Sanyo DCX quad receiver vs. Sansui QRX quad receiver... Sanyo is winning... WTF?

[hnash53]

I recently scored a NOS (new old stock) Sansui QRX5500 quad receiver. It truly is amazing in appearance. Had never been out of the box till 2 months ago.

My previous quad receiver is a Sanyo DCX3300KA. Oddly, the Sanyo puts out better quad all around than the Sansui. I just don't understand that since the QRX Sansui's are considered the BEST. My Sanyo is "stock" from the mid-70s, has not had any work done on it, and was given a generally good bill of health by an electronic service person recently.

Here's what's going on: When running any and all of the different quad modes on the Sansui, the rears seem seriously attenuated. The sound volume from the rears does not at all approach the sound volume of the fronts. I mean, isn't quad supposed to pretty much "4 channel," with mostly equal volumes arising from each channel? The "Hall" modes I know usually attempt to give the impression of the instruments up front, with ambient sounds emanating from the rears, simulating the audio in a concert hall. But the Sansui "surround" modes don't do much more than the "Hall" modes. This is true of both the "Synthesizer" and "Matrix" modes in the Sansui. The rear "level meters" on the Sansui also indicate a much lower signal than the front "level meters."

But on the Sanyo quad, the various quad modes produce much more volume and what seems like "true" 4-channel sound around me. It is very, very distinct compared to the Sansui. And the rear "level meters" on the Sanyo deflect very similarly to the front "level meters." That indicates to me that things are as they should be in quad mode.

I have thoroughly read through the Sansui manual and have everything connected correctly.

I have no quad recordings, but enjoy the synthesized quad when I stream Spotify Connect and Pandora One thru the Sanyo. But doing so thru the Sansui is not nearly as satisfying a quad sound as the Sanyo.

From this description, can you tell me if something is wrong with my Sansui? All other functions on the Sansui appear to work fine.

I sure would appreciate some thoughts from you on this issue.

Thanks.

 

[huggy]

hi guys it has been a while since I posted, so I hope I am posting this in the right, if not please move it to the right thread. I just bought a sansui 4 channel reciver QRX - 3000 as I am not familer with sansui recivers, paid $ 150.00 dollars for it. I do have 2 questions

1. I noticed on the selector it has quadraphonic synstherizer and phase matrix. so my question is do I set that phase matrix for true SQ martix to decoded it properly, then there is RM I notieced that some of the old ABC albums have ABC quadraphonic as I did

the research this is regualr matrix RM Right? so in order to get the properly decoder the SQ matrix quad records, do I set that setting on phase matrix?

2. and to play those CD- 4 that RCA put out do I need a turntable that has 4 RCA plugs or can I use my Audio Techinca AT 120Lp with the 2 RCA cables and a Audio Techinca AT 440MLA with the new micro line stylus?

thanks
Huggy

 

[0tto]

I recently scored a NOS (new old stock) Sansui QRX5500 quad receiver. It truly is amazing in appearance. Had never been out of the box till 2 months ago.

My previous quad receiver is a Sanyo DCX3300KA. Oddly, the Sanyo puts out better quad all around than the Sansui. I just don't understand that since the QRX Sansui's are considered the BEST. My Sanyo is "stock" from the mid-70s, has not had any work done on it, and was given a generally good bill of health by an electronic service person recently.

Here's what's going on: When running any and all of the different quad modes on the Sansui, the rears seem seriously attenuated. The sound volume from the rears does not at all approach the sound volume of the fronts. I mean, isn't quad supposed to pretty much "4 channel," with mostly equal volumes arising from each channel? The "Hall" modes I know usually attempt to give the impression of the instruments up front, with ambient sounds emanating from the rears, simulating the audio in a concert hall. But the Sansui "surround" modes don't do much more than the "Hall" modes. This is true of both the "Synthesizer" and "Matrix" modes in the Sansui. The rear "level meters" on the Sansui also indicate a much lower signal than the front "level meters."

But on the Sanyo quad, the various quad modes produce much more volume and what seems like "true" 4-channel sound around me. It is very, very distinct compared to the Sansui. And the rear "level meters" on the Sanyo deflect very similarly to the front "level meters." That indicates to me that things are as they should be in quad mode.

I have thoroughly read through the Sansui manual and have everything connected correctly.

I have no quad recordings, but enjoy the synthesized quad when I stream Spotify Connect and Pandora One thru the Sanyo. But doing so thru the Sansui is not nearly as satisfying a quad sound as the Sanyo.

From this description, can you tell me if something is wrong with my Sansui? All other functions on the Sansui appear to work fine.

I sure would appreciate some thoughts from you on this issue.

