Santana Lotus - Stereo SACD from Audio Fidelity (Dec 2016)

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So, why can't they run the master tape, if it's SQ encoded, thru an SQ decoder in order to provide a multichannel layer on the SACD ?

Precisely!

Audio Fidelity could do a tie-up with Involve.

Involve could do the decoding themselves through their SQ Surround Master unit, make it official, rather than an amateur/homebrew affair..

Audio Fidelity give Involve and their Surround Master a credit on the Lotus SACD..

Everybody benefits = Audio Fidelity, Involve and us at QQ.

This currently tiny Surround niche of the music industry needs a little extra creative thinking, a few new ideas, maybe one or two slightly unconventional or outside the box "Eureka! moments".. and things in our Surround Music world will grow exponentially, imho.
 
regardless of wheather it is quad or stereo, I will buy it. Marshall has always been dedicated to the best quality and version there is.
Of all the cd, sacd's and quads, only the Bob Dylan 1964 should not have been in quad.
 
regardless of wheather it is quad or stereo, I will buy it. Marshall has always been dedicated to the best quality and version there is.
Of all the cd, sacd's and quads, only the Bob Dylan 1964 should not have been in quad.


While I agree there's NOT much recording engineers can do with a guitar, voice and harmonica to create an immersive surround soundfield, but I do think the Dylan Bootleg in surround had just the right amount of ambience to enhance the proceedings. I'm sure the premium $60 price tag turned off some potential purchasers but with further discounting it came out to the usual $22 per hybrid mch SACD. Cool booklet, though.
 
Send your ideas to Marshall, Fred Blue and see what he can do with it, see if its reproduceable with high quality and feasible? What do you have to lose?

http://www.surrounddiscography.com/quaddisc/quadpall.htm
On this link it gives the QUAD mixes for Santana, "Lotus" 3 lp, was there actual quad pressing back in the 70's?
Did they use the master QUAD mixes back then? Where did they go? Santana have them?
 
So, why can't they run the master tape, if it's SQ encoded, thru an SQ decoder in order to provide a multichannel layer on the SACD ?

Well I suppose they could do something like that.Quality may be compromised though.

That is what the folks involved with the Buddy Rich 4.0 DTS/DD DVD did. They provide a short doc on their process btw, on that DVD.
They decoded the SQ with a new working Fosgate 101a to achieve/retrieve a discrete 4ch mix.
 
Send your ideas to Marshall, Fred Blue and see what he can do with it, see if its reproduceable with high quality and feasible? What do you have to lose?

http://www.surrounddiscography.com/quaddisc/quadpall.htm
On this link it gives the QUAD mixes for Santana, "Lotus" 3 lp, was there actual quad pressing back in the 70's?
Did they use the master QUAD mixes back then? Where did they go? Santana have them?

I imagine this release is all done and dusted so too late for all that, oh well, we will just have to "do it ourselves" :eek:

Yes, it was released in an SQ-encoded Quadraphonic 3 x LP box set in Japan, I have it in a slightly bashed up condition.. tbh haven't bothered to convert it since its said all versions are SQ-encoded and its all been converted by other folks before.. plus I don't have enough time on my hands as it is and am trying to prioritise SQ stuff that either nobody's done before or I can't find out in the wild :)
 
Send your ideas to Marshall, Fred Blue and see what he can do with it, see if its reproduceable with high quality and feasible? What do you have to lose?

http://www.surrounddiscography.com/quaddisc/quadpall.htm
On this link it gives the QUAD mixes for Santana, "Lotus" 3 lp, was there actual quad pressing back in the 70's?
Did they use the master QUAD mixes back then? Where did they go? Santana have them?

The two pressing that i had my hands on - Japan 1974 and late 70's Holland - were both SQ, even if the Holland one used normal stereo CBS labels.
Also, both CD editions are SQ.
All these decodes the same with a sq decoder.

Probably mixed directly to SQ 2-channel master, no quad tape edition anywhere, also because it was supposed to be a Japan-only release and it was released outside Japan very late.
 
