember That's tape; I worked in a store that sold it. I also tried it, and it really wasn't all that bad, but clearly there were better ones out there. I usually preferred Maxell or TDK.

I've recorded hundreds of That's tapes back in the days, and while in term of absolute performance the edge on Chrome was still on Basf CHD2, they performed quite well and could be pushed up in levels more than any other before going into saturation.
What made a big yes for me with That's tape was the quality/price ratio: for ferro tapes, normally used in cars etc, the That's FX was miles better than any other Ferro 120uS tape with a low price more.

 

[winopener]

Back in the day, I worked for a little company called Taiyo Yuden - they were introducing a new CD recording audio tape called That's (That's was a disaster - and my introduction to the CE business). To attract crowds to our booth at CES in Chicago, we did a live demonstration of Recordable CD technology complete with Japanese engineers in white lab coats - and a very talented buddy of mine playing a Midi Synth set-up live as proof. The CD-R set-up was a real Rube Goldberg contraption the size of a small refrigerator with a rather complex Sonic Solutions authoring set-up. This was the first demonstration of Recordable CD technology in the US- ah the good ol' days!

Year of that demo?

 

[Quad Linda]

El Capitan, ever the gentleman!

Bob, if you're still here, on the "Listening to in surround" thread, CTA is perhaps my most listened to surround album. The Quadio release was mastered well, albeit lossy. I've always marvelled that the mix on CTA is great, perhaps better than some of the other Chicago albums. I always loved it on SQ.

Yes, the BD, Triad/That's discusssions should be moved to it's own thread. Winopener, I should let Elmer answer, my guess is mid '90's, perhaps '95 on that CD-R demo at CES. Elmer, what's the REAL answer? In the mid 80's, I recall a demonstration at CES of a 5 1/4" floppy disc recording digital audio. The poor inventor sat at a keyboard DESPERATELY trying to get it to work. "Prediction and proof" is a key concept in selling a/v gear. "Now you'll notice that it does/sounds/looks like thus..." It had better do what you predicted, or you're sunk!

We had a promo on BASF ferri-chrome: 4 tapes and a padded carrying case. I bought several, with car stereo in mind. The tapes sounded great, but weren't durable. They developed dropouts pretty quickly. A couple years later, I returned to ferri-chrome, this time with Denon. Those tapes WERE durable and sounded great!

When this train runs off the track, it won't be back no more. - The (New Orleans) Radiators

We are DERAILING the thread, my fellow QQ mates!

BD image quality should have another thread....

Back on track...Mr. Vosgien; if you are there, would keep us up to date and at least tell us where you are ( Capitol??? Which dept,?) and what might be the future of Quad releases?

Cheers....

 

[vinylguy4]

We are DERAILING the thread, my fellow QQ mates!

Back on track...Mr. Vosgien; if you are there, would keep us up to date and at least tell us where you are ( Capitol??? Which dept,?) and what might be the future of Quad releases?

Cheers....

I don't have anything to add about BV's quad releases.
I did get the 2012 Grammy's CD, was mastered by Robert Vosgien at Capitol Mastering.
He's still around, but paying the bills with stereo.

vinylguy4

 

[elmer]

Year of that demo?

1988/89 - I have a demo CD-R somewhere with Carlos Alomar playing a short piece on the original That's CD-R promo piece. But the Chicago CES demo was definitely the first one done live.

 

[jaybird100]

I've recorded hundreds of That's tapes back in the days, and while in term of absolute performance the edge on Chrome was still on Basf CHD2, they performed quite well and could be pushed up in levels more than any other before going into saturation.
What made a big yes for me with That's tape was the quality/price ratio: for ferro tapes, normally used in cars etc, the That's FX was miles better than any other Ferro 120uS tape with a low price more.

The only problem I had with That's tapes was too many dropouts. I used a deck with variable bias adjustment and got great sound on the recordings, but they started developing severe dropouts after relatively few playings. Other tapes didn't have that problem.