Thanks.

those two utilize different quadraphonic formats.
Sansui settles for QS and Sanyo for SQ thus if you use SQ encoded LP on Sansui it wouldn't give you correct
decoding of SQ matrix and vice versa, Sanyo wouldn't decode properly QS encoded LP.
soundwise - i always liked sound of Sansui comparing to others antique amplification.

 

[huggy]

so what you are saying correct me if I am wrong on the sansui QRX 3000 4 channel reciever setting it to phase matrix would NOT decode the SQ matrix lps that I have correctly right? so I never had a sansui 4 channel reciever so that is why I asked the question, thanks for your help I did have a cheap milda one time with a combo AM & FM with a quad 8 track player built in back in 1974 but I had to get rid of that becasue the string on the dial broke

huggy

 

[0tto]

yes, QS and SQ different formats and formula for encoding of four discrete mono channels into matrix of two channel differ as well.
discrete 4x input for external units (8-track deck, open reel deck, etc.) do not related to QS or SQ internal decoders, thus will give you
as discrete quad mix as it is on source.

 

[huggy]

thank for the information otto that was in info I needed to know thanks again

huggy

 

[Circular Vibes]

Huggy, here is a link to your user manual and schematics. http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sansui/qrx-3000.shtml According to the manual, Phase Matrix is SQ for you and QS for RM records. If you want to play CD4, you will need a cartridge with CD4 capability and a CD4 decoder like a JVC 4DD5. Hope this all helps with your questions.

 

[huggy]

to circular vibes thank you for that information. as far as CD-4 I am using the newer Audio techinca phono cartridge AT 440 MLA with a micro line stylus but do I still need a cd -4 decorder? I am trying to find the Audio TEchinca as I do not have a master car card of vista the AT 12SA or the 14 even the 15.

take care huggy

 

[Circular Vibes]

Yes Huggy, you still need a decoder. I have no experience with the AT440, but there are many in QQ that really like it and have good experience. The other benefit is that styli are still easily available. Here in Canada it is too expensive for my budget but the future may let me have one. My cartridges arre all vintage at the moment. Amazon has deals on the AT440 sometimes, so keep an eye out for a deal rathher than getting the first one you see.

 

[huggy]

thank you circular you can go go and goggle search the Audio techinca AT 440 MLA and see the specs on line or go to the audio techinca web page and click on cartridges and when that page comes up look for the at 440 MLA it has a purple stylus. I bought

mine for for $200.00 on line at radio shack. but now they do not have any phono cartridges on there web site.and thank you for the answer.I know things are more up in canada, back in the 70's me and my parents would go up to toranto and the first day

there money was worth more then the second day the US dollar was worth more, how is it now.

 

[Circular Vibes]

there money was worth more then the second day the US dollar was worth more, how is it now.

Our dollar sucks right now. No ebay shopping for me. Between the bad Canadian dollar and postal increases, I can not afford most things anymore.

Keep your eyes open for deals on decoders, they do turn up occassionally for a song or two. There may even be a QQ member near you that has a spare for sale. Hint Hint to anyone out there with a spare to sell to Huggy.

 

[The Bushmaster]

And hnash53 is forgotten.

hnash53...You need to get a SQ encoded record [of your favorite music] and try it again. I'm not familiar with the DCX3300KA. I am familiar with the DCX3500KA as I have one. Mine has RM, SQ and CD 4.

Stereo records tend to sound like concert hall when trying to synthesize to quad. If you must have quad with stereo records increase the rear volumes to match the front.

 

[Doug G.]

Yup. that was about the fastest a thread was hijacked I can remember in quite some time.

It's possible components have deteriorated in the Sansui just sitting all those years. In fact, using a piece of equipment is actually better than just letting it sit. It really shouldn't matter that much whether you put an SQ, QS, or regular two channel record on. The volume level should really be about the same from all channels (within the range of the balance controls) as long as you're not playing mono.

Doug

 

[hnash53]

Yeah... Huggy's initial post in this thread was so far off that I thought he perhaps had accidentally posted in the wrong forum/thread. I guess not.

Anyways, over on AudioKarma, I was informed that the QRX5500 did NOT have the latest/last incarnation of Sansui's Vario-Matrix... and that that was the reason my Sanyo unit sounded better.

I am not into LPs/vinyl, so getting any quad matrix LPs (SQ, QS, discrete...whatever) is not something I will be doing. Hardly any of the music I listen to comes out on vinyl anyways.

I was just very surprised that the Sanyo has what seems like/sounds like full 4-channel quadraphonic sound that pretty much comes out each speaker at about the same volume level. And the Sansui is not able to do that.

I'm considering selling the QRX5500 since I don't even have it hooked up now. That's too bad because it's quite the looker.

Thanks for the comments.