Quadrophonic Sound

[BarryATL]

For some wierd reason I was thinking about quadrophonic sound today. 8-track tapes became 4-track if they were in quad sound. I seem to remember 96 Rock used to broadcast in quad. How is that done? Using one of the SCA's? Is my memory right about 96 Rock?

I do remember one of our neighbors had full quad system. One speaker in each corner of his living room.

 

[ssnake]

If I recall correctly, WREK with WGKA 92.9 broadcast in quad in the early '70s. One station, front channels; the other, rear channels.

 

[TheRealOtherNeil]

For some weird reason I was thinking about quadrophonic sound today. 8-track tapes became 4-track if they were in quad sound. I seem to remember 96 Rock used to broadcast in quad. How is that done? Using one of the SCA's? Is my memory right about 96 Rock?

I do remember one of our neighbors had full quad system. One speaker in each corner of his living room.

Best Who album of all-time.

 

[RTibbs]

For some weird reason I was thinking about quadrophonic sound today. 8-track tapes became 4-track if they were in quad sound. I seem to remember 96 Rock used to broadcast in quad. How is that done? Using one of the SCA's? Is my memory right about 96 Rock?

I do remember one of our neighbors had full quad system. One speaker in each corner of his living room.

Best Who album of all-time.

I disagree. I am no fan of the mods.

 

[jabba17]

If I recall correctly, WREK with WGKA 92.9 broadcast in quad in the early '70s. One station, front channels; the other, rear channels.

That was the only form of OTA quad that I have ever heard of.

Didn't WSB or somebody do stereo (before the advent of FM stereo) that way too, with one channel on FM and one on AM? I remember hearing about it and wondering if the difference in fidelity would make the stereo effect moot.

The only quad recordings I remember were 8-tracks (they were still 8-tracks, just 4 tracks for each of 2 programs instead of 2 tracks for each of 4 programs), and various incompatible vinyl formats (Quadradisc, SQ, QS). I have Elvis's Aloha From Hawaii on Quadradisc, but so does everyone else so it's worth zilch.

Now you have 4-channel DVD-Audio and SACD, and in some cases regular DVDs with 4-channel sound and no (meaningful) video, which have proven to be about as successful as quad. The only market for them seems to be dredging up old quad mixes of 1970s LPs.

 

[jabba17]

And, for you Steve Martin fans, there was also "Googlephonic".

 

[radioworld]

I wonder if in 30 years the same discussion will be had about HD radio?

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Matrix Quad records such as SQ, QS, Dynaco etc. could be broadcast over a stereo FM station and decoded by the appropriate decoder by the listener.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadraphonic_sound

 

[jabba17]

Matrix Quad records such as SQ, QS, Dynaco etc. could be broadcast over a stereo FM station and decoded by the appropriate decoder by the listener.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadraphonic_sound

That makes sense. I also remembered (as referenced in the Wikipedia article) that if you have an old matrix quad recording, you can use a Dolby Pro Logic decoder to decode and recover the quad with some success.

Did any stations ever promote the use of quad decoders with FM stereo broadcasts?

I have seen some quad mixes for sale online. For example, you can buy some of the quad mixes of older ELO songs (10538 Overture, etc.) on Rhapsody. They are included with the remastered and extended versions of some albums. I don't know if they are still properly matrixed to be recoverable, though, or if they were just mixed down to stereo without the matrixing--with the appeal being in the mix and not the actual quad.

Since CBS was SQ, you'd have better luck than with some other labels' material.

 

[taylorengineer]

Bob Helbush, former Chief Engineer of 96 Rock for over 20 years, sometimes frequents this board. He would be the definitive source for info on the 96 Rock "Quadfather" days.
I think it was the matrix system - to deploy discreet (four honest to gawd separate channels)would require a change of FCC rules. I do remember those days when 96 Rock broadcast quad but I never had the equipment to listen to it.
When I started working there in 1986 they still had one of the old decoders in the shop - it was made by Panasonic(??)and had 4 dinky little meters on it along with a ON/OFF toggle switch. Back in those days a piece of equipment had to have lot's of knobs, flashing lights, and meters to interest the casual audio enthusiast. (Part of the fun was playing with the knobs.)
I figured quad didn't make it 'cause there weren't enough blinking lights and knobs to play with........

