Lou Dorren: A new CD-4 Demodulator!!! [ARCHIVE]

[w.a.reid]

"Since no one has put any money down on these units, and no one is obligated to actually buy one at this point, all I can ask is that you continue your patience and give the guy a chance to get the thing done right. "

hey Lou needs to learn from quad bob - youre supposed to promise the world - take deposits - get more people interested - get some more monies - tell us about how fabulous he is - then ask for the balance plus shipping and then shoot us all the Bird - as he drives off on the BMW motorcycle i helped pay for.

keep up the good work - Lou - and if it never comes to fruition - no harm done - i sure as hell cant make one - one what? i forgot what i was talking about.:brew

w.a.r.

 

[ChristopherLees]

It would be very hard to approach Bob's business model in this newsgroup.

Lou has taken paypal on previous sales (records, cleaning ) and besides...nobody is paying anything until there is something to send.

of course whether one pays for an item in advance or just waits, one has to remember that all sales carry some degree of emotion with them and waiting patiently for a year or 2 for a product that is still in the process of being completed ,can still give you a draining effect...even if you haven't spent a penny..and sometimes that is enough to make you want to give up...regardless of how decent and honest the manufacturer is.

 

[The Quadfather]

Well, if this new demod never materializes, at least my 4DD5 with my AT440MLa is doing a fine job. Could Lou do better with his new demod? I'd like to find out.

The Quadfather

 

[Quadro-Action]

Yes it would have been real interesting to compare the announced new demodulator with those of the items in the own collection, that ist for me the JVC 10 S, the JVC 1000 and the Technics SH-400, which is also preferred among the old items from Lou in his earlier mails. So it would be not a drama, when the new demodulator is further on only a theoretical possibility. But when a developement is announced, so the interesting fans of course wanted to know, if there is hope or not. 400 members have read between the last days this demodulator side. That shows the big interess. Let's wait a few days more for an answer from Lou. But when this is missing also till August, I have no more hope to see or hear the wondermachine. If Lou has unfortunately healthy problems - may be an other possibility for his missing comments - then it would be helpfull for us CD-4 family, when his wife or one of his relationships could give us here an information.

 

[JonUrban]

Lou is fine. He sent me a message that all is well with him. Stay tuned and don't give up yet.

 

[Quadro-Action]

I am pleased, that Lou Dorren feels further on well. But I have also further more an interess to know real facts about the new demodulator.

Dietrich

 

[loudorren]

Hello CD-4 Quadraphiles,

I know all of you are waiting with baited breath for Jon's report. Here is the latest. The delay is not the demodulator. The delay is the Shibata stylus re-tipping. The pickup I have selected has fantastic performance characteristics. Unfortunately the manufacture has no Shibata stylus so I had to get the cartridges with a nude cantilever. I then sent the protos to a stylus tipper in Belgium. They informed me two weeks ago that they could not do my order because they where going out of business.

I have sent protos to a stylus tipper in Japan who has the Shibata jewels in stock. They are going to tip the protos so that I can confirm the performance. Once I have those back and they are tested, the demodulator and the new pickup will be sent to Jon.

I am sure that you all have noticed that I was very clear at the beginning that I would not accept any funds from any body until Jon reviews the unit and writes his report. I will repeat, this is not money making project. It is a project for interested parties to participate in and for me to see how good a demodulator I could design. This has taken longer then I expected but I think the results are well worth it.

Those of you who have hung in there will not be disappointed.

Stand By,

Lou Dorren

ps

To those of you who have sent me private messages, I will answer shortly.

 

[zabble]

Nice to hear from you Lou. I personally have patience, my only issue is that some of my CD-4 records who are trapped in their shrink wrap are starting to get restless. I'll continue to try to stall their imminent mutiny .

 

[Doug G.]

Nothing like sealed CD-4 records to get me excited (well, almost \:^).

What are some of the ones you have waiting for Lou's demodulator, zabble?

Doug

 

[zabble]

Because you asked Doug, I went through most of my collection and found my sealed CD-4 records. Most are pretty obscure and I actually don't have that many sealed ones left as I opened the majority for listening purposes. My sealed ones include those released by:

Charles Ives
David Clayton-Thomas
Woody Herman
Anthony Braxton
Arthur Lyman
The James Gang
Ronnie Milsap
John Cage and George Crumb
The Outrageous Dr. Teleny's Incredible Plugged-in Orchestra
AND
The Soundbird CD-4 Test Record (recorded by none other than Lou Dorren himself )

 

[The Quadfather]

The only problem with the special made cartridges is that a couple of years down the road, these special stylii will not be availlable. Fortunately though there are a few commercially availlable cartridges that can be used. After all, we're listening to our records now. We might want to make another purchase for a few replacement stylii after we have secured our demods.

