Stuff that sounds amazing with the Surround Master

[Sonik Wiz]

Allright!! I have a working quad setup now!

Although I have a question about the 4 vs 4.1 bass channel on the SM

I am playing an old quad LP that should only have 4ch, but the bass channel LED on the SM is illuminated, even though I have it set on 4ch, not 4.1

Reason I ask is the bass appears to be cut/rolled off. But it may also be something with my gear.

But anyway: LP is "six wives of Henry VIII" by Rick Wakeman, and it sounds GREAT!!

Especially the 1st track on side 2. I always thought recordings of pipe organs sounded distant, and not that impressive in stereo. But WOW, in surround it is gobsmacking!! You really get a sense of the air, the space, and immensity of sound, with the rear channels.

Looking forward to listening to some more quad LP's

Well done, Chucky, Dave & team!!

The sub woof light is always on because the sub woof output is always on whether you use it or not. Notice that Involve has a quirky way of indicating this on the front panel being 4(.1) or 5(.1). Fear not it is only a low pass filter of unknown slope & the cut off is in an ancient Chucky post somewhere, I think 125Hz. But there should be no loss of bass as all bass, whatever is there, is retained only the LFE is added if you use it.

Have fun!
I like to point out that there are many lack luster 5.1 music/movies/TV that come to life when output in 2.0 & let the Surround Master do its magic.

 

[Electric Moo]

It could be your receiver that's the culprit. If you're using the receiver's analog multichannel inputs, most receivers don't put them through the bass and treble controls, and if you normally have those controls set to other than the flat positions, that could be why.

Ah good point. But it's an oldschool stereo amp, no multichannel

Sansui AU7700 preamp out-->SM-->fronts fed into AU7700 stereo power amp, and rears into an AU6600 stereo power amp

I usually bypass the tone controls, but will x2 check when I get home, as I was experimenting with things

Thanks!

 

[ar surround]

I played a few hi-res stereo tracks of @Mr. Afternoon 's The Golden Bonana. Try track 2, Optical Hunting. This track sounds as if it was encoded for Involve. The others that I sampled were also exceptional. Frankly, I was mesmerized by this album played in stereo and upmixed via the Surround Master. I could not tell whether I prefer the discrete 5.1 or the upmixed quad. Fortunately, I don't have to because I have both.

Oh yeah, the stereo mix has a lot of depth even when played in straight vanilla stereo.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

I played a few hi-res stereo tracks of @Mr. Afternoon 's The Golden Bonana. Try track 2, Optical Hunting. This track sounds as if it was encoded for Involve. The others that I sampled were also exceptional. Frankly, I was mesmerized by this album played in stereo and upmixed via the Surround Master. I could not tell whether I prefer the discrete 5.1 or the upmixed quad. Fortunately, I don't have to because I have both.

Oh yeah, the stereo mix has a lot of depth even when played in straight vanilla stereo.

 

[atrocity]

Played the 12" mix of Chic's "Everybody Dance" in Involve mode last night. There's a bit where what I'll call a xylophone (but is probably something else) comes in and fills the whole room.

 

[jaybird100]

After listening to that disc in discrete surround, I tried passing it through my QS encoder, and through the SM. Almost no difference! Still quite excellent.

 

[hobie1dog]

I was listening today to my reel-to-reel pre-recording of Steely Dan, "Can't buy a thrill" and on the song "Chage of the Guard", the descending chord after the guitar solo, STARTS on the Right Rear and goes over to the Left Rear speaker. caught me by surprise.

 

[Akaiquadster2]

just today I was listening to Sarah Vaughan singing One Mint Julip on my SMv2 and it split Quincy Jones band all over the place (in a great way) and Sarah’s voice carried nicely. Played as 4.1 - even though my centre speaker has a pair of 4” supplemented with a 10” sub with 8” radiator!



Also did an impressive job with the Spotify version of a the basic signal of a multichannel SACD (obviously not multichannel over the internet) of multi choral recording of early baroque music.



Might help that my listening space is 6m x 6m and has 4 x tower speakers in each corner and I have a nice chair in the sweet spot ?

 

[Electric Moo]

Thought I'd already posted this, but I guess not. I was listening to "Zeit" by Tangerine Dream and it decodes very well into 4ch surround, via the Surroundmaster!!

 

[DuncanS]

I had a bit of an SM2 session in Involve/QS Quad mode this afternoon!

Fripp & Eno - The Equatorial Stars: Stereo CD, pretty immersive (with a few distinct sounds in rears) with the odd swirling sounds going around in all 4 speakers.

Ash Ra Tempel - Starring Rosi: QS encoded CD: Just sounds great, lots of instruments all around, first time I'd heard it my favourite Ash Ra album so far.

Oscar Peterson - A Summer Night In Munich: Telarc 'Surround' CD, really nice immersive, surrounded by the instruments/music. Fantastic performance from the same year (1998) I went to his gig with my father & youngest brother.

 

[Electric Moo]

Funny thing about Oscar Peterson: I don't recall hearing any of his music on the radio until after he passed away. In fact, I was listening to the jazz station when they announced his death, and they didn't even play one of his songs!!

They should have played 24 hours of Oscar Peterson IMO

RIP

 

[mlrocker]

Funny thing about Oscar Peterson: I don't recall hearing any of his music on the radio until after he passed away. In fact, I was listening to the jazz station when they announced his death, and they didn't even play one of his songs!!

They should have played 24 hours of Oscar Peterson IMO

RIP

such is the state of radio these days, there's no actual independent DJ'ing

 

[JohnA]

Thought I'd already posted this, but I guess not. I was listening to "Zeit" by Tangerine Dream and it decodes very well into 4ch surround, via the Surroundmaster!!

It does indeed.
Tried it a bit on QS settings, but Involve is better.

there is a 4-channel version somewhere, maybe there is matrix encoding who knows..

I had it as a double album, atmospheric playing late at night with lights off

 

[Electric Moo]

I thought the rumoured ( old ) quad versions Atem & Zeit were debunked? There is a long thread on this forum about it.

They do decode well though.

Maybe they'll get a future surround treatment, like the Alpha Centauri bluray etc

 

[JohnA]

I have a DVD-A transfer of the quad zeit, can't remember where I got it from though.
No mention of upmixing, so it probably has been endcoded somewhere, sometime.

 

[Electric Moo]

Wow! First I've heard of that!

 

[JohnA]

10cc the original soundtrack stereo SACD

One night in Paris, effects all over
Almost as if it were remixed in surround

 

[JohnA]

Rova saxophone quartet - THE BAY
Works particularly well in Involve mode

 

[JohnA]

Steely Dan
Countdown to Ecstasy (SACD)
Pretzel Logic (SACD)

They both work well in Involve mode

 

[JohnA]

I haven't been following this thread, since up until about several months ago, I was an Audionics S&IC user. Unfortunately that legendary decoder burned out, and I ordered the Soundmaster V2. I have listened to various material which has been good, but tonight I listened to Spirit: The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. This is amazing! I thought it would be, because it did well on the Audionics unit. But using Involve Audio mode 5.1 it was outstanding. Y'all ought to give it a spin.

Yep, good tip.
the front/rear separation is remarkable.
At times it is as good as descrete multi

The small print states that 'this stereo recording will sound excellent on today's mono equipment'
If only they knew..