Quad back up and running - phenomenal cd-4: Quincy Jones Mellow Madness

[Quadgirl]

Hi, everyone! Just a quick post to say I have my akai q8 deck back in rotation, along with having re-done all cabling, and swapping in Crites crossovers in Heresy rears and finally the SNR’s and dbz 200X’s are doing their jobs flawlessly. I also A/B’d using the “Holy Grail” cd-4 demodulator in the QB/Jim Showker fixed 9001 with the Technics SH-400. So, Q8’s were awesome and I enjoyed Chicago XII q8s along with Herbie Mann and one of the great Ford Demo tapes(my humble opinion there). Wow - Chicago tapes dragged painfully on Technics deck, but played fine on akai! Yay - because I probably paid too much for their rough exterior condition! What phenomenal sound! Then I played QS album (a Tony Mottolo) and enjoyed that, as well as an SQ album ( the wonderful EW&F Way of the World - lovely lyrics and message) All great! Then I decided to try CD-4 and hope previous tuning-in has held and what a great surprise. While it still could be tweaked, the discreteness of Q;s Mellow Madness was immersively wonderful! The placement of Minnie Ripperton in one speaker and another female in another and the placement of the instruments throughout was just great. That was in the 9001. Then I played the same album through the Technics SH-400. Well, somehow, it raises the volume (which probably biased me toward it), but it also opened it up - the sound, somehow. Double wow! Quad nirvana on an album I had not paid attention too and now will claim it as one of my favorites for both music and quad. After a few days of setbacks when a cable would pull out or something would not switch properly and having to move all the stuff back out to re-wire, what a fine feeling to have it all working so well. I do love the new X-overs - speakers have a new life and the old one was not bad! So, just sharing my return to the full enjoyment of our hobby/lifestyle! I made a cheat sheet, but can almost select any source and hit the right buttons/swotches to engage it properly. This stuff is hard to do sometimes, but I have a better handle on all the dbx boxes now and they are all working fine. This time, I used the “decoder” section of 200x’s instead of making it a sound processor, so now only the technics is in an SP spot. Helps simplify selection between sources. Yay! And thanks to all who helped, including my old notes from Doug and QuadLinda from when I last re-hooked things up a few years ago! Now, one finding (did not want to put this in hardware forum due to software title, but probably suited for there as well): the SH-400 has the six push in buttons/knobs for CCC, carrier and separation setting. I had them all pushed in (ostensibly to keep them from having to be re-calibrated from the last session of set-up) but I decided to push them to return them to the “out” position in case I wanted to make an adjustment and when I did this, the needle on the dial amped up to about -2 to +2 range with the heavy underline sort of mark on the dial. The sound just clicked in to awesomeness. So I pushed them back in and the sound dulled a bit and the meter went back to far left. Now, even without a gauge to look at, I can say the sound improved with buttons out, but why would this be? I pushed them in and out a bit more to find that later, just the separation buttons caused the difference, but who knows with vintage electronics. I have in mind to just let them stay out and enjoy, but just wondered if anyone else has noticed such? Thanks if you have any ideas about that. Maybe something just switched in from having sat dormant fo many, many months. I am not sure I deoxited it in recent weeks or not. Anyway, there is my post of quad nirvana! I hope y;all are able to enjoy the same!
Laura

 

[John Svensson]

I wouldn't tamper with perfection.....

 

[Quadgirl]

I wouldn't tamper with perfection.....

Point taken, for sure! Just a curiosity, but no way am I tinkering or anything at this point!

 

[Philip Spinner]

