Need suggestions on how you would set up my system

[Audio Addict]

I was converted to quad/vintage equipment by the posts in this forum. I love good audio but was/am relatively still ignorant/low skilled/not worthy to the knowledge on here. In time beginning last spring I began collecting vintage equipment from lawn sales and locally advertised sources. I now have a "plurality" of components. Most I obtained for $ 1 to $20 not necessarily but realized potential value. My sonus glass component stand crashed but luckily everything including the plate is ok. I always wanted to replace the 16 gauge wire with 12 gauge and properly set up my system so now I am motivated. I have come to the "mentors" for set up direction. This also would include suggested speaker arrangements.

My main receiver is a HT Pioneer Elite VSX 36 TX ...not vintage but has a massive amount of inputs/outputs and would use a central pre amp. I have a Sansui quad QRX 9001 receiver that is in excellent condition. I have a Sherman Tank of a quad receiver Akai AS-980 I got for a $1 but from what I can find out it is not all that impressive in power so is probably not in the equation. I also have an excellent Sony SQD-2020 quad decoder.

I would like to have the ability to change from and experience raw stereo , to have SQ synthesized, to DVD Audio and HT ambience at different times. I realize a tall order. I feel the technology is there for "possible" soundstage and depth depending upon source quality.

Now for the other equipment.

- I have a vintage Pioneer TX 9800 tuner that I usually connect it direct to my Pioneer Elite RDR-W37 CD recorder as I record FM all the time
- I have a Pioneer DV-656A DVD-Audio player...only $187 at a boxing day sale.
- I have a Technics SL-1400 MK II turntable I got at a lawn sale. I have a mountain (about 3000 ) of Lp's all stereo no quad virtually given to me at lawn sales for the asking last summer...only kept the ones in excellent condition. So there is little sense of getting a quad turntable since I rarely ever get any. However you might recommend a cartridge/needle I should use.

Now the speakers

- My usual fronts are a pair of Paradigm Studio Reference 100's..excellent reproduction
- I have a pair of vintage Pioneer HPM 150's in exceelent condition including fully functioning "super tweeter" that I should use as my main rears for quad or stereo. If you are not familiar with these I have included a link

www.classic-audio.com/pio...hpm150.jpg

- I have a Paradigm Studio Reference Center speaker...should I be using something else?
- I also have a pair of Paradigm Studio Reference 80's
- a pair of vintage Altec Lansing Sevens
- a pair of vintage Monitor Audio M 3's
- a pair of vintage Akai SW-177 II 's...suspect very high sensitivity
- a pair of rare vinatge Sansui SP-3005's

To drive these speakers I have
- a vintage Phase Linear 400 series II power amp 200 watts/channel...suspect these should drive my rear Pioneer HPM 150's
- a vintage Pioneer SX 1010 120 watt/channel receiver
- Kenwood KA 892 125 watts / channel receiver
- Sansui RZ 8300 125 watts per channel receiver
- vintage rare Technics SU-8600 amp

The Pioneer Elite HT receiver has a pre amp out section for the main, center, mid surround and rear surround channel amplifiers as well as 6 channel audio inputs.

I would appreciate suggestions how you would set up my system

Thanks

 

[sspsandy]

I would start by using the Sansui QRX 9001 as a starting point. Connect up your 4 best matching speakers to the front and rear speaker connections. Run the turntable into the 2 channel turntable inputs. This will give you excellent quad synthesised from stereo, as well as decent SQ decoding, depending on which function you select. If you run you left and right audio outputs from your TV, or digital box, into the 2 channel aux inputs, the Variomatrix decoder will give you excellent home theater surround on movies and music channels. Next, run the left and right, front and rear, audio outputs from the DVD-A into the 4 channel tape monitor inputs on the QRX 9001, take one of the 2 channel amps, run the center channel audio output from the DVD-A into the left channel aux input, and connect your center speaker to the left speaker connection. You could connect up a powered subwoofer the same way using the right channel. This way you will get quad/ surround right off the bat. As far as using the other Phase Linear amps as pre-amps or power amps for the setup, it will just depend on how many extras you want to add to the system.

 

[QuadBob]

I would preface my recommendation based on what you want the system to do. If you're planning on having a "combo" system for Home Theater as well as the classic quad equipment.....then the Pioneer VSX is really going to be the "heart" of the system.
Your idea of feeding the 9001 into the Pioneer VSX is really the way to go to simply add "quad" capability to your HT setup. You can start out by using the Tape 2, 4channel output of the 9001 into the discrete inputs of the VSX. This will give you line level signals from the 9001. The ultimate solution is to restore the 9001, and add pre-amp out/amp in jacks to the 9001. This would allow you to have "control" (ie; volume/balance/tone, etc.) in the 9001 while still maintaining overall control in the VSX. E-me if you want to discuss it further.......

