Quad in the 70's was a masterful idea for the audiophile

[quicksrt]

Had there been a four-channel "digital" disc delivering quadraphonic sound to hi-fi systems back in 1973, it would have made much more of an audiophile splash. Instead quad got labeled a gimmick and surround sound was a tainted name among many audiophiles.

 

[quicksrt]

The audiophiles were not shown much in the retail showrooms to convince them of quad’s virtues in proportion to the added expenditures.

I’ve previously said that had they been playing quadio and SACD discs in 4.0 or 5.1 the damned format equipment would have flown out the doors. The added movies with surround soundtracks would have sealed the deal in 1974 - ‘76. But no VHS yet. Instead we got SQ and Q8 rammed down our ears. So much money invested in mixing and promotion.

 

[kfbkfb]

About the only other option in the early to mid 1970s for discrete quad sound from a disc was to use the Philips-MCA laser videodisc system but with 4 FM channels with Dolby B noise reduction.

Although it wouldn't be digital, the sound quality would be pretty good (and it would just work, no adjustments/alignments needed)...what might have been (Philips was on the quad sound bandwagon with their home audio systems)...


Kirk Bayne

 

[fredblue]

About the only other option in the early to mid 1970s for discrete quad sound from a disc was to use the Philips-MCA laser videodisc system but with 4 FM channels with Dolby B noise reduction.

Although it wouldn't be digital, the sound quality would be pretty good (and it would just work, no adjustments/alignments needed)...what might have been (Philips was on the quad sound bandwagon with their home audio systems)...


Kirk Bayne

did LaserDisc and Quad co-exist in Quad's early-to-mid 70's heyday?

pretty sure my earliest (MCA DiscoVision) LaserDisc dates from 1977..!? it may even be 1978, i'll have to check

 

[kfbkfb]

Looks like Philips was ready to bring their VLP/laser videodisc system to market in the mid 1970s, the intro was slowed down when Philips and MCA decided to combine their laserdisc tech.


Kirk Bayne

 

[quicksrt]

About the only other option in the early to mid 1970s for discrete quad sound from a disc was to use the Philips-MCA laser videodisc system but with 4 FM channels with Dolby B noise reduction.

Although it wouldn't be digital, the sound quality would be pretty good (and it would just work, no adjustments/alignments needed)...what might have been (Philips was on the quad sound bandwagon with their home audio systems)...


Kirk Bayne

That would have been the format to introduce discreet quad to consumers with. It would have played well, maybe better than Q4 reels. But I think it did not arrive until 1980. That was first time I saw a unit and disc.

I got a player early on. A blowout sale of an early top loader Pioneer. I have it out right now on my coffee table testing it to sell on Craig’s List. Analog only sound, no digital and never had remote control for this particular model.
It’s playing fine 45 years later! Just checked it with Stop Making Sense and Song of the South - Japanese import LDs.

 

[audiomaster]

The fits and starts to get us to where we are now with modern reissued 70’s quadraphonic mixed albums - just 20 years is all it took.

And they thread up 50 year old masters (for digital transfers) and they often sound like they were mixed yesterday so far as condition of the tapes are concerned.

As someone previously mentioned we now need Universal Music to get serious about the quad they own and have not yet exploited. It looks to me like there was not a lot of quad out on the US Decca and Uni labels originally. So we are to look towards Capitol, Virgin, Mercury / Polygram, Motown, Liberty / United Artists / Blue Note for quad mixed masters from UMG. There must be at least three or four dozen first class pop quad masters out of those labels’ libraries. And I don’t dare even dream of ABC / Dunhill or A&M material.

So what I’m rambling on about here is I think (between all the labels) there are at least five more years of physical media quad gravy here if they get with it. The death of physical media ain’t here yet.

What are your top 10 desired quad mixed albums from Universal owned masters?

How well these old masters translate to quad is going to vary a lot in any case. If it was all close miked, there will be little info to recreate ambience. Yes you can fudge with digital tools (delay, echo etc) but it won't sound like a live concert would. And much of the classical works were done with only two or three mikes across the front. I know the Fines did this on much of the Mercury recordings like the 1812 Overture. The cannons and bells were overdubbed so could be moved around I guess. Put you "inside" the battle!
But a close miked studio multi-track will probably sound gimmicky or like the old "ping pong percussion" as there is little room sound or echo captured to use for rear channels.

 

[atrocity]

I got a player early on. A blowout sale of an early top loader Pioneer.

CLD-660? That was my low-cost introduction in 1984 and as late as 2018 it was still working.

 

[atrocity]

About the only other option in the early to mid 1970s for discrete quad sound from a disc was to use the Philips-MCA laser videodisc system but with 4 FM channels with Dolby B noise reduction.

The problem there is that so many of those pre-digital LDs were ruined by noise.

 

[kfbkfb]

Sadly true about the noise on early LDs, but that was fixable with improved manufacturing techniques (and Dolby B NR [or a similar NR system] would have raised the audio S/N to ~70dB, as CX NR did on LDs starting in 1981), kinda too bad Philips didn't include a discrete quad audio option in their VLP laserdisc system.


Kirk Bayne

 

[atrocity]

Sadly true about the noise on early LDs, but that was fixable with improved manufacturing techniques (and Dolby B NR [or a similar NR system] would have raised the audio S/N to ~70dB, as CX NR did on LDs starting in 1981), kinda too bad Philips didn't include a discrete quad audio option in their VLP laserdisc system.

Yeah, CX was great! But my biggest complaint with those old discs wasn't hiss or the usual noise tamed by Dolby (or whatever), it was all the static and "helicoptering" and hiss pumping.

