Soundfield
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
I was having a bit of a clear out today (actually, as usually happens, it mostly ended up with me moving stuff ‘that might come in useful’ from one place to another) and I stumbled across my July 1972 copy of “Electronics Today International” (price 20p!). I vividly recall how it was this particular magazine that introduced me to the very concept of quadrophony:
ETI was a brand new magazine in the UK (this was Vol 1 Issue 4) and as well as being excited by the very idea of quad (as a sixth form student I’d only just persuaded my parents to let me have my first stereo system in my bedroom so it seemed very advanced) I thought the front cover art was really cool (so in homage you may notice I’ve updated my Avatar).
It had articles on the general state of the art and tests specifically on the SQ and CD4 systems. The SQ article wasn’t very complimentary, concluding –
“It is the opinion of all the staff who were asked to comment on the tests that, in general, the effects were not significantly better than could be obtained from stereo records and a synthesizer (such as the Sansui QS1) at about the same order of cost.
It would seem that either the goal is completely faithful reproduction of sound or something which is pleasing for its own sake. If the user wants completely faithful reproduction then the discrete system with its attendant disadvantages and limitations must be used. If it is a pleasing sound which is the goal then it would not appear to matter much whether a synthesizer or SQ decoder is used”
The article doesn’t specifically say what SQ equipment they were testing but there are pictures of the Sony SQD1000 and SQA200 which were probably the worst ‘decoders’ Sony ever made which wouldn’t have helped the cause. Nonetheless, I was hooked on the idea – probably helped by article that showed how to make the Hafler speaker connection (and which would suffice for some years before I could afford any actual equipment!) and by the equally cool back cover art:
This particular Sansui advert appeared in all of the HiFi mags from then on, for what seemed like years. It must have cost Sansui a fortune, but strangely it never seemed to be matched by the actual availability or prominence of Sansui equipment in the UK. Outside of the big HiFi shows of the day I don’t really recall seeing much Sansui stuff on sale, and I never knew anyone who owned any. But in an otherwise rather black and white print advertising world at the time this very colourful and romantic image certainly had real impact (even if the image of a woman languidly holding a cigarette and dropping ash all over the place seems very strange today).
Anyone else recall how they were first seduced by this new fangled four channel reproduction idea?
ETI was a brand new magazine in the UK (this was Vol 1 Issue 4) and as well as being excited by the very idea of quad (as a sixth form student I’d only just persuaded my parents to let me have my first stereo system in my bedroom so it seemed very advanced) I thought the front cover art was really cool (so in homage you may notice I’ve updated my Avatar).
It had articles on the general state of the art and tests specifically on the SQ and CD4 systems. The SQ article wasn’t very complimentary, concluding –
“It is the opinion of all the staff who were asked to comment on the tests that, in general, the effects were not significantly better than could be obtained from stereo records and a synthesizer (such as the Sansui QS1) at about the same order of cost.
It would seem that either the goal is completely faithful reproduction of sound or something which is pleasing for its own sake. If the user wants completely faithful reproduction then the discrete system with its attendant disadvantages and limitations must be used. If it is a pleasing sound which is the goal then it would not appear to matter much whether a synthesizer or SQ decoder is used”
The article doesn’t specifically say what SQ equipment they were testing but there are pictures of the Sony SQD1000 and SQA200 which were probably the worst ‘decoders’ Sony ever made which wouldn’t have helped the cause. Nonetheless, I was hooked on the idea – probably helped by article that showed how to make the Hafler speaker connection (and which would suffice for some years before I could afford any actual equipment!) and by the equally cool back cover art:
This particular Sansui advert appeared in all of the HiFi mags from then on, for what seemed like years. It must have cost Sansui a fortune, but strangely it never seemed to be matched by the actual availability or prominence of Sansui equipment in the UK. Outside of the big HiFi shows of the day I don’t really recall seeing much Sansui stuff on sale, and I never knew anyone who owned any. But in an otherwise rather black and white print advertising world at the time this very colourful and romantic image certainly had real impact (even if the image of a woman languidly holding a cigarette and dropping ash all over the place seems very strange today).
Anyone else recall how they were first seduced by this new fangled four channel reproduction idea?