 

[Mr_Place]

Grandpa, tell me about quad

 

[jabba17]

Bob Helbush, former Chief Engineer of 96 Rock for over 20 years, sometimes frequents this board. He would be the definitive source for info on the 96 Rock "Quadfather" days.
I think it was the matrix system - to deploy discreet (four honest to gawd separate channels)would require a change of FCC rules. I do remember those days when 96 Rock broadcast quad but I never had the equipment to listen to it.
When I started working there in 1986 they still had one of the old decoders in the shop - it was made by Panasonic(??)and had 4 dinky little meters on it along with a ON/OFF toggle switch. Back in those days a piece of equipment had to have lot's of knobs, flashing lights, and meters to interest the casual audio enthusiast. (Part of the fun was playing with the knobs.)
I figured quad didn't make it 'cause there weren't enough blinking lights and knobs to play with........

There was never a standard for discrete or multiplexed (like FM stereo or Quadradisc) FM quad...so broadcasting a matrixed stereo signal would have been the only option. Now, SQ (CBS and EMI) or QS (MCA and PolyGram)...?

You are right, back in the day the more knobs, buttons, lights and switches=quality. That's why the Japanese never got any traction in the speaker industry--Japanese speakers were all tarted up while American speakers were KISS and sounded MUCH better. With everything else, though, the Japanese offered more switches and buttons for less money and eventually killed the US audio equipment business (except speakers, where US companies like Bose, C-V, JBL, AR, et al. still rule).

Now with the iPod model of things, it seems to be the polar opposite--simple=quality.

 

[BarryATL]

If I remember correctly, 96 Rock would promo a complete commercial free album hour in the evening and it would be an album that was recorded in quad. You know... back when we had to steal our music from the over the air signals instead of downloading it.

 

[OgOgglby]

I think it was WRAS and WREK that premiered Quadrophenia - fronts on one station and rears on another. Was it Jim Morrison (later with 94Q) who was the WRAS PD at the time?

 

[Uriah]

It was Drew Murry and Jim Morrison.
Also did the same quad set up with WREK and WRAS for several live shows from Richards.
What a great time in Atlanta!

 

[IndigoCoyote]

Other end of the country, but I thought you folks might find this one interesting.

http://www.rockininquad.com/

There is some conjecture as to whether they ever did actually broadcast in Quad- they certainly tried to make it appear that they did!

Another note, classical KING in Seattle tried Quad matrix a couple times and found the listening range was about two miles at 45000 watts. Yikes.

 

[jabba17]

If I remember correctly, 96 Rock would promo a complete commercial free album hour in the evening and it would be an album that was recorded in quad. You know... back when we had to steal our music from the over the air signals instead of downloading it.

96Rock did do their Album Hour (there was a commercial break between the sides, so you could flip the tape go to the bathroom), but I never heard it advertised as being in quad. But quad was pretty much dead by the end of the 1970s, so it must have been before my time.

The RIAA killed that when they told radio to quit playing more than two songs by a single artist in a row.

 

[Silkie]

I do remember one of our neighbors had full quad system. One speaker in each corner of his living room.

And they were full sized pieces of furniture - the bigger the better.

 

[Mitchell]

I was PD during the "Quadfather" days (74-75) and yes we did used to run complete album sides. I believe the only record label doing matrix discs was Columbia so the fad quickly died. My favorite was Santana's "Abraxas". Even in 2 channel stereo these matrix discs always sounded different than the original because they re-mixed them.

 

[DuckBlue]

On at least one Saturday afternoon in about 1972, WZGC and WREK broadcast discrete quadraphonic sound, the front channels on WGZC and the rear channels on WREK. I was not that impressed. There was never any method proposed for discrete 4-channel on a single station.

I seem to remember that WQXI-FM claimed to be broadcasting in the SQ matrix format (developed by Sansui) at one time in the mid/latter '70s. The matrix encoders "tried" to encode 4 channels into 2, but the separation was almost nil. 90 degree phase shift circuits were used to attempt to create a directional sound field. The more advanced matrix decoders had agc expander circuits that used "logic" to automatically vary the gain of the channels in an attempt to artificially enhance the separation.

The Quadradisk, developed by JVC (and maybe RCA), was the only true discrete 4-channel LP, but few records were issued in the format. Playback required a complex decoder and a special phono cartridge. The matrix-encoded disks required no special cartridge, but a decoder was required for playback. At one time, CBS announced that all of its LPs would be SQ matrix-encoded quad disks.

Any FM station could claim that it was broadcasting in quad simply by playing the quad-matrix discs, no encoder required - a trick probably used by many broadcasters.