The hiss pumping must have been something specific to FM recording because CED did it as well.

But of course, you could have an absolutely fantastic-sounding Laserdisc or CED and one that was just awful on the shelf right next to it.

Back in the 1980s a local TV station ran 2001: A Space Odyssey and simulcast it in stereo on an FM station. A really fun idea ruined by the fact that they used an incredibly noisy Laserdisc as their source. They also cut out Leonard Rossiter and Margaret Tyzack's scene, but oh well.

 

[kfbkfb]

In late 1972, RCA announced their CED videodisc system would have discrete quad sound with the video, I was sorta hoping Philips would match that on their VLP system.

Philips could also have used a more extreme type of NR system (possibly dbx, specifically modified to work well with FM), giving >80dB S/N, it would have been something to have reliable, easy to use discrete quad Hi-Fi sound with an 80dB S/N back in the mid-1970s!

https://archive.is/UEfN5
Pioneer did try LD audios in 1986 (stereo CX+digital audio), the decoded CX audio is very good on these LDs.


Kirk Bayne

 

[barfle]

The problem there is that so many of those pre-digital LDs were ruined by noise.

I know I can hear my player spinning that big disc up to 1800 rpm!

 

[tahoeh2o]

1974 was a good year...

 

[quicksrt]

CLD-660? That was my low-cost introduction in 1984 and as late as 2018 it was still working.

Yes, just checked that is the model. Robust and good picture, the sound was ok on the right discs.
But that damn thing is working perfectly at this time. I'm hunting my junk drawers looking for the plastic locking screw (for laser) for use during transporting the unit which would be nice to have when I am offering it for sale. I still have the original manual which surprises me. I may have bought it at Pacific Stereo in Costa Mesa in the fall of 1984, sounds about right. Or Rogers Sound Lab?

I'm going to ask only $55 or $65, thinking someone will need it to transfer a few discs to digital capture.

 

[atrocity]

I'm going to ask only $55 or $65, thinking someone will need it to transfer a few discs to digital capture.

That was actually the last thing I used mine for. The DiscoVision Elton John Live in Edinburgh disc had an enormous amount of audio noise when played via a later solid state laser, but sounded much better (though still imperfect) with the 660's tube laser.

 

[kfbkfb]

Going OT...I was wondering if the click/pop reduction software for vinyl records also works to reduce the "static" on (analog) LD soundtracks (typically the old MCA DiscoVision LDs)?


Kirk Bayne

 

[quicksrt]

Going OT...I was wondering if the click/pop reduction software for vinyl records also works to reduce the "static" on (analog) LD soundtracks (typically the old MCA DiscoVision LDs)?


Kirk Bayne

ClickRepair works on ticks and pops found on LDs soundtracks yes. I used it on the Fleetwood Mac LD audio.

 

[quicksrt]

i can't do a top 10, there's too many!

some of my most wanted Quads currently held by Universal include the Motown studio albums that saw release in CD-4 Quad form in Japan and a number of A&M titles, although the latter feel particularly doubtful as tapes have supposedly been missing for many years..

Marvin Gaye "What's Going On",
Marvin Gaye "Let's Get It On",
Marvin Gaye & Diana Ross "Marvin & Diana",
Diana Ross "Last Time I Saw Him",
Diana Ross & The Supremes "Greatest Hits",
The Temptations "All Directions",
The Temptations "1990",
The Jackson 5 "Greatest Hits",
Joan Baez "Diamonds & Rust",
Carpenters "Horizon",
Quincy Jones "You've Got It Bad, Girl",
Quincy Jones "Body Heat",
Quincy Jones "Mellow Madness".
Captain & Tennille "Love Will Keep Us Together",
Chuck Mangione "Chase The Clouds Away",
Chuck Mangione "Bellavia"

in addition, i'd love any ABC/Command titles that can be miraculously unearthed, including the Four Tops (3 Quads), Steely Dan (3 Quads), B.B. King (potentially around a half a dozen Quads including unreleased/rumoured titles).. and of course any other A&M, ABC, Motown, Mercury.. the list goes on and on!!

Just to grab a few from your list that are tops in this order on mine. The one I'd like the most is the least likely. Joan Baez tapes seem (maybe) MIA. I don't think that Diana Ross & The Supremes would ever get issued again, too many alt parts in the mix. It's a crazy mix and I love it, but it's too much an oddity I would guess. But yeah, ABC/Command tapes were gone before the BBQ I think.

Anyhoo these below are some hot quads I think.

Joan Baez "Diamonds & Rust"
Marvin Gaye "What's Going On"
The Jackson 5 "Greatest Hits"
Diana Ross & The Supremes "Greatest Hits"
The Temptations "All Directions"
The Temptations "1990"
,

 

[quicksrt]

Just bumping my own thread, because I think it’s a good conversation.

I’m a sucker for vintage quad. At its best it’s as great as any 5.1 mix imo. It comes down to the given albums too I just love the 1971 to 1976 era of pop and rock.

And it was not that long ago that I had doubts we would get as many of these vintage mixes as we’ve not gotten. I also wondered how many of them would just not sound that good once we did get them.

There were a few quad mixes that appeared on modern discs which were not that exceptional. Thankfully over 90% of what has come out has been stellar! To think a quad mix only previously heard in a 8-Track cartridge could be an audiophile knockout on high-res disc today. Or a quad mix never before released could come out from the dark and blow us away.

We are in the peak of the resurrection of 70’s quad. AF, DV, Sony Japan, and Rhino have delivered this. I hope we have several more years of this good quality. But it might not go on forever. We might look back on this period as the really good old days of quad reissues.