Quad Bob

 

[The Quadfather]

The way I understand it is that Sansui liked to place the QS decoder beyond the tape loops so that decoded output could not be recorded. Unless the QRX9001 has preamp outs on it, you would not be able to take advantage of it's Variomatrix decoder unless you installed output jacks. Otherwise the Pioneer home Theater unit would be a good amplifier system for a combination quad/HT system. If needed, it is not difficult to install such jacks, you take the signal from the high side of the volume pots, or the wiper if you want volume control. Any audio technician can do it for you. The Technics turntable will be a good table for CD-4, an Audio Technica AT331LP cartridge will suffice. You could just use the Sansui for your main audio amplification, but you would have to have separate speakers for the home theater. Or you could use double pole double throw switches to switch one set of speakers between two pieces of gear. The switches can be obtained from any hardware store, mount four of them in a box. If you do this, use lugs on the speaker wires to connect to the switches, because loose strands on speaker wires are an amp killer. Also, computer AB or ABC data switches are excellent for switching three or four sources into one set of inputs. It requires building cables, though. Connect the SQ decoder in the Sansui's tape loop. Good Luck

The Quadfather

 

[QuadBob]

Actually Quadfather you're only partly right about Sansui and the 9001 in particular. It is true that most all the manufacturers placed the internal decoders after the tape loops as the common logic at the time was "Why would you want to record the decoder output in 4 channels?". You could simply record the original 2 channel source and then play it back through the decoder.
However, the QRX-8001 and 9001 has a fairly unique feature. The Tape 1 (which is a 2 channel loop) and Aux (which is 4 channel) as well as the tuner are BEFORE the decoder. But, the Tape 2 loop is AFTER the decoder. The Tape 2 switch is a 3 position switch; 2channel/source/4channel.
When you have 2channel or source selected the tape 2 loop record out jacks carry the output from the VM decoder at line level. When you select 4channel then it is a straight 4 channel loop (play/record).
So, with either the 8001 or 9001 you can send a stereo signal into the tape 1 loop, front channels of the aux loop, from the tuner or the tape 2 2channel or source loop and record the 4 channel output of the VM decoder on the tape 2 record out jacks.
All in all.......pretty slick!:rollin:

QuadBob

 

[Quadzilla]

The manual for my QRX-6500 indicates that the Variomatrix (and one would assume the Phase Matrix)decoder is before the tape output, and it even writes that the reason was to be able to record discrete 4 channel tapes from decoded sources. The QS decoder and FM tuner are all that I am using this receiver for, a bit big for just a decoder, but it works great. Mike.

 

[The Quadfather]

Yeah, I figured I would get my rear spanked on that one. Thank you sir, may I have another? Therefore, I stand corrected!:lol:

The Quadfather

 

[sspsandy]

Hey Audio Addict. I have a suggestion you might dig. You can use the sony SQD 2020 and the Akai 4 channel decoder to split your speakers, giving you 8 channels in quad. What you would need to do is to run the outputs from the amps you are using for the 4 speakers into the inputs of the two units. For the Sony SQD 2020, it needs to work in a tape loop with either a stereo amp and another stereo amp for the rears, or with a 4 channel amp. If you're using 2 stereo amps, you would run the outputs from each speaker amp into the 2 inputs on the 1st stereo amp, and run the SQD through the tape monitor with the front outputs of the SQD going into the inputs of the tape monitor, and the outputs of the tape monitor going into the inputs of the SQD, the rear outputs of the SQD would then go into the inputs of the 2nd stereo amp, the speaker connections on both amps would be usesd to connect up the 4 front speakers. If using a 4 channel amp, you would run the outputs of your speaker amps into the 2 channel input of the 4 channel amp, and connect up the SQD through the tape monitor, the 4 outputs from the SQD going into the 4 inputs on the 4 channel tape monitor, the front outputs of the 4 channel tape monitor going into the 2 inputs on the SQD. For the Akai, you could run the 2 outputs from the 2 rear speaker amps into the 2 inputs on the akai, and set it to SQ and run your 4 rear speakers from the speaker connections. What this does is split the siganal for each channel, giving you more depth and dimesion for each channel. You would also want to run the SQD in SQ mode. The placement of the speakers would be to put the secondary speakers to the outside of the main front speakers, and the secondary speakers to the inside of the main rear speakers. I thought with your interest in audio extremes, this would be something you might want to try.

 

[karlkastner]

Hi Sandy,

I'm thinking of trying your 8-channel quad extreme with a Surround Master and two quad Marantz amps(4300+4140). I have 4 Klipsch Belles. I could add 2 Fortes in the front and 2 Heresys to the rear. I could just split each of the Surround Master's 4 channel RCA outputs to the 4 channel aux inputs on each amp.

It would be interesting to A/B each quad configuration and then to combine them. Would the different speaker characteristics blend in a positive way or create distortion?

I also just acquired a Sony SQD 2020. I could split the analog after my Oppo 105 and also A/B(with amp and speaker variables)the Sony's decoder vs. the SM.

Have you tried 8 channel quad? Predictions?