Hi, everyone! Just a quick post to say I have my akai q8 deck back in rotation, along with having re-done all cabling, and swapping in Crites crossovers in Heresy rears and finally the SNR’s and dbz 200X’s are doing their jobs flawlessly. I also A/B’d using the “Holy Grail” cd-4 demodulator in the QB/Jim Showker fixed 9001 with the Technics SH-400. So, Q8’s were awesome and I enjoyed Chicago XII q8s along with Herbie Mann and one of the great Ford Demo tapes(my humble opinion there). Wow - Chicago tapes dragged painfully on Technics deck, but played fine on akai! Yay - because I probably paid too much for their rough exterior condition! What phenomenal sound! Then I played QS album (a Tony Mottolo) and enjoyed that, as well as an SQ album ( the wonderful EW&F Way of the World - lovely lyrics and message) All great! Then I decided to try CD-4 and hope previous tuning-in has held and what a great surprise. While it still could be tweaked, the discreteness of Q;s Mellow Madness was immersively wonderful! The placement of Minnie Ripperton in one speaker and another female in another and the placement of the instruments throughout was just great. That was in the 9001. Then I played the same album through the Technics SH-400. Well, somehow, it raises the volume (which probably biased me toward it), but it also opened it up - the sound, somehow. Double wow! Quad nirvana on an album I had not paid attention too and now will claim it as one of my favorites for both music and quad. After a few days of setbacks when a cable would pull out or something would not switch properly and having to move all the stuff back out to re-wire, what a fine feeling to have it all working so well. I do love the new X-overs - speakers have a new life and the old one was not bad! So, just sharing my return to the full enjoyment of our hobby/lifestyle! I made a cheat sheet, but can almost select any source and hit the right buttons/swotches to engage it properly. This stuff is hard to do sometimes, but I have a better handle on all the dbx boxes now and they are all working fine. This time, I used the “decoder” section of 200x’s instead of making it a sound processor, so now only the technics is in an SP spot. Helps simplify selection between sources. Yay! And thanks to all who helped, including my old notes from Doug and QuadLinda from when I last re-hooked things up a few years ago! Now, one finding (did not want to put this in hardware forum due to software title, but probably suited for there as well): the SH-400 has the six push in buttons/knobs for CCC, carrier and separation setting. I had them all pushed in (ostensibly to keep them from having to be re-calibrated from the last session of set-up) but I decided to push them to return them to the “out” position in case I wanted to make an adjustment and when I did this, the needle on the dial amped up to about -2 to +2 range with the heavy underline sort of mark on the dial. The sound just clicked in to awesomeness. So I pushed them back in and the sound dulled a bit and the meter went back to far left. Now, even without a gauge to look at, I can say the sound improved with buttons out, but why would this be? I pushed them in and out a bit more to find that later, just the separation buttons caused the difference, but who knows with vintage electronics. I have in mind to just let them stay out and enjoy, but just wondered if anyone else has noticed such? Thanks if you have any ideas about that. Maybe something just switched in from having sat dormant fo many, many months. I am not sure I deoxited it in recent weeks or not. Anyway, there is my post of quad nirvana! I hope y;all are able to enjoy the same!
Laura

If you can lubricate the inside of the rubber pinch roller on the Chicago tape it might help a little. Something that is safe on plastics. I've been using sewing machine lubricant for years and so far no problem.

 

[Quadgirl]

If you can lubricate the inside of the rubber pinch roller on the Chicago tape it might help a little. Something that is safe on plastics. I've been using sewing machine lubricant for years and so far no problem.

Thanks for that idea. And dang - I had it opened to look at the tape, but did not think to do that. I bought some Ultimate Glide Universal synthetic oil from ebay (Liberty Oil Products is their name, I believe), so maybe I will put a drop of that in there. I got this oil in case I could use it on my foray into learning about 8 track decks, but now my motivation is low for “projects” for a while, but helping out this set of tapes will be a priority. They are really good! Thanks for that suggestion.

 

[Philip Spinner]

Thanks for that idea. And dang - I had it opened to look at the tape, but did not think to do that. I bought some Ultimate Glide Universal synthetic oil from ebay (Liberty Oil Products is their name, I believe), so maybe I will put a drop of that in there. I got this oil in case I could use it on my foray into learning about 8 track decks, but now my motivation is low for “projects” for a while, but helping out this set of tapes will be a priority. They are really good! Thanks for that suggestion.

Great. Just don't use too much. A very little goes a long way. Don't want it squishing out the sides and onto the tape.

 

[Quadgirl]

Great. Just don't use too much. A very little goes a long way. Don't want it squishing out the sides and onto the tape.

Thanks - that is a reminder I need for just about everything.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Dry graphite works too.

 

[Quadgirl]

Dry graphite works too.

