Stuff that sounds amazing with the Surround Master

[~dave~~wave~]

Pulled a LOT of Bs listening to these albums over the years. Sweated out a LOT of Red Stripe dancing to Burning Spear at Chicago's Wild Hare & Singing Armadillo Frog Sanctuary. The SM v.2 is as close as i will get to replicating those experiences!
View attachment 94506
https://www.allmusic.com/album/marcus-garvey-mw0000033099https://www.allmusic.com/album/marcus-garvey-garveys-ghost-mw0000193175

Version to Version
The only Sinead O'Connor I own, her reggae album with half Burning Spear covers:

Gosh, the prices have inflated:
https://www.discogs.com/master/51718-Sinéad-OConnor-Throw-Down-Your-Arms

 

[gvl_guy]

Sounds fantastic in fake 4.0. (I was flipping between the SM and the QS Vario Matrix synthesizer mode on my Sansui 9001.)

Everything But The Girl. Amplified Heart.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Sounds fantastic in fake 4.0. (I was flipping between the SM and the QS Vario Matrix synthesizer mode on my Sansui 9001.)

Everything But The Girl. Amplified Heart.
View attachment 94533View attachment 94534

You have such a well organized & attractive set up. It's a pleasure to look at.

May I ask what your impression is of the differences between Sansui Surround Synth & Involve QS?

 

[gvl_guy]

You have such a well organized & attractive set up. It's a pleasure to look at.

May I ask what your impression is of the differences between Sansui Surround Synth & Involve QS?

I honestly don't hear much of a difference. Both sound very similar, although I think the Sansui is a smidge better, but not by much. The SM blows that Vario Matrix decoder out of the water for SQ, though.

And thanks for the compliment. I literally just finished the setup today, painting some wire covers on the walls to match the room paint color. (We moved a couple of months ago.)

 

[ar surround]

Sounds fantastic in fake 4.0. (I was flipping between the SM and the QS Vario Matrix synthesizer mode on my Sansui 9001.)

Everything But The Girl. Amplified Heart.
View attachment 94533View attachment 94534

What is that Audio Technica tube thing?

 

[sjcorne]

What is that Audio Technica tube thing?

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT6003R-Phonograph-Turntable-Cartridge/dp/B07BYT268M

 

[Clement]

Oh, HELL yeah! The SM v.2 KNOWS Pussyfooting!

Fripp & Eno, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno - (No Pussyfooting) Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic

 

[jefe1]

Dont forget to pick up the live Eno Fripp concert disc Live in Paris.....

 

[DuncanS]

Oh, HELL yeah! The SM v.2 KNOWS Pussyfooting!
View attachment 94541 Fripp & Eno, Robert Fripp, Brian Eno - (No Pussyfooting) Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic

I got the LP when it came out, if you get the 2CD release you can have more SM v2 fun at Half-Speed and some in reverse! From my Music Collector database

 

[Clement]

Oh, you know i have that 2 CD release! Loads of fun!

 

[Clement]

whOa! This one is EVERYTHING i'd hoped for–the SM v.2 is AMAZING!

The Orb - Live 93 Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

whOa! This one is EVERYTHING i'd hoped for–the SM v.2 is AMAZING!
View attachment 94565 The Orb - Live 93 Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic

I bet Storm was jealous when he saw that cover ("Ah, that's how I should've done it!")

 

[Kodaline]

I honestly don't hear much of a difference. Both sound very similar, although I think the Sansui is a smidge better, but not by much. The SM blows that Vario Matrix decoder out of the water for SQ, though.

And thanks for the compliment. I literally just finished the setup today, painting some wire covers on the walls to match the room paint color. (We moved a couple of months ago.)

The SM V3 I ordered arrived last week, and I hooked it up last night to my system. I am able to use a 2 channel tape out of my Marantz 4000 quad preamp to feed the SM V3 and use its outputs as the only (currently) 4 channel tape in. Setting it to source the 4 channel in and setting it to discrete allows the SM V3 to be used solely, whereas setting it to source the "source" setting and setting to Vari-Matrix or SQ allows the original function of the 4000.

So far I have played the Raiders' Indian Reservation in SQ and Jim Croce's Photographs and Memories in ABC Command Quadraphonic (which I believe to be QS). The Involve SQ sounds very similar to the Marantz SQA-2B. At some point, I will swap in the SQA-1 and the SQA-2 cards I have to compare them.

The SM V3 Involve 4.1 mode is somewhat more discrete than the Marantz Vari-Matrix, even with the dimension dial set highly to the right (difference) setting for max separation. This is good, as I bought the unit to primarily play QS better than what I had. I am happy with my SQ setup.

More testing is in order.

 

[Clement]

Dolls sold separately. Hmm, if @chucky3042 offered dolls with a purchase . . . ? I'd upgrade for Chucky and Dave the Bitch action figures!

The Police - Greatest Hits

 

[barfle]

The SM V3 I ordered arrived last week, and I hooked it up last night to my system.

I ordered mine last week, but haven’t heard from them.

 

[ar surround]

I ordered mine last week, but haven’t heard from them.

My V3 arrived on Saturday. It will be some time before I hook it up.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

My V3 arrived on Saturday. It will be some time before I hook it up.

IIRC you already have a SM v2? What prompted you to get a v3? Just the digital input?

 

[jefe1]

Yea if the V2 was good enough for Werner Von Braun why do.....ooops! Wrong thread.

 

[chucky3042]

Yea if the V2 was good enough for Werner Von Braun why do.....ooops! Wrong thread.

 

[jefe1]

That was such a classic episode of Fawlty Towers.