$27 buckaroo's.. what are your spidey senses telling you Ralphie..?

mine are telling me 2 x SACDs and a pretty little book with some scans from the (beautifully elaborate, stupidly decadent and typically Japanese, imho :eek: ) SQ LP package art.. :smokin

Well, Adam, considering it was a 3 LP set, @ $13.50 per disc, quite a bargain. Whether it will be SQ is anyone's guess .... but we can't fault Marshall & AF for that as they tried 'valiantly' to locate the QUAD masters.

But I did quip that down the road, SONY Japan might release it as a deluxe 3 SACD set in glorious Quadraphonic Sound in the deluxe packaging accorded Jeff Beck's recent SACD 5.1 remasters for :yikes 20,000 YEN!
 
Well, Adam, considering it was a 3 LP set, @ $13.50 per disc, quite a bargain. Whether it will be SQ is anyone's guess .... but we can't fault Marshall & AF for that as they tried 'valiantly' to locate the QUAD masters.

But I did quip that down the road, SONY Japan might release it as a deluxe 3 SACD set in glorious Quadraphonic Sound in the deluxe packaging accorded Jeff Beck's recent SACD 5.1 remasters for :yikes 20,000 YEN!

Oh I'm sold on it already Ralph! ..I think it will represent great value and will be getting it no matter what (and then decoding the bejeesus out of it with that cute little Aussie box! :D ) I almost don't care if anybody else ever reissues it again, unless/until its discrete which Quad scholars around here seem to think is unlikely :upthumb
 
AF was kind enough to send me a check disc yesterday. It's fantastic; just what stereo fans would hope it would be.

As far as the SQ question goes, if someone can explain how to figure out if this is SQ-encoded, I will find out and report back. My Cambridge Audio universal player won't read SACD-Rs so I had to use Foobar2000. If anybody has any ideas, I'll try them.

Edit: It appears that this is still on for 11/25.

CunP70mW8AA4-9_.jpg
 
AF was kind enough to send me a check disc yesterday. It's fantastic; just what stereo fans would hope it would be.

As far as the SQ question goes, if someone can explain how to figure out if this is SQ-encoded, I will find out and report back. My Cambridge Audio universal player won't read SACD-Rs so I had to use Foobar2000. If anybody has any ideas, I'll try them.

Edit: It appears that this is still on for 11/25.

The Stereo CD (PCM) check disc of AF's Santana Lotus that I have is indeed SQ Encoded.
Playing it through the SQ mode of the Surround Master from Involve Audio gives you a 4 channel concert recording.
 
The Stereo CD (PCM) check disc of AF's Santana Lotus that I have is indeed SQ Encoded.
Playing it through the SQ mode of the Surround Master from Involve Audio gives you a 4 channel concert recording.

Good news! Thanks
 
So, why can't they run the master tape, if it's SQ encoded, thru an SQ decoder in order to provide a multichannel layer on the SACD ?

Because then they would have to pay TWO licensing fees to Sony - one of the early issues with SACDs and DVD-A's. The publishing and artists wanted royalties for both versions.
 
So, why can't they run the master tape, if it's SQ encoded, thru an SQ decoder in order to provide a multichannel layer on the SACD ?

They could do that. And they could take the 4.0 Surround Tapes and make them into 5.1 Surround.
AF has chosen to leave the 4.0 Surround Tapes 4.0 SACD and the SQ Encoded Stereo Tapes 2.0 SACD.
 
They could do that. And they could take the 4.0 Surround Tapes and make them into 5.1 Surround.
AF has chosen to leave the 4.0 Surround Tapes 4.0 SACD and the SQ Encoded Stereo Tapes 2.0 SACD.

I think AF are very wise to leave the tapes in the original mix configuration and not muck with it beyond that. :)
 
The Stereo CD (PCM) check disc of AF's Santana Lotus that I have is indeed SQ Encoded.
Playing it through the SQ mode of the Surround Master from Involve Audio gives you a 4 channel concert recording.

A bit off topic: is there a thread that lists the cds that would benefit from being played through this device?
 
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