New Fosgate Gavotte Question

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Quadrant

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Dec 3, 2004
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Does anyone out there know if the old Gavotte mobile surround processor from 1979 is a SQ Decoder ? The unit says 360 Matrix on it. Is it possible it could share anything in common with the World famous Fosgate tate 101 SQ Decoder for home use that was built in 1977 and was marketed in 1978-79.
Any long time Fosgate fans out there have a answer.

thx..............
 
The Gavotte has more in common with the Fosgate Model 4, or the Newer Fosgate RFQ5000 Pro-Logic II processor. It is quite disgrete, creates 5.1 from stereo, has a matrix effect control that increases or decreases the blend of discreteness, and will do an adequate job of decoding SQ source material. Make sure that you get the cable with the DIN connector that has the control knob for the Matrix effect, it cannot be adjusted without it.
 
sspsandy said:
The Gavotte has more in common with the Fosgate Model 4, or the Newer Fosgate RFQ5000 Pro-Logic II processor. It is quite disgrete, creates 5.1 from stereo, has a matrix effect control that increases or decreases the blend of discreteness, and will do an adequate job of decoding SQ source material. Make sure that you get the cable with the DIN connector that has the control knob for the Matrix effect, it cannot be adjusted without it.


Thx Sandy for the valuable information..........

Quadrant
 
I recently purchased one of these off eBay, the seller initially listed two for sale. One quickly sold, so partially on impulse I thought that i should get the last one before it was gone. Well the seller then listed two more for sale so he must have a number of units left. I just checked eBay as I was going to post the link but those two have now also sold. I will keep an eye out and if he lists anymore I'll post the link.
Anyway I already have a similar unit, Roctron (Circle Surround) in my vehicle, so don't really need this for that purpose. I thought that I'd supply the Gavotte with 12 Volts and try it in the house to see how it preforms.
I first tried it on my bedroom system, it sounded nice, the stereo was spread around the room as expected. The centre vocals sounded a bit hollow with the separation switched to maximum and sounded best in the minimum position. I then moved it to my main system, there it sounded best on the maximum separation setting. In my brief listening test I found that there was less rear channel activity than I like. Similar effect to running stereo through the QSD-1 on the QS setting. The unit could therefore benefit from some sort of enhancement/effect control (the Roctron unit I mentioned has such a control). The Fosgate RFQ5000 that came out latter has the panorama controlled by the head units fader control.
A pre-synth circuit as I recall being proposed by R. Scott Varner in MCS review could be used to provide this control. It occurs to me that the Surround Master could likely also benefit from such a control. A little in phase blend produces the "Hall" effect, while a bit of out of phase blend produces "Surround". I've always stated that the QSD-1 colours the sound a bit, the Gavotte was very transparent, no coloration at all.
If you can't afford a Surround Master this might be a decent alternative, but don't expect it to do SQ very well it wasn't designed for that.
 
Having owned both a Gavotte and Gavotte II in the past, I can tell you it will give an adequate effect with SQ material, but the "360 degree Space Matrix" does a better, more accurate job with QS material. Whether or not that matters in a car environment, I did some comparisons with material that was available in both QS and SQ, and the separation was more distinct and more accurate in the rears with QS. The matrix was meant to be compatible with Dolby Surround.
 
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