Suggestions for Audio Fidelity Multichannel SACD Releases

[quicksrt]

How sad! I'd rather have an AF Quad SACD of All American Boy than a number of other old Quads. A hidden gem, or sleeper hit that's ripe for reappraisal today, I would suggest.. I shall be playing the SQ thru the Surround Master a lot during my Quad holiday! :banana:

I had it on LP when I was 13 years old and loved it then. Some of it has aged well, and other tunes not so well.

I like Jump Jump Jump, and Uncomplicated. I've never heard the quad mix decoded, is it good?

 

[fredblue]

I had it on LP when I was 13 years old and loved it then. Some of it has aged well, and other tunes not so well.

I like Jump Jump Jump, and Uncomplicated. I've never heard the quad mix decoded, is it good?

Yes its full of brain dead chuggers but it's got momentum and a kind of daft fun element that propels it all along and you can't help but tap your toe to the uptempo numbers and swoon along to the ballads! What it lacks in lyrical and general compositional prowess it makes up for with heart and soul by the truckload.

The old SQ LP thru the new Involve SQ Vinyl Surround Master is absolutely superb.

Once I get a Motu interface I'm going to post pics/graphs here of individual stem waveforms as Board Operator Jon did recently and then start a You Tube or something like AoQ did for the Six Wives Quad showing how each channel separates the various elements in the mixes of these old records thru the Surround Master to give those QQ members who don't have the Involve SQ unit an idea of just how good this thing is.

 

[quicksrt]

Yes its full of brain dead chuggers but it's got momentum and a kind of daft fun element that propels it all along and you can't help but tap your toe to the uptempo numbers and swoon along to the ballads! What it lacks in lyrical and general compositional prowess it makes up for with heart and soul by the truckload.

The old SQ LP thru the new Involve SQ Vinyl Surround Master is absolutely superb.

Once I get a Motu interface I'm going to post pics/graphs here of individual stem waveforms as Board Operator Jon did recently and then start a You Tube or something like AoQ did for the Six Wives Quad showing how each channel separates the various elements in the mixes of these old records thru the Surround Master to give those QQ members who don't have the Involve SQ unit an idea of just how good this thing is.

Forgive me if I am way behind the times, but I thought that SQ never decodes in the rear channels completely with real separation, but always a bit blended. And no decoder could overcome this. I'd be glad to hear otherwise.

But speaking of Derringer, I remember him saying what was wrong with 70s quad in an 80s interview, he said "it didn't work". He was one of the few artists/producers that had every album he was involved in get a quad mix. His own, Edgar's, and Johnny's as well. Yet the SQ format let everyone down (except for the ones with a Tate or Surround Master). CBS not issuing quadraphonic reels in the 70s is one of life's great minor tragedies.

Thankfully AF has come along and is righting this wrong that was done to my childhood which I am still in recovery over.

 

[fredblue]

Forgive me if I am way behind the times, but I thought that SQ never decodes in the rear channels completely with real separation, but always a bit blended. And no decoder could overcome this. I'd be glad to hear otherwise.

But speaking of Derringer, I remember him saying what was wrong with 70s quad in an 80s interview, he said "it didn't work". He was one of the few artists/producers that had every album he was involved in get a quad mix. His own, Edgar's, and Johnny's as well. Yet the SQ format let everyone down (except for the ones with a Tate or Surround Master). CBS not issuing quadraphonic reels in the 70s is one of life's great minor tragedies.

Thankfully AF has come along and is righting this wrong that was done to my childhood which I am still in recovery over.

I guess it's mix and (I suspect quality of encode) dependent for each individual disc.. there's blending going on, some mixes are distinctly better at masking it than others.. many times you only notice the lack of true discrete separation if you go right up to a speaker and then you can hear say lead vocals in the rear channels that are much more dialed down in the rear on the Q8 equivalent..

..to give you an idea of how effective the rear left and rear right separation on the SQ Surround Master can be, with stuff other than the really overt like a round the room 360-degree pan - which the Surround Master does incredibly well btw - in the opening on track 1 of Poco's Cantanamos album ("Sagebrush Serenade") thru the SQ Vinyl Surround Master you get;
- the opening solo acoustic guitar rear right,
- then guitar comes in rear left (with definite separation across the rear speaker pair)
- as lead vocals come in front left
- and then harmony vocals kick in centre front and right front
- and then it all opens up into all channels..
..it's simple but very effective.

Rick Derringer might like to hear his buddy Edgar Winter's "Jasmine Nightdreams" SQ LP decoded by the Surround Master.. it most definitely "works"

Meantime AF are performing minor miracles with every new QUAD SACD they release, I'm seriously thankful.. Long may it continue! :upthumb

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Forgive me if I am way behind the times, but I thought that SQ never decodes in the rear channels completely with real separation, but always a bit blended. And no decoder could overcome this. I'd be glad to hear otherwise.

But speaking of Derringer, I remember him saying what was wrong with 70s quad in an 80s interview, he said "it didn't work". He was one of the few artists/producers that had every album he was involved in get a quad mix. His own, Edgar's, and Johnny's as well. Yet the SQ format let everyone down (except for the ones with a Tate or Surround Master). CBS not issuing quadraphonic reels in the 70s is one of life's great minor tragedies.

