old school surround

hifitommy

Well-Known Member
that would be Dynaquad. i first saw quad demoed at a local camera/hifi store in canoga park on sherman way, some of you may have lived there and known about it. i went and listened there and was entirely confused by all the SQ manipulations in the same store but return trips in attempts to understand it, along with reading AUDIO, stereo review, and high fidelity, and eventually i got my head straight about what the intention was.

i already had enough speakers to complete the setup and first play of music in my system convinced me i had made the right decision. to this day, i use dynaquad, even though i have enough speaker and amp channels along with a pre/pro to do a proper 5.1 system. the pre/pro is mainly used to conveniently switch all the audio and video componentry included in the system.

all sources have equal amounts of ambience retrieval which is enough for me as i am not a movie addict looking for special effects. you never are distracted by the rear channels and won't notice them except their absence when i switch the rears off during play.

i think it's too bad that these devices have fallen out of favor. there probably is little profit in them which may account for this fact.

i once sold an original qd1 to a guy who wanted more speakers in his room and was looking for a "switch" to allow this. i informed him why he might really want the qd1 so he bought it and installed it. after a week, i asked him how he liked it and he was non-committal. a couple of months later, i told him i would give him the money back and he adamantly refused. by then he heard what i did, that addictive room sound and the completeness that ambience retrieval yields. he was not an audiophile but he realized the benefit.
 

Barry

Member Sponsor
Jan 7, 2012
273
54
1,220
Somewhere near Philadelphia, USA
I still remember vividly the first time I heard Dynaquad. "All hands on deck, we've run a float, I heard the Captain cry!" (Procol Harum , Salty Dog) You could hear the sea birds circling all around the room. The ambiance was amazing. The sound field just collapsed when I disconnected the rear channels. I was using a pair of AR5s and two little no-name speakers in the rear.

Elliot Sound Products Project 18 shows a Simple Surround Sound Decoder that does what the Dyna did but at line-level and has the added benefit that it doesn't process the front channels as the rears are driven in parallel. I'm keen on building one and trying it out if I can ever find the time.
 

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