Reality Technologies Surround Master - Owners Thread

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I wonder if stylus shape can affect the SM. I know that I play some records on a conical tip for that reason. I find that playing used records on different cartridges and tips makes all the difference in the world. If your set up allows for it, try buying another shape tip for your present cartridge or set up a second headshell with a lesser cartridge as an experiment to see if it helps on the problem discs. I do find the conical tip on some SQ and QS discs through legacy decoders can be an improvement, or at least keep me from flinging it across the courtyard!
 
Hi All

Unfortunately looking at the difference between left and right is integral to the operation of the SM. The downside is distortion tends also to hide in this difference signal, hence if you get distortion it will tend towards the rear.

Oh well

Regards

Chucky
 
I have to say I have made the decision to only buy sealed or NM matrix records unless I can only get VG+. I have noticed that that the distortion can be amplified somewhat; but I also added a cork platter mat and replaced every single ancient yellowed paper inner sleeve with MOFI anti statics and that helped with less static and seemed to make a difference. No scientific data to back up that though.
 
Dear All

Been a bit quiet recently, hope you are all still out there and not polluting your ears with Dolby!

Please find attached a very recent review conducted by Mr Martin Pipe of Home Cinema Choice magazine of the Surround Master (plaIN vanilla and SQ). Martin is certainly highly technically knowledgeable on surround sound and electronics and I value this review.

Sorry the jpg scan is a bit blurry .....just magnify it a bit or don't be cheap and go out and buy the Magazine!

Yous in a general surround foam

Chucky
 

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Great comprehensive review. I am one of the old-timers who collected quad albums back in the 70's and this review is spot-on. Being snowed-in here on the US east coast I have been listening to my Surround Master the last few days and I remain impressed at its performance & quality. Very pleased to see it get recognized by the audio press.
 
Just got this letter from our friends in Germany and there quad site, they also posted a mini review of the SM. The have given us permission to publish:


Hi David,

I set a link from my homepage to your homepage and a little review. In 2013 we tested the Surround Master by Dietrich Räsch’s quad system in Hamburg. The Surround Master against Fosgate’s Tate II in SQ and against Sansui’s QSD1 in Surround. The Surround Master wins both tests. There is a little review of this test on my site.

Best regards

Klaus



Klaus Hönemann





www.quadrophonie.de
http://www.quadrophonie.de/deutsch/links.html
http://www.quadrophonie.de/deutsch/treffen_bei_dietrich_rasch-1.html
http://www.quadrophonie.de/englisch/links.html

I did a rough translation of the body of the text......here goes!

Eagerly listening the visiting audience , Dieter Karl
, Georg Kessen , Jürgen Seidel and I ( Klaus Hönemann ) direct A / B comparison to top
decoders as Sansuis QSD2 and Fosgates Tate II , the results were clear: . Played in terms of channel
separation of Australians in the surround channels ( a very extensive QA compatible mode ) at least
equal to the QSD2 while even a modicum delivered more selectivity in the SQ mode , as the Tate . It all
listeners liked the clear airier and brighter sound and the ease with which the Involve mastered the
work compared to our veteran decoders . Not a trace of " pumping " of the rear channels or " tilting "
of the center impression was recorded . With its € 550 purchase price ( inclu . Freight, duty and
VAT . ) Is the Involve definitely a recommendation.


Regards

Chucky
 
And one more we got yesterday.....permission to publish has been granted.


Hi David,

Having just received an email from your company to confirm my order is complete, reminded me I hadn't given you any feedback on your fantastic product.

What can I say... I have a totally new CD collection, and stereo television soundtracks come amazingly to life, surrounding me with such detail never heard before!
The sound is so immersive when fed through the Surround Master it is uncanny! I won't even try to understand the technology, but the result is terrific, putting the listener right in the middle of the action!

I have had the pleasure in the past of being in music studios during recording sessions, and audio through the Surround Master gives me that same 'hairs standing up on the back of the neck' feeling.... Well done!

My only regret is that my family won't let me play my audio at anything like full volume. I'm going to have to move to a much bigger house now!

Best regards,
Roy


http://www.roymorrisphotography.com/
 
Question for all:

How would you connect the SM to a car system?

I would love to do this:

CD/DVD/MP3/FLAC car audio player to SM to Alpine PDX-V9.

I'm not at all an engineer or know anything about power in a car, so... Is there any way to do this, does a car have enough power to have all those things connected?
 
Hi Inkubuzz

Actually I wanna do the same to my car but laziness keeps getting in the way. Any car audio installer can do it as they all understand RCA in/ out. I get real scared frigging around in the wiring looms of my car.

Anyone else knows more???

Regards

Chucky

Question for all:

How would you connect the SM to a car system?

I would love to do this:

CD/DVD/MP3/FLAC car audio player to SM to Alpine PDX-V9.

I'm not at all an engineer or know anything about power in a car, so... Is there any way to do this, does a car have enough power to have all those things connected?
 
