Reality Technologies Surround Master - Owners Thread

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I've lived with the Surround Master now for about a month. It certainly creates some interesting separations.

However the processed stereo through my OB Lowthers loses some subtle

detail and becomes slightly strident on acoustic instruments and voice. The reason for this becomes apparent

when I compare the FRs at the listening position. The EQd Lowthers are reasonably flat through the mids and

treble but become lumpier when processed. However this is fairly minor overall.

My rear speakers, also OB Lowthers, are EQd with the highs rolled off steeply above 8K. Messing about years

ago with Hafler setups then Dolby, HF sibilance and cymbals from the rear always annoyed me when most of that

sound was positioned front of house and was meant to stay there.

However electronic music is a different ball game through the Surround Master. For those who don't know I recommend

the Ektoplazm Free Music Portal for some stunning 4 channel effects. The HQ downloads

focus on dance music at rapid beats per minute but include many Downtempo, Deep Trance, Glitch and Ambient styles.

Some of my recent favourite DJs are Globular, Reflection, Maharishi and SeaMoon. The are many compilations of various

artists too such as "The Return Of The Quetzalcoatl". SeaMoon's "A Twisted Downbeat Adventure" rips!

Some of the Forest style music has fascinating introductions to the main dance beat like Ecometric's

"Deep Forest Music" EP.

CDs such as "Thora Vuk" by Robag Wruhme , "Space Is Only Noise" by Nicolas Javr and "The Eye" by Yello are

especially interesting in 4 channel.

Needless to say most of these dance tracks call for a solid bottom end to sound the best. Never-the-less the

surround effects are still there to enjoy even if the LFs are lean.
 
AWESOMELY INDECENTLY GOOD!!!

Thursday, Feb. 13, mine arrived. Friday put it into my system.

My Mom was over and could immediately tell the improvement.

My wife is impressed.

The reality is phenomenal.

Will post again with my configuration.
 
My setup.

All inputs, Cable box, VCR, DVD, ROKU, high end desktop W7, connected to a Behringer XENYX X2442USB mixer.

Each channel routed to Subgroup 1 and 2 and subgroup 1 and 2 outputs to BBE 282iX Sonic Maximizer.

Output of BBE routed back in to stereo auxiliary returns.

Main output then goes to KRK10s subwoofer. Filter set at 100cps. Everything above goes back out to DI box to convert to unbalanced then to Surround Master stereo input.

SM 5.1 outputs go to Behringer DI800 to convert to balanced.

Then each channel goes to Mackie MR5 powered studio monitor. Sub output not needed.

Almost everything has a realism and presence that make you think the musician, singer, or person speaking is standing right in the room. It is an uncanny realism. AND adjoining rooms give the same sensation that there is a live presence.

Involve Audio deserves a Gold Medal.
 
Reporting back with a demo-quality item... The Lionel Richie Can't Slow Down Blu Ray through the SM is incredible (I was listening in 5.1 mode). Fredblue - I know you were singing the praises of this disc - have you spun it through the SM? Chucky - check out All Night Long as a demo... Wow!
 
Just got my SM SQ unit in the mail today. Did some quick listening to various SQ and QS encoded LPs and WOW! I am super impressed here. I haven't tried any normal stereo LPs through this thing yet but I have a few in mind.........BRAVO Involve Audio!!
---------- Chris
 
Just got my SM SQ unit in the mail today. Did some quick listening to various SQ and QS encoded LPs and WOW! I am super impressed here. I haven't tried any normal stereo LPs through this thing yet but I have a few in mind.........BRAVO Involve Audio!!
---------- Chris

Don't forget the QSound encoded CDs - along with the many Dolby encoded CDs. Fine results there as well with the SM!
 
Just got my SM SQ unit in the mail today. Did some quick listening to various SQ and QS encoded LPs and WOW! I am super impressed here. I haven't tried any normal stereo LPs through this thing yet but I have a few in mind.........BRAVO Involve Audio!!
---------- Chris

Ahh, it gladdens my heart :) No, seriously. I had a hyper-colour test strip installed, and it's glowing purple.
 
Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the USA.
This year is the first full year with the Surround Master.
I do feel the need to say Thanks for the excellent SQ and QS Surround Master decoder here in 2014.

vinylguy4
 
Wanna have some fun with the Surround Master? Run Pandora through it and bounce around between music types. A great way to preview quad performance of a potential new CD purchase.
 
"It would be nice if everyone who gets one of these responds to this thread that they have one. I'm curious how many members actually bought one and what everyone thinks."


I bought one last year(SQ). Loved it so much I brought it back home to my older brother. He got me interested in vintage Marantz and Klipsch, so I thought I'd return the favor and revitalize his zillions of records/cds.

Upon returning from vacation, I ordered another SQ to fill the sonic void.

Just bought a 3rd unit off Ebay(Base Model). Sending that to a buddy who will be pleasantly surprised. He's running "extended stereo" with two speaker pairs right now.

Waiting on another buddy to visit so I can demo my system. He's a big Styx fan so I've got the Paradise Theater SACD ready to spin. Two Much Time On My Hands sounds great for example.
He's building a house so I insisted that he prewire his listening room for 5 floor speakers at least(WAF is a hurdle). He had only planned on ceiling speakers. Hoping to make him a quad and SACD convert.

Yes 90125 SACD is a joy. Check out "Leave It"!
 
Charlie rang
and he is bringing around the new version
of SQ decoding set up for Vinyl tomorrow
I will get a friend to listen also
Will give it a good test and let everybody know

Also I put some pictures of my Computer update before and I think they were missed so here they are again
 

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Hi folks, just thought I'd chime in something here... I've always used the SM in 5.1 mode. In my mind I'm thinking, I've got that center speaker & I'm going to use it, darn it. :)

HOWEVER, this past weekend I played with quad mode extensively for the first time & I gotta say that it was incredible. On the majority of songs, the soundstage was so well presented that you really couldn't tell that the center wasn't producing sound until you got within a foot of it. There were also a lot more subtleties with the soundstage, where I could better pick out that the singer was slightly left of center and the rhythm guitar was slightly right of center, etc. Pretty sure I won't go back to 5.1 mode. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there in case anyone else was hardheaded about it & hadn't tried it as well...
 
Dear All

Its been a bit quiet on this thread for a while.

I just collocated some of the more recent reviews of the standard and SQ Surround Master. I have also included a bunch of previously published reviews. This is an unedited "One Stop Shop" to save you time trawling through hundreds of pages and threads!

Enjoy

Chucky
 

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You know, its hard to find negative things to say about the surround master, but one thing thats frustrating sometimes, is that on Involve mode it sometimes has a way of highlighting LP distortion. Sometimes putting it mostly into one channel. Sometimes just making it seem more powerful. I know the motto garbage in and garbage out. But sometimes it seems like garbage in, worse garbage out. Anyone else notice this?
 
You know, its hard to find negative things to say about the surround master, but one thing thats frustrating sometimes, is that on Involve mode it sometimes has a way of highlighting LP distortion. Sometimes putting it mostly into one channel. Sometimes just making it seem more powerful. I know the motto garbage in and garbage out. But sometimes it seems like garbage in, worse garbage out. Anyone else notice this?

Have you considered that maybe you have a cartridge or stylus alignment issue?
 
Well, some records have distortion from wear, damage or poor pressing, whatever the distortion comes from, sometimes the Surround Master makes it more distracting or prominant than stereo
 
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