 

[Quad Linda]

My experience with Triad/That's was quite the opposite. I used both bias adj. and test tones on two 3-head decks, first on a Kenwood KX-1030, later with a H/K CD-401, which I still own. Tapes were encoded through a dbx 224, which effectively renders a dropout twice as soft. Most playback was on my Concord car-fi w/dbx, the rest on various decks in our store. As I mentioned earlier, BASF ferrichrome was the most dropout prone, and that was without dbx!! Car CD was a comedown after this!

The only problem I had with That's tapes was too many dropouts. I used a deck with variable bias adjustment and got great sound on the recordings, but they started developing severe dropouts after relatively few playings. Other tapes didn't have that problem.

 

[jaybird100]

I had the best results with Maxell and TDK tapes. Once I had a recorder that was able to use metal tapes, I pretty much used them exclusively. I got great sound from them, and they sounded quite good in the car, too. It's a shame Philips wouldn't allow unidirectional quad cassettes. Discrete quad on a cassette may have kept things going a good bit longer. With good tape, discrete quad cassettes would have sounded terrific.

 

[JonUrban]

Oh My. This thread is so depressing to read through from the beginning.

Such joy, hope and disbelief that too suddenly vanished like a ghost in the night. Damn corporations, they giveth and the quickly and swiftly taketh away.
It really makes you want to scream. First off, the chances of a program like this (Quadio) coming to fruition are so damn remote, to actually have it happen, then suddenly be pulled away like a carrot on a stick is bewildering.

So close, yet so far. Close to the Edge, you might say......

Well, at least we have that one coming, thanks to SW and NW.

 

[Quadwreck]

The only solution is an independent label dedicated to surround mixes, just like what Mobile Fidelity, Audio Fidelity (etc) do for audiophiles.

 

[jaybird100]

The only solution is an independent label dedicated to surround mixes, just like what Mobile Fidelity, Audio Fidelity (etc) do for audiophiles.

I thought we had that with Koch, but what have they done lately?

 

[Perp]

How about Music Valet? At the rate he's going, we might get one release per year. :yikes

 

[0tto]

i'm strongly believe that holy place won't be vacant for too long.
vanishing of record labels and swallowing of their archives by UMG, Sony and WEA happened because of poor sales of
music in general.
those big 3 now holding huge catalogs but not yet done anything to recoup such expenditure. if you have noticed, lately
there are very much actions, which hints that they now in search of new forms and models of doing business.
hopefully surround releases is a part which got their attention as well. at least past and present years saw
unprecedented amount of surround titles after almost 10 years of dead calm since early 2000-ish.

 

[rtbluray]

The only solution is an independent label dedicated to surround mixes, just like what Mobile Fidelity, Audio Fidelity (etc) do for audiophiles.

How about Music Valet? At the rate he's going, we might get one release per year. :yikes

Well the truth is, we already have two independent labels that while they are not strictly dedicated to producing 5.1 mixes have done a great job of getting the majority of the recent mixes out on the marketplace for all of us to enjoy.
These labels are Kscope (with Steven Wilson, Nosound, Blackfield, Katatonia, Anathema, etc) and DGM/Panegyric (with King Crimson, XTC, Yes, The Vicar, etc), not to mention of course all of the other Steven Wilson mixes completed for other labels like Sony (with ELP), Chrysalis (with Jethro Tull), and CherryTree (with Hawkwind).

As good as Richard's intentions may be with Music Valet (and as much as everyone else on here, including myself, support him), chances are unless he is able to get a 5.1 mix of an earth-shatteringly significant album made, he's not gonna make enough sales to survive in the marketplace by ONLY selling 5.1 mixes.
Stereo is still the norm and we all still listen to stereo when we can't get access to 5.1, like on computers, iPods, and cars, so only providing a 5.1 mix is probably not a financial safezone, especially giving how much music sales have dropped off since the millennium.

The CD/DVD-A and CD/Blu-Ray releases that have been or will be released are our best chances to help give 5.1 surround a proper bounce back.

 

[Perp]

Well then, Richard's intentions may be to find that album that no one else would think or want to do in surround. And maybe he's not doing it for financial reasons alone. This may be the reason why we might not see any new releases via Music Valet for a while and they could come in 1-2 at a time.