I've heard it, using a Tate II SQ decoder. You're right; it's excellent. The separation and overall fidelity were better on the CD than on the SQ LP, but I sure wonder why, since it was so good, Columbia didn't opt to release it on multichannel SACD. They did release "A Chorus Line" as such. I have the SACD and the SQ LP, and again, no comparison.
Who knows why they do what they do - Sony destroyed the SACD release of Bartók's "Concerto For Orchestra" - that recording is truly a surround spectacular - heck, the album cover even shows the listener how it's supposed to sound in full surround, yet it was remixed into 'ambient' surround, and that recording was
NEVER meant to be heard that way. Even listening to it in stereo was just 'wrong'. I kept hoping that Sony would release Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" with its original discrete quad mix. That's another recording (and live performance) that was meant to be heard in quad and so any sort of stereo or ambient remix would destroy it. I hate the stereo version of it - the quad just adds so much to the entire thing, it surpasses itself and becomes great 'art' in quad, instead of just good 'music' in stereo. I wish someone had a DVD-A or DTS CD of the quad mix from the discrete 8-track of "Mass" - I've never been able to find a torrent.
The, ahem, "20-bit" remix/re-mastering of "Annie" is awful, and not just because it's stereo only - the re-master is missing certain backing vocals and instruments here and there throughout the entire recording. And the fidelity is fingernails-on-the-chalkboard harsh.
You know, we need to start finding out, and noting, which SQ albums have properly encoded side-images or incorrect (non-decodable) mixing, etc... Perhaps it should be added to the Quad Discography? Bootlegs are listed (and I don't think they should be listed at all - not that I'm criticizing the list) so info on actual encoders used or encoding problems of particular recordings would be a good add, I think. Anyway, as already mentioned, "Annie," being mixed with the Position Encoder and London Box is an example of what could be added, and another is the SQ "Company" - it was mixed with the original "square" SQ 4/2 Encoder and so side-images are encoded wrong - plus, it has some microphone/mixing problems in the discrete master that don't encode in SQ properly and make the decoder (even the Fosgate Tate II) produce image shifting and pumping (during the last verse of "Getting Married Today"). "A Little Night Music" has correctly encoded side images even though the first-generation "square" SQ encoder was used (to encode side images correctly 2 'square' SQ encoders had to be used, and only the left f/b inputs of each was hooked up to Left and Right of the 2 channel recorder to create the correct center-side encoding). Barbra Streisand's "Live In Concert (Forum)" seems to have no encoded surrounds at all - over the years I've bought 4 copies of that album and each is from a different generation of matrix and stamper, yet the results are the same - absolutely no surround except for minor leakage of sounds on the Fosgate Tate - My Lafayette SQ-W and Sony SQD-2020 actually make it sound better than the Tate because they have some spacious leakage! I've never heard the Q8 discrete quad release so I don't know if it's the same as the SQ. Neil Diamond's "Serenade" SQ LP seems to be encoded wrong on all my copies, with severe high-frequency sibilance of Center Front vocals to Right Surround. 3 copies are all the same - even careful L/R balancing doesn't fix it. It was either in the SQ 2-channel tape master or Neil's vocals were somehow messed up on the multi-track masters. The Paramatrix decoder demo album "Quadraphonic Gala" has a major level change during "The Way We Were" - the volume pumps way up and then back down, then up again before leveling off to normal - almost like an expander or compressor went crazy during the LP mastering.
As a side note: The amount of 'stuff' that came in that LP's jacket was incredible - quad articles, sneak-peaks at Columbia's new quad liner inserts for STEREO LP's to promote quad, a listing of quad radio stations playing King Biscuit and BBC Presents, cut-sheet for the Paramatrix decoder, Schwann's quad guide for 1975 called "Some RIGHT Ideas About Four-Channel Sound" and a list of all SQ licensee's in America and the UK and a summary of the FCC listening tests that declared SQ a 'winner' against QS, BMX and discrete quad in both decoding (using the Paramatrix prototype) and stereo-only playback. I'd never picked up an album that was so heavy - it was still in its original shrink wrapping, so I didn't know what was in it, but the heft
forced me to pay the 5 bucks for it! I think it's the only SQ album in the USA to have Pink Floyd's "Money" on it. Capitol Records was given a Paramatrix decoder, so perhaps that's why it ended up on the CBS album?
Kinda got off the main topic, but what do you think of my idea, and do you have any examples to add?