Vanguard 'Surround Stereo' Quad Reels - The First Commercially Available Quad Product

[par4ken]

RE : The audio journalist's statement... " I see no need for the regular audiophile to scrap his present equipment,"

You know one thing I noticed with the majority of these authors in Audio magazines in the late 60's and 70's as well is that they are all under the assumption that the only humans that invest in high end audio , are Male .
And quad is included.
I know females may be in the minority for this time period , but you'd still think their terminology would not be so sexist. I wonder how many future female audiophiles were dissuaded with quadraphonics because of these types of comments. The term "narrow minded" might be suitable and hopefully this type of singularity has ended .

I know on QQ we have both male and females involved with surround (and quad).
Me thinks our regular QQ moderator Quad Linda might agree.

Fizzy, even today most audiophiles seem to be men. That sexist language still seems normal to me even today but I do understand where you're coming from. Back to that time, sexist terminology was often widely used and without a second thought given to it, it was considered normal (I suppose that we now have a new normal). I don't think that sexist assumptions or language would of dissuaded anyone that had a keen interest in high end audio, it may of annoyed some people though.

 

[Quad Linda]

I wasn't offended back then when it was assumed that guys were the only people buying hi-fi. Other than gals buying car-fi, there were perhaps 1-2 women per month shopping for hi-fi in my store. Out of over 1000 people entering our door each month.

My experience the first five years in the business were that. In the late '70's, it began to change. Women were buying systems for themselves.

I was a big hi-fi nut when I was in grade school. Had a 7" reel-to-reel before I was 10. It was cheaper than buying all those 45's. Lots of allowances & mowed lawns payed for it.

There were other women selling hi-fi. At Pacific, we had a Women in Management program.

 

[MidiMagic]

RE : The audio journalist's statement... " I see no need for the regular audiophile to scrap his present equipment,"

You know one thing I noticed with the majority of these authors in Audio magazines in the late 60's and 70's as well is that they are all under the assumption that the only humans that invest in high end audio , are Male .
And quad is included.
I know females may be in the minority for this time period , but you'd still think their terminology would not be so sexist. I wonder how many future female audiophiles were dissuaded with quadraphonics because of these types of comments. The term "narrow minded" might be suitable and hopefully this type of singularity has ended .

I know on QQ we have both male and females involved with surround (and quad).
Me thinks our regular QQ moderator Quad Linda might agree.

The English language defined the case where a single person might be male or female with the default of using the masculine singular pronoun.

This is in the manual of style I had in high school and college.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

(Sic) s/b ok.


But I digress , so back to the thread.

Had Columbia Records (CBS) any Quadraphonic foresight , they may have joined Vanguard's realization that Quad Reels were a viable format .
Afterall they were starting to make quad mixes in the late 60's .
In fact John McClure (CBS's "Mucky Muck" in charge of new engineered productions) , had already produced in 1969 at least one quad music selections tape* . Featuring some of the Companies Top Artists for the Scheiber Quad Matrix Sampler .




(* FWIW Somewhere I read 3 different quad sampler vinyl records were made .)

 

[Michael Marshall]

A very, very interesting, informative and important article on the origin(s) of Quad/surround "stereophonic" music and it's playback. It only took 40/50 years for the concept to really take root and find it's way into many a household. The audio hobbyist/enthusiast has once again been proven to be the earliest adopter and helped move these "novel" innovations into the mainstream. Stereo rather quickly supplanted mono because the hardware/technology needed was rather strait forward and supported by several, non-competing formats. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about surround, quad, etc. The good news is that the initial idea behind the creation of surround has not changed but the cost and availability of equipment certainly has! Heck, if you think about it, most of us have been utilizing, to one degree or another, a 4 "speaker" audio set up for years and in some cases, decades...car audio! Yes, I know, this is not "true" surround audio but with a little education and exposure, the general public understands this concept and can and has turned this same enjoyment into an "in home" audio/video experience. The proliferation of streaming services has just added "fuel" to this proverbial fire and widespread/mainstream acceptance. My hope for the surround/quad future is that people beyond our hobby are able to support the labels that produce new and reissue physical "product". That's the heavy lift but I am hopeful...

 

[Michael Marshall]

One more thing, I just want to thank the Quad forum community for sharing their thoughts, research, opinions and criticism/concerns as I learn something new (and usually useful) every time I jump onto the forum. I cannot say the same for some of the other "groups" that I belong to. What an Awesome group!!!

 

[par4ken]

The English language defined the case where a single person might be male or female with the default of using the masculine singular pronoun.

This is in the manual of style I had in high school and college.

Quotes like "Where no man has gone before" and “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” just aren't the same when replaced with gender neutral language! Man refers to mankind!

 

[par4ken]

I just came across this thread again, looking back we (I) veered away off topic, I usually respond to others posts not to the thread topic. So a few quick comments actually about Vanguard. Back in 1969 few people had ever heard of the very idea of "quad" or "surround stereo". In fact most listening was still mono. For Vanguard to propose to release music in this stereo X2 manner would have been revolutionary at the time. They even proposed to use a special "CARtridge" or Cassette!

This must have occurred about the same time as Peter Scheiber was working out his matrix system. I wonder if he dreamt the idea up himself or was inspired by the existence of these early discrete tapes?

I have found that the Vanguard tapes are the best sounding available. I don't know if they were high speed dubbed or recorded one to one. After Vanguard the Ampex tapes sound very good. Stereotape releases are a bit disappointing, a bit noisier with slightly rolled off high end. I know that they were high speed dubbed.

The term Quadraphonic had not been coined in those early days. Surround Stereo was a descriptive term dreamed up by Vanguard. Early matrix records (ElectroVoice) were also not referred to as quad but Stereo 4. The term Quadrasonic I'm sure pre-dates Quadraphonic. Quadrasonic was used in Billboard as Quadraphonic was deemed to be grammatically incorrect.

 

[ubertrout]

Brought to mind some of the stuff Thomas Mowrey shared, now sure if that's in line: Thomas Mowrey Archive Quadraphonic.info™ Articles, Manuals and Quadraphonic and Surround Sound Information