The Quadfather

 

[Quadzilla]

The only problem with the special made cartridges is that a couple of years down the road, these special stylii will not be availlable. Fortunately though there are a few commercially availlable cartridges that can be used. After all, we're listening to our records now. We might want to make another purchase for a few replacement stylii after we have secured our demods.

The Quadfather

I think you are right about that; although I am intrigued that Lou would hand-pick a cartridge for his demod project, and I am sure that he has picked an exceptional performer. More and more though, I feel that matching the cartridge to the tonearm wiring is crucial to CD-4 performance. Audio Technicas (and AT spinoffs - JVC, Akai, etc.) REALLY like VERY low capacitance tonearm wiring. I am going through a lengthy recouperation, and I have had a lot of time on my hands. I chose a Rega P3 with an RB300 tonearm as my Quadradisc turntable, and installed an AT-20Sa cartridge (one of my long-time favourites, even for stereo LPs). As time went on, I rewired the tonearm with an Incognito wiring kit that uses VERY low (<40 pF) capacitance Cardas wiring; and everything fell into place. CD-4 separation is fantastic, and the whole thing just SOUNDS better. Sometimes the old ways are best. The AT cartridge has been in my junk drawer for 30 years, and I just lucked into a deal on a NOS ATN20 stylus. Now I will pack it away until my new Lou demod arrives. Thanks for listening. Back to bed for me.

 

[JonUrban]

That looks pretty sweet, Mike! Nice!

 

[Quadzilla]

Thanks Jon, but I will never rewire another tonearm again. My nerves are shot.

 

[The Quadfather]

As old as my Marantz turntable is, I would be afraid that the screws would be corroded enough to prevent undestructive disassembly. When I was a stereo repairman back in the quad era, I ran across turntables of good quality and acceptable appearance where you couldn't get the tonearm apart without destroying it. They looked all right when I started the work. Of course, back then, parts were availlable. Now I wouldn't dare attempt it unless the current low capacitance wiring had gone bad. Aluminum parts are especially bad about this, and turntable tonearms have lots of aluminum parts.

The Quadfather

P.S. But it's so orange!

 

[Quadzilla]

As old as my Marantz turntable is, I would be afraid that the screws would be corroded enough to prevent undestructive disassembly. When I was a stereo repairman back in the quad era, I ran across turntables of good quality and acceptable appearance where you couldn't get the tonearm apart without destroying it. They looked all right when I started the work. Of course, back then, parts were availlable. Now I wouldn't dare attempt it unless the current low capacitance wiring had gone bad. Aluminum parts are especially bad about this, and turntable tonearms have lots of aluminum parts.

The Quadfather

P.S. But it's so orange!

It's red actually. Who would have an orange turntable? LOL

 

[Quadro-Action]

Hello Lou,
because it could be further on difficult to get the shibata retipping for your systems (although you have found later a firm in Japan) we have in Germany a possibility for such a retipping with shibata. I have spoken today the man of "Dreher&Kauf", who has made himself the retipping in last or erlier years for some CD-4 fans. After closing this activity by the firm, he has all the needed instruments rescued from destruction and is now working private. He has further on many Shibata needles and he could make a retipping also for 120 cartidges. Also further on he does it for one CD-4 fan. One retipping may cost around $ 50,-- if more retippings are needed, the price would be more low. If you would need at last this help, he would like to get one system for an examination. You can mail me, when this help is needed and we can have the retipping reliable.

Dietrich

 

[wa6ubw]

Dietrich:

I had dinner with Lou last night and he will be contacting you.

 

[Quadro-Action]

Hello wa6ubw
thank you for the arrangement.

Dietrich

 

[ndiamone]

Since, as everybody says, the new styluses will very soon become unavailable due to being a one-time special order,
how about concentrating on just the new demodulator by itself and just using one of the following two playback methods?

a) www.elpj.com/

Even translucent or opaque colored vinyl CD-4 such as the pink-vinyl Elvis Aloha from Hawaii will play fine, but since there's no transparent clear or colored-vinyl CD-4, I think the fact that the ELPI's limitations of playing these discs would not be a concern for a CD-4-o-phile.

If anybody finds a transparent colored vinyl CD-4 (or other disc they wish to play) and it DOES become a concern, we have:

b) www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw9jfX4Ykxw

c) http://irene.lbl.gov/

Like stereo and quadraphonic discs, cylinders are vertically-modulated, and since in addition to lateral modulation, that feature is needed to pickup the other half of the stereo or quadraphonic disc the confocal microscope ``turntable'' so to speak would solve that problem.

Then all somebody would have to do is merge the disc-mapping design from the ELP and merge that with the confocal microscopy technology to arrive at a real-time playback device that doesn't have to worry about constantly being out of alignment upon playback.