I mentioned that I have a quadrophonic stereo system that I've built over the years. Here is the paper insert from a quad album that explains about quad and features receivers that used their SQ playback system. I think it's pretty interesting...
You can click on it and zoom in to read it. It's interesting that the record company felt that people needed this information to understand the idea of quadrophonic sound. Now, of course we have surround sound, which uses 5 channels, plus a sub woofer. And that's just on our TVs! But in the late 60s to early 70s it was a really revolutionary idea. Heck, stereo (two channel) had only been around a few years at that point!
Unfortunately, quad would fail as a consumer stereo option. The different systems (QS, SQ, CD-4) were confusing and most systems could only decode one (although my Sansui receiver does all of them, it was very unusual). The systems were expensive, and the idea of surround sound was years away.
Still, it's fun to mess with, and this humble sleave is a nice view into a time when consumers were offered an item that was poorly thought out, and they didn't want anyway!
Yay!!!
Until next time, keep searching for treasure!
Sounds like the different quad systems incompatibilities was a precursor to the Beta vs. VHS video war that happened a couple years later. I hate it when they do that! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI also have a 5.1 channel soundbar/sub woofer hooked up to my TV. At one point I had a 7.1 system, but most DVDs used 5.1, so a 7.1 system was basically unused.
The quad era was short-lived, a relatively small window of opportunity before technology advanced to the surround sound era.
But I'm glad you're still making use of it! Thanks, Stu.
Yep! It was just ahead of it's time! My TV shows it up...but the quad system is still cooler!
DeleteThanks!
I don't know much about sound systems, but I do remember my parent's 1979 T-Bird (which I got to drive) had a quad sound system. Not sure if it was the same as your system, Stu. But I do know I only had TWO quad 8-track tapes to play in it. I played them over and over and over, again. Sadly, I can't recall what one of them was [due to old age] - but the other was Jefferson Starship. I blasted "Jane" for miles. Loved that song.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing back some good memories from my teen years, Stu. Now I think I'll pull up "Jane" on my iPhone and have a listen, for old time's sake.
Wow, a quad car system! I honestly never thought of that! Now all those quad 8-tracks make a lot more sense!
DeleteI used to like Starship, but "Built This City" kinda killed it for me....Sigh...