Columbia "Stealth Quad" Marketing letter from 1974!

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
You're probably right Adam on selling Quad by stealth. I had to specially order my SQ copy of "Wish You Were Here" from my local record shop just north of London) they had no Quad section for Rock/Pop. But when I went to Cardiff Uni in 1976, Spillers Records (the oldest reord shop in the world) had a Quad section, split in to the various formats. I used to look at the CD4s of the Doobie Bros & Joni Mitchell, but although I had a Shure CD4 capable cartridge I couldn't afford a decoder (I don't recall seeing a home build design in any of the electronic magazines at that time or I would have).

NB: Spillers Records was started in 1894 and is still going :) http://spillersrecords.co.uk/about_spillers/
 
You're probably right Adam on selling Quad by stealth. I had to specially order my SQ copy of "Wish You Were Here" from my local record shop just north of London) they had no Quad section for Rock/Pop. But when I went to Cardiff Uni in 1976, Spillers Records (the oldest reord shop in the world) had a Quad section, split in to the various formats. I used to look at the CD4s of the Doobie Bros & Joni Mitchell, but although I had a Shure CD4 capable cartridge I couldn't afford a decoder (I don't recall seeing a home build design in any of the electronic magazines at that time or I would have).

NB: Spillers Records was started in 1894 and is still going :) http://spillersrecords.co.uk/about_spillers/

Ahh.. I feel your pain! I look at CD-4 records now and think "will I ever be able to afford to get into the CD-4 aspect of our hobby??" :D

Wonder if Spiller's have any old Quad LPs left laying around... fancy a trip to Cardiff Duncan? :p

(Random thought; Doubt I'll find a Wish You Were Here SQ anytime soon.. they all go for a gazillion quid now! :yikes )
 
I have looked! But to no avail - A load of us get together every year back in Cardiff for a reunion.

Ahh.. I feel your pain! I look at CD-4 records now and think "will I ever be able to afford to get into the CD-4 aspect of our hobby??" :D

Wonder if Spiller's have any old Quad LPs left laying around... fancy a trip to Cardiff Duncan? :p

(Random thought; Doubt I'll find a Wish You Were Here SQ anytime soon.. they all go for a gazillion quid now! :yikes )
 
can't remember if I ever posted @QQ about it but since getting Dan Fogelberg's Captured Angel SQ with a Columbia records Quad letter in a Stereo sleeve, I came across a 2nd example of such a stealth SQ record in a Stereo LP sleeve with a Quad info letter from Columbia inside too! (Charlie McCoy's "Fastest Harp In The South")..maybe they're not so obscure after all..?

 
That is an excellent Quad artifact.

Whilst reading it, I imagined Don Cornelius reading it for a radio ad with his smooth voice.

"The mighty, might sound of Quadrophonic..." ;)
 
Cool letter! Would have loved to find something like that!

But "over a million" people have purchased quad systems???

At first consideration you might think that was pure marketing hype, but it's probably actually a combination of truth and (some) fiction. Being in Marketing, I can tell you how the marketer's mind works ;)

"Thrust" was released in '74. The first Electro-Voice Quad systems came out in '68. The American record-buying public was - what? - 100 million strong by that time? Given the age of the market and the potential market penetration of the Quad format, and factoring in all of the types of systems sold (EV-4, Dynaquad, CD-4, SQ, QS), one million systems is actually not so outrageous a claim after 4-6 years of market ramp-up.

That's my take, anyway ;)
 
You are correct Clark. This was not a niche market, many companies were full blast in. Just bad timing for a few aspects such as technology killed the run.


At first consideration you might think that was pure marketing hype, but it's probably actually a combination of truth and (some) fiction. Being in Marketing, I can tell you how the marketer's mind works ;)

"Thrust" was released in '74. The first Electro-Voice Quad systems came out in '68. The American record-buying public was - what? - 100 million strong by that time? Given the age of the market and the potential market penetration of the Quad format, and factoring in all of the types of systems sold (EV-4, Dynaquad, CD-4, SQ, QS), one million systems is actually not so outrageous a claim after 4-6 years of market ramp-up.

That's my take, anyway ;)
 
Back
Top