Drums rear left and bass rear right being a strong plus point for me. A very strong plus point. I wish there were a lot more discs mixed that way.
My rear speakers and amplification are identical to the front speakers and amplification. The four are arranged in a square rather than the suggested layout for 5.1. It works fine for 5.1 and really well for quadraphonic.
Wow, I couldn't agree more.
I have a similar speaker placement with full-range rear woofers.
Unimpressed at first listen, I just spun this again with the fronts -3 dB, and overall volume +6.
What a revelation.
Conspiracy theorists would insist the mix must be defective, because the fronts and rears are so obviously reversed.
Turn your head around on Track 6
You Ought To Be Hearing Quad! (whoops, I mean
Havin'Fun).
If it doesn't sound as great with bass, drums, vocals and horns in the rears as the fronts...
then for whatever reasons your system is not presenting the full quad effect (that tweaking or speaker placement might improve).
[Checked Birds of Fire vintage quad before restoring the defaults.
Also disparaged for rear drums, never sounded better to me with -3 dB fronts.]
If full power @ 40 Hz drum & bass in the rear is no longer a valid mix, is it because home theater satellite rears hold sway?
Apparently Steven Wilson mixes to this standard, as he wins all the polls.
Pioneers of the 70s used quad as it was originally conceived on records like this one.