Suggestions for 4-channel Q8 Tape Hiss reduction hardware?

[eyg2181]

I would like to get a tape hiss removing component to connect to the Q8 deck. Does a noise supressor exist that ONLY removes the tape hiss frequencies, and not the higher end of the audio spectrum. in other words, I want to remove tape hiss, without sacrificing sound quality

 

[Disclord]

Yes - it's old, but its from Phase Linear, called the Auto-correlator. Bob Carver invented it and I think it was in some early Carver receivers too. It will remove about 8-10 db of high frequency noise without substantially affecting the treble - or unwanted 'breathing' - it has controls to adjust the amount of NR and the frequency it starts, etc... I heard a Q8 set up with one across the front and another unit across the back, and it worked quite well - especially in conjuction with the Dolby B decoding applied to the front channels of Dolby encoded Q8's.

 

[jefe1]

DBX made an SNR-1 which does the same thing. I picked one up on the reccomendation of QuadBob who used them, but I never hooked it up. It has adjustment controls too. On a related note KLH made a transient noise eliminator to get rid of unwanted clicks as on worn records. The wonders of analog technology.

 

[cupboy]

.....I heard a Q8 set up with one across the front and another unit across the back, and it worked quite well - especially in conjuction with the Dolby B decoding applied to the front channels of Dolby encoded Q8's.

So those Dolby B Q8s only had the front channels encoded, and the rear channels un-encoded?

 

[Disclord]

So those Dolby B Q8s only had the front channels encoded, and the rear channels un-encoded?

I've seen a number of them like that - I don't know how common it was though. The 8-Track cartridge was always about doing it as cheaply or half-assed as possible - even though Dolby never charged a licensing fee for software!

When I was a kid a neighbor had some Muntz Quadraphonic 4-Track cartridge gear he bought on close-out and he'd get a friend from the local 'quad' FM station in Albuquerque to run him off 4-Track quad carts - plus he got left-overs of the quad carts they were sometimes sent (it was mostly sent on quad LP, but some quad stations got tiny amounts of quad cart tapes from the studios). "Madman" Muntz was trying to go up against RCA and the whole "industry" with his little 4-Track cart - although it sounded much better than 8-Track ever could because it didn't a capstan that was part of each cartridge and various tapes were available in the 4-track cart. Instead of being a consumer product and beating 8-Track, it became an industry standard for radio stations! And with the addition of a sum-difference network, you could record and play SQ encoded recordings without any worry about phase-errors messing up the encoding during playback or recording - it's too bad the sum-difference networks weren't more used for cassettes - it really does eliminate phase-errors from linear tape playback.

I want my family's old Playtape unit made into quad! (My sister LOVED her Playtapes!)

 

[Quadro51]

The Phase Linear 1000 Autocorolator Noise Reduction & Dynamic Range Recovery System does work very well. It provides about 10 db of noise reduction. I usually bypassed the range expansion system. It was also available in a second generation unit as the Model 1000 Series Two in a different configuration but with similar performance. http://www.phaselinearhistory.stereomanuals.com/images/1000_series_two_.jpg
http://www.phaselinearhistory.stereomanuals.com/images/phase_linear_1000_nr.jpg