Finally got a logic decoder!

[ChopperCharles]

I've been listening to my Pioneer QX4000 for some time now. I've always loved it in discrete mode, with SACD or DVDA multichannel input... but it's been sorely lacking for SQ (and QS) decoding. The separation was never... all that. The quadraphonic sample LPs I have never sounded terribly discrete. DSOTM sounded the best out of all of them, but even that was wholly eclipsed by the SACD version.

Welllllllll, I found a Sony SQD-2070 on eBay with a $50 buy it now, and snagged that puppy quick!

I haven't gotten to DSOTM yet, but wow... BIG difference in the first SQ album I listened to. This may not be the ever-lusted-after Tate, but it's worlds away from the non-logic Pioneer decoder in my QX4000. I'd have preferred an outboard decoder that could do both SQ and QS, but I can't really complain for $50!

Looking forward to having some time this weekend to listen to a bunch of my SQ albums again, in the way they're meant to sound!

Charles.

 

[rustyandi]

Charles
I don,t mean to be a nag
But if you want to hear SQ and QS as good as you can get
Get a Surround Master if you think the Sony makes a difference
This unit will give you another step
Ron

 

[ChopperCharles]

The sony makes a noticeable difference, especially on the title track to the War Of The Gods album by Billy Paul (SQ LP). At the beginning an alarm noise bounces from front left to front right to rear right to rear left, and around and around again. I played that over and over, comparing the Pioneer QX4000 decoding to the Sony SQD-2070 run through the tape loop. The SQD distinctly put the alarm in each corner of the room. The Pioneer put the front two channels in the corners of the room, but the rear channels sounded next to me, not behind me. The front/back separation just isn't as good as the SQD's. On some albums it's only a subtle difference, but on some it's not subtle at all.

That Surround Master sounds interesting, but it's more than a little pricey. I love that SQ/QS decoding is back in a modern unit... but $400 is a lot to pay for it.

Charles.

 

[rustyandi]

If you don't have a lot of Quad lps
Then it may not be worth while
But what you just brought breaks down you toss it
But I use the Involve (QS) on the Surround master
for all stereo CDs, FM, all the time
I have not heard Stereo in over 35 years