All owners know about the heat the SM generates. Although much of it is generated by the operational amplifiers, a good portion of it is generated by the first 5V voltage regulator. And this with the original Power supply with only 9v output. A car works with its 12v battery, and when operating (engine running) this voltage can raise up to 14V, or even up to 16V in newer cars with other regulators.

This will cause even more heat in the SM.

-Kristian
 
You want a vehicle specified PSU, so 9V-15V nominal to 9V switched-mode PSU but the voltage spikes can be massive, so the PSU needs good input protection/suppression.
As found here http://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/power...dc-dc-converters/portable-car-power-adapters/

All owners know about the heat the SM generates. Although much of it is generated by the operational amplifiers, a good portion of it is generated by the first 5V voltage regulator. And this with the original Power supply with only 9v output. A car works with its 12v battery, and when operating (engine running) this voltage can raise up to 14V, or even up to 16V in newer cars with other regulators.

This will cause even more heat in the SM.

-Kristian
 
Good point

You would need a 9 V pre regulator or say a 5 Watt 4.7 Ohm series dropping resistor.

Regards

Chucky

All owners know about the heat the SM generates. Although much of it is generated by the operational amplifiers, a good portion of it is generated by the first 5V voltage regulator. And this with the original Power supply with only 9v output. A car works with its 12v battery, and when operating (engine running) this voltage can raise up to 14V, or even up to 16V in newer cars with other regulators.

This will cause even more heat in the SM.

-Kristian
 
I finally got the SQ vinyl upgrade chip in the surround master. Wow!
 
Hi All

Here is a thank you letter we received yesterday, we have his permission to publish.

Hi David,

The Surround Master arrived safe and sound, although it took longer to get through customs and from Coventry to me, than it took to get from Australia to the Uk!
So I've had a real treat this weekend playing rock, jazz and blues SQ Lps all of which have sounded absolutely superb.
The testing that you did with the QQ forum certainly paid dividends as it has the warm musical quality of my old Sansui but with much better separation and clarity.
It really is a top quality audio product and is a credit to you and your company.

Many thanks,

Tim
 
Chucky not to insult you but every time, looking at topics dedicated to Involve, i'm curious why you guys stuck to direction
toward segment of the market, filled by heavy weight competitors, leave alone not really significant share of this niche
nature market? it seems you have quite gifted team with unorthodox thinking, so why do not apply this abilities to something
more in demand in wider market but not yet as competitive, as so call "audiophiles market".
 
Hi Otto

Really good question and you strike at the heart at what we are about. I agree we have a great design team and their talents could be put to use producing another multichannel 7-60.n style receiver with a center channel with all the crappy existing surround formats built in including Atmos. The issue to us is why would we if we really believe they are really wrong and are pushing more and more complexity and incompatibility with the greatest format STEREO.

A week ago I was treated to a demo of the latest Dolby Atmos and was stunned to find the racing cars in the scene were on the roof! Suffice to say I walked out. We are currently seeing a repeat of what happened in the late 1970's with ever growing market confusion of systems and formats with an overall direction of if it does not work with 4 channels, try 5.1, 7.1, 9.1, 11.2.....60 channel. Fact is the main stream markets have really got surround wrong.

So the real question is why would a small company located in the arse end of the world come out with yet another "me to" clone surround sound multi channel receiver monster? I am actually not trying to tackle the top end audiophile market, did that 10 years ago and it is a high risk path that mostly leads to poverty in a market where real hifi is dying due to crappy music, mp3, video and the trend away from albums.

If you take a look at our Y2 AND Y4 systems you will note that they are in fact BOOKSHELF electrostatics as I am in fact targeting the mass consumer market. Lets ignore the Involve surround sound decode, lets ignore the world first sit anywhere -no sweet spot technology. We are really selling STYLE AND SIMPLICITY.

The reaction of female customers has been of universal wow and I have witnessed females dragging their male friends to look at the Y systems. The semi see through 5 mm flat profile and clean (B+O style) lines grabs them. I have included a recent photo of how the Y4 looks in a home, the target is LOOKS!

Unfortunately only one member of QQ has experienced our full systems including encode / decode but suffice to say we have a very large and expensive home theatre set up where we asked a local supplier to fit it out with the best most expensive 7.1 Dolby/ DTS style system they could (around $40,000). In parallel we run our (way cheaper system) that we switch in an A/B instant manner - we decode from the stereo L/R. So far all customers and guests greatly prefer the Involve system.

We offer looks, small size, universal stereo operation, no additional bandwidth, works with compressed files and complete simplicity of front and rear panels. Sounds like a winner to this little black duck (actually not so little if truth be known).

My point is if I wandered into a meeting in among a sea of 100 grey suited types, I prefer to be the one in a Hawaiian shirt! If a small company down under is to stand out from a very boring "me to" pack we really need to be different.

Right now we have no shortage of customers screaming for us to supply the Y4 and Y2 systems, our problem is currently a lack of financial ability to fund manufacture. Don't worry, I think MAJOR backing is weeks of.

Regards

Chucky
 

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