Thankfully AF has come along and is righting this wrong that was done to my childhood which I am still in recovery over.

I think an even bigger "faux pas" by Columbia/CBS Records was the decision to go Dual Inventory for the vast majority of their Quad discs, even though they touted big time the stereo compatibility of SQ matrix over QS!
Makes me wonder why they practiced this hypocrisy., all the while Sansui supported labels continued in almost exclusive quad stereo releases .
Just who the hell were advising them on this dumb move!

 

[cupboy]

I think an even bigger "faux pas" by Columbia/CBS Records was the decision to go Dual Inventory for the vast majority of their Quad discs, even though they touted big time the stereo compatibility of SQ matrix over QS!.......

How would they have charged that extra buck then?

 

[quicksrt]

Hell, I'd have settled for the quad cassette, which I think was considered. Plays only one direction and needs rewind. All tapes like a double C-90

 

[quicksrt]

You know lots of titles from AF seem to eventually sell out. Probably only the fastest selling hottest titles get a repress run.

I was over there on the AF site and saw that the Billion Dollar Babies SACD is out if stock. Would it not be totally cool if they did repress this title, but first got the quad master tape and authored a new disc that had this layer added to it, and this disc could belatedly become part of the 4.0 series.

Maybe when they see how Muscle of Love does, they might think about this.

 

[cupboy]

You know lots of titles from AF seem to eventually sell out. Probably only the fastest selling hottest titles get a repress run.

I was over there on the AF site and saw that the Billion Dollar Babies SACD is out if stock. Would it not be totally cool if they did repress this title, but first got the quad master tape and authored a new disc that had this layer added to it, and this disc could belatedly become part of the 4.0 series.

Maybe when they see how Muscle of Love does, they might think about this.

I'd rebuy it if they did that. In the meantime I've got the dvd-audio version too.

 

[bmoura]

You know lots of titles from AF seem to eventually sell out. Probably only the fastest selling hottest titles get a repress run.

I was over there on the AF site and saw that the Billion Dollar Babies SACD is out if stock. Would it not be totally cool if they did repress this title, but first got the quad master tape and authored a new disc that had this layer added to it, and this disc could belatedly become part of the 4.0 series.

Maybe when they see how Muscle of Love does, they might think about this.

Audio Fidelity could look at a Billion Dollar Babies Multichannel SACD.

However, since it would be a new format release, they would need a new licensing agreement that would include a new guaranteed payment.
So the question would be - will the SACD edition of the album be able to earn a profit after the guarantee is factored in along with the cost of marketing, mastering, etc.

 

[rtbluray]

Audio Fidelity could look at a Billion Dollar Babies Multichannel SACD.

However, since it would be a new format release, they would need a new licensing agreement that would include a new guaranteed payment.
So the question would be - will the SACD edition of the album be able to earn a profit after the guarantee is factored in along with the cost of marketing, mastering, etc.

How about a 5.1 surround edition of "Welcome to my Nightmare" on Multichannel SACD instead?

 

[Larry Geller]

You know lots of titles from AF seem to eventually sell out. Probably only the fastest selling hottest titles get a repress run.

I was over there on the AF site and saw that the Billion Dollar Babies SACD is out if stock. Would it not be totally cool if they did repress this title, but first got the quad master tape and authored a new disc that had this layer added to it, and this disc could belatedly become part of the 4.0 series.

Maybe when they see how Muscle of Love does, they might think about this.

How about two others that AF quadblocked themselves on: Sweet Baby James & One Man Dog?

 

[fizzywiggs41]

I'd rebuy it if they did that. In the meantime I've got the dvd-audio version too.

I think the quad version is somewhat better.
I would love to hear the original Quad version of "Generation Landside" without the bad fade out at the end of that song which the Dvd-a has.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

How about two others that AF quadblocked themselves on: Sweet Baby James & One Man Dog?

Yes they would be nice, but for my $ I would want "Gorilla". I love the blues track that Lowell George does with James. (A sort of Little Feat meets James Taylor type a song)

 

[chuckflhp]

I contacted Jeff Glixman about this several years ago and he told me personally that this was never done.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

http://www.soundandvision.com/content/surround-work-part-3#V41JGKvtX9uDtiOT.97
Sorry,, I was wrong, it said the band wanted to recruit him. Sucks it never happened....

 

[Larry Geller]

Yes they would be nice, but for my $ I would want "Gorilla". I love the blues track that Lowell George does with James. (A sort of Little Feat meets James Taylor type a song)

Yes, forgot about Gorilla, another one quadblocked by AF. That would be fine also.

 

[timbre4]

Sweet Baby James not only quad blocked but also previously unreleased quad.


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[Larry Geller]

Sweet Baby James not only quad blocked but also previously unreleased quad.


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AND unreleased 5.1 mix for DVD-A.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Yes, forgot about Gorilla, another one quadblocked by AF. That would be fine also.

Oh I dunno about quadblocking from AF.I'm eternally optimistic with their quad pace and I bet they will surprise us with some if not all those WB James Taylor quads one day.
Afterall we do like and purchase their quads and "they aim to please".

 

[bmoura]

I'm not sure what "Quad Blocking" is.

But I can say that Audio Fidelity is continuing to develop more Multichannel SACD titles for 2016.
Clearly no blocking there....