I received my SQ Upgraded Surround Master a week or so ago, and have been unable to check it out...until today!
What a nightmare! I went to fire up my SQT-1100 Test LP and when I lowered the tone arm on it, it slid across the record! The stylus had snapped off! YIKES! Fortunately, I had another M24H on another turntable, so I made the swap. Then, it got worse!
I set the tracking and settings on the TT for the new cart, wired up to my PC via my MOTU and Vegas 12 recording software, and I had nothing coming out of the front left channel of the Surround Master. NOTHING. I checked all cables, checked the software, and there was zippo. I switched the R and L fronts, and the audio followed the cable, so the unit was at fault. Switching to QS mode, I had audio in all 4 channels, back to SQ, dead Left Front again. Powered down, powered up, still the same.
I was about to contact Chucky for another trip for the unit across the "bigger pond", when I decided to open the unit. I am an electronics guy, so I figured I'd look for anything obvious. Opening the unit was easy, but inside there was nothing loose or obviously wrong. I could see where the new chip was soldered in the middle of the board, but it all looked good. Put it back together and tried it again, NOW IT WORKED!
Go figure. I will cross my fingers and hope that it stays functional.
So, after all that, I started to run test records through it. I had the SQ Gala disc, the Columbia Labs Test Disc, Quadraphile, and a Japanese SQ Demo LP, to start with!
Ran the SQT1100 through and watched the recorded wave files as I listened to the channel test tones. By ear, they were clearly directional. The tones came from where they were supposed to. Watching the wave files as they were recorded did show some activity in the none active channels, some more than others. It's not totally discrete, as it probably cannot expect to be. The results from the Quadrafile SQ side were better with regard to wave data in the inactive channels. Again, the active channel was clearly defined, there was just some info in some of the other channels as well.
Enough of the tones, I moved on to music. The SQ Gala LP has some good demo tracks, most notably "Rock On" by David Essex, which is a classic quad demo tune, and of course "Money" from DSOTM. I have to say the listening experience was astonishing. "Rock On" is a technical marvel considering its age, and the SQSM playback was clear and precise. The timing of the vocals on this tune is very intricate, and the decode seemed to be perfect. Even observing the wav timings confirmed that it was an incredible playback.
Next track was "Money", one we're all familiar and a little sick of by now. The cash register sounds at the intro were clear and had pin-point location. Cannot complain about it one bit. Another track on this particular disc was "Close to You" by the Carpenters. I did not expect much from this one, and I was right. Even the sappy lyrics could not save this one. Clearly not a quad demo track, not sure why it's on this LP.
So, after some issues, and a very quick run through, I can say "AWESOME"!! I don't know if it's technically perfect or not, but it sure sounds good and does what it's supposed to do. I will test it more this weekend with other SQ LPs, and maybe my "Supersession" SQ CD that came out a few years ago.
When I do I may post some audio samples and jpg's. Again, I bought this unit, I paid for the return shipping, this was not a back room deal with Chucky or anyone. I'm speaking as a customer and a happy one at that. This thing does the job, and now it's even better!
More later...........