I've been a member here for about a year or so. I got into vintage quad just about a year ago... and really loved the sound the vintage quad receivers put out. I settled on a "below the radar" quad unit... a Sanyo DCX3300KA. With all the meter lights and dial lights, it's really sexy looking
@:
But that receiver is 40+ years old. I had it checked out by a tech, but no caps were removed and I was told by others on another audio forum that caps cannot be reliably checked when measured "in circuit." The tech said it all checked out ok. And it still sounds great to me... but it can't last forever, and a re-cap job would be multiple hundreds of $$.
So, I began researching the Surround Master and finally shelled out the $$ for the basic model... not the SQ model. I don't have and don't plan on having any of the old recordings made during the quad era. I listen almost exclusively to streamed audio from paid (& therefore higher bitrate) Pandora and Spotify accounts. The vintage quad sounded fantastic when streaming. However, I haven't been as impressed with the SM as I thought I would/should/ought to be.
Here's what I mean. When using the SM, I am not hearing the amount of sounds emanating from the rear speakers that I hear when using the vintage quad. I'm pretty sure I have the SM connected properly. I have a Kenwood VR-507 AV receiver from about 2000 that has the necessary set of RCA DVD/6Channel Inputs as described online by Involve Audio. I have four Polk Audio Monitor 40 speakers and a MartinLogan Dynamo 300 (8") for the subwoofer (so my system is basically a 4.1). The rear sounds get a bit better when turning the volume up more, but I didn't have to do that with the Sanyo vintage quad unit. Plus, using the Kenwood, I have increased the volume in both rear speakers +5dB and I am closer to the rears than the fronts. And by the way, I typically use the #2 Matrix mode on the Sanyo.. sounds the best to me... FWIW.
Now I know that a lot of multi-channel performance comes from the way the recording was miked/mastered. But regardless of that, the vintage Sanyo quad seems to have much better front to back separation than the SM when I listen to streamed audio. The Sanyo also seems to have better R to L separation also. To be fair, I did turn the rears up a bit using the Sanyo's individual knobs for each channel, but not that much... at least not as much as I seem to have on the SM.
I've been through 3 different Yamaha RX-Vxxx AV receivers... haven't met one I liked yet... nor their audio quality. So I've been down the modern home theater receiver road and found it wanting. And don't want to go there again.
One plus for the SM was watching Revenge of the Sith. I did notice sounds panning from one side to the other and also front to back and vice versa, depending on what was happening. The SM does better with movies than anything else I've heard. BUT... and it's a big one, I'm much more into listening to music than watching movies. I'm not nearly as moved by movies as I am by music. So while the SM is good on movies (perhaps even better if I had a center speaker), I have yet to be impressed by its music making.
One more thing: the female RCA plugins on the back of the SM are recessed and the plastic housing around the RCAs is very close to the RCA input jacks. The problem is that some "better" RCA cable male ends are "flared" and cannot be used with this design. It would be much better to me if the RCA jacks on the SM were protruding out beyond the plastic housing, allowing better and easier connections.
At this point, the $395 Surround Master is not earning its keep. But I'm here asking/hoping for some help.
Chucky... if you're reading this, I hope you'll reply. I was referred to you by another member from a comment I made to him about the SM.
So......... if anyone's got some suggestions, please reply. Many thanks.
Hal