Great idea. I would not have thought of that. Thanks.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Hi, everyone! Just a quick post to say I have my akai q8 deck back in rotation, along with having re-done all cabling, and swapping in Crites crossovers in Heresy rears and finally the SNR’s and dbz 200X’s are doing their jobs flawlessly. I also A/B’d using the “Holy Grail” cd-4 demodulator in the QB/Jim Showker fixed 9001 with the Technics SH-400. So, Q8’s were awesome and I enjoyed Chicago XII q8s along with Herbie Mann and one of the great Ford Demo tapes(my humble opinion there). Wow - Chicago tapes dragged painfully on Technics deck, but played fine on akai! Yay - because I probably paid too much for their rough exterior condition! What phenomenal sound! Then I played QS album (a Tony Mottolo) and enjoyed that, as well as an SQ album ( the wonderful EW&F Way of the World - lovely lyrics and message) All great! Then I decided to try CD-4 and hope previous tuning-in has held and what a great surprise. While it still could be tweaked, the discreteness of Q;s Mellow Madness was immersively wonderful! The placement of Minnie Ripperton in one speaker and another female in another and the placement of the instruments throughout was just great. That was in the 9001. Then I played the same album through the Technics SH-400. Well, somehow, it raises the volume (which probably biased me toward it), but it also opened it up - the sound, somehow. Double wow! Quad nirvana on an album I had not paid attention too and now will claim it as one of my favorites for both music and quad. After a few days of setbacks when a cable would pull out or something would not switch properly and having to move all the stuff back out to re-wire, what a fine feeling to have it all working so well. I do love the new X-overs - speakers have a new life and the old one was not bad! So, just sharing my return to the full enjoyment of our hobby/lifestyle! I made a cheat sheet, but can almost select any source and hit the right buttons/swotches to engage it properly. This stuff is hard to do sometimes, but I have a better handle on all the dbx boxes now and they are all working fine. This time, I used the “decoder” section of 200x’s instead of making it a sound processor, so now only the technics is in an SP spot. Helps simplify selection between sources. Yay! And thanks to all who helped, including my old notes from Doug and QuadLinda from when I last re-hooked things up a few years ago! Now, one finding (did not want to put this in hardware forum due to software title, but probably suited for there as well): the SH-400 has the six push in buttons/knobs for CCC, carrier and separation setting. I had them all pushed in (ostensibly to keep them from having to be re-calibrated from the last session of set-up) but I decided to push them to return them to the “out” position in case I wanted to make an adjustment and when I did this, the needle on the dial amped up to about -2 to +2 range with the heavy underline sort of mark on the dial. The sound just clicked in to awesomeness. So I pushed them back in and the sound dulled a bit and the meter went back to far left. Now, even without a gauge to look at, I can say the sound improved with buttons out, but why would this be? I pushed them in and out a bit more to find that later, just the separation buttons caused the difference, but who knows with vintage electronics. I have in mind to just let them stay out and enjoy, but just wondered if anyone else has noticed such? Thanks if you have any ideas about that. Maybe something just switched in from having sat dormant fo many, many months. I am not sure I deoxited it in recent weeks or not. Anyway, there is my post of quad nirvana! I hope y;all are able to enjoy the same!
Laura

@Quadgirl -we don't hear enough from you IMO, there is now a Poll for this (need to think about this one myself and listen again, and I was lucky enough to find a sealed CD-4 copy.)

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/jones-quincy-mellow-madness-cd-4-q8.30003/

 

[Doug G.]

Sorry I missed this a couple of years ago but I was fairly inactive on here while my quad system languished in an unused state.

Anyway, it shouldn't affect performance of the SH-400 whether the six buttons are in or out. Pushing them in or out just determines which function is displayed on the meter. Button in - not displayed. Button out - displayed. That is why you only want one button out at a time, too. Otherwise, the meter indication is a display of all signals associated with any out button combined. So, for example, if you want to display the carrier level for the left channel, have that button out and adjust so the pointer is within the heavier black line on the scale. To adjust separation, just have the button out for that channel and adjust for minimum output from the back speaker for that channel, using a setup record.

To adjust the CCC controls, you are supposed to have the special setup record from Technics but if you don't have it, I have found that setting them at mid-setting, works satisfactorily. I have also just used a regular CD-4 record and adjusted each one for minimum, as indicated on the meter, for each channel. This has resulted in slightly different settings for the controls from center but still works.

If the buttons being in or out does affect the operation of the unit, the switches may be dirty.

When I worked for Telex during our manufacture of 8-track decks for Ford, we determined that silicone oil was ideal for lubricating the pinch roller bushing. We used it on all our test tapes if we ever had to replace the lube. The natural, kind of "stickiness" of the silicone oil acts as damping any reduces wow/flutter. And, as others have stated, just use a little bit. Just kind of smear some on the post.

I hope you are still here, Laura. Ah, I see she was here on January 30 so, not too long ago.

Doug