Your Five Favorite Friendly Features

[Quad Linda]

Decoding IS considered a feature. What features are you in love with? They can be on Surround, Quad, Stereo or even Mono equipment. What feature made the piece sit on it's hind legs and do tricks? List your Five Fave (user)Friendly Features. Appropriately for QQ, call them 4F. Please confine your remarks to features that influence AUDIO, not video. Isn't QQ all about music and sound?

1-Surround synthesis on modern receivers/preamps. My B&K's Stereo 5, DTS Neo and Dolby Surround synthesis modes beat the VariMatrix on my Marantz for most things. Plus, I can switch them while sitting in the sweet spot. I can play mono through all 6 speakers without switching from synthesis, which didn't do much, if anything, in many quad synth modes. Old or new gear, Quad/Surround synthesis is priceless. We lament the glory days of Quad, yet the pundits were right: IT NEVER REALLY WENT AWAY!

2-It actually RECORDS in QUAD! What a concept! I believe that my Akai CR-80DSS is the ONLY Q8 recorder that RECORDS in Quad. If there is another, please let me know. Had a love affair with Columbia ConvertaQuad blanks. Mix Q8's for demos and the car! Never understood Q4's that only recorded in 2ch. I know it kept their cost down.

3-Variomatrix or VariMatrix. Though not the same things, the Sansui line, which I sold, but never owned, and the Marantz VariMatrix knob are heavenly! I want to get a Sansui decoder and a Tate, to revealing how good analog synthesis can be. And they decode great, too. I knew how these things worked, even before Dynaco and Electro-Voice decoders. Yet, I'm amazed when listening to stereo sources. Perhaps out of laziness, but I prefer the synthesis modes on modern gear. Either way, synthesis rocks! I have the option for both on 3 systems, modern synthesis only on the other two.

4-Dedicating different inputs, speaker switching & levels, eq curves, decoding and direct modes to inputs on modern equipment. Time consuming to set, but so easy to operate. The autosensing for DTS, DD and digital/analog input switching makes SACD & DVD-A advanced res and decoding modern software a breeze. The ability to have all your audio and decoding set for each input allows you to shove the software in and enjoy. No switching, turning knobs and fiddling, like in the old days. As an old fiddler, I prefer sitting down, enjoying, reading, posting on QQ or primping these days. All you fidlders will take solace knowing that 3 of my 5 systems have lots of decoders and analog gear attached to their digital offspring. Fiddling about.

5-Test tone oscillators on all of the three head cassette decks I've owned. Get the bias on the money, encode w/dbx II and you have something that beats reel-to-reel w/o NR, CD and most any other 2ch analog, except dbx LP. Sweet! Harman/Kardon CD-401 has been it for nearly 30 years! Prior to that, had a Sony for days that was a lemon. Had a Kenwood KX-1030 for 5 years before that. Sold it to a friend soon after I got the H/K. Still works.

I would have included Quad scopes, but my SH-3433 is a stand alone. Buit-in Hard Drives is an also ran killer feature.

Linda
Hangin' With Uncle Ernie

 

[dr. simple]

1. Audyssey MultEQ & Audyssey Dynamic EQ. Hands down. I will do everything in my power to make sure future equipment has them.

2. All Channel Stereo.

I can't name 5! Hopefully 2 will do (but not as in, "2 ears, 2 speakers").

 

[Doug G.]

1. 4 Channel auto on quadraphonic demodulators.

2. Switchable cartridge type on quadraphonic demodulators (magnetic, semi-conductor).

3. Multiple decoding formats on outboard matrix decoders (i.e. SQ, QS).

4. Switchable modes on quadraphonic amplifiers.

5. Meters for all four channels for quick relative output check.

6. A beautiful woman operating my quadraphonic equipment. Oops, that's right, you only wanted 5 favorites. Please disregard.

Doug

 

[Quad Linda]

Doug, I, too would like a beautiful woman operating MY equipment. Oh, wait a minute, I already have that. A second one might be a good investment, though.

I prefer Quad scopes to meters, IF you know how to use a scope to compare channel levels. Meters are pretty dandy, too. Perhaps I'll do both. BUT WAIT (shades of Popeil), my SH-3433 and SQD-2020 fill those requirements.

Never mind,
Linda

1. 4 Channel auto on quadraphonic demodulators.

2. Switchable cartridge type on quadraphonic demodulators (magnetic, semi-conductor).

3. Multiple decoding formats on outboard matrix decoders (i.e. SQ, QS).

4. Switchable modes on quadraphonic amplifiers.

5. Meters for all four channels for quick relative output check.

6. A beautiful woman operating my quadraphonic equipment. Oops, that's right, you only wanted 5 favorites. Please disregard.

Doug

 

[Disclord]

I've been trying to reply to Linda's question since she first posted it and haven't had much luck - while I can come up with lots of answers, my favorite five features is hard to pin down. BUT, I have to agree with Dr. Simple - Audyssey MultEQ-XT is the #1 thing now for me - in fact, nothing else even comes close - the improvement it makes is so dramatic that I can't imagine not having it available - it would be like suddenly being forced to only listen to everything in mono. I never imagined that a matched pair of speakers, with superb phantom imaging, could be better matched and improved even further and then EQ'd to the room and listening position to the point that the speakers in my surround system are suddenly no longer localizable as a source of the sound - the sound is still sharp and pinpoint localizable, but just seems to hang there, slightly in front of, or behind the speaker (depending on the mix), like a true "audio hologram" has been created. And unlike graphic or parametric EQ, the corrections made to the speakers never overdrive them or the amps. My home theater/audio listening room is somewhat bright, even with wall, floor and ceiling treatment treatments, and due to the length/width ratio, had bad reverb - that is all corrected now because of Audyssey. I'm hearing things in well known albums that I've never heard before - plus mixing mistakes I've never heard before either (try listening to the soundtrack CD of Lucille Ball's film "Mame" to hear both mixing mistakes and the dramatic differences between microphones used over the various takes in a single song). Hearing the mistakes better isn't "bad" because I know it's coming with increased accuracy for everything else.

I always wondered what Tom Holman's 'next thing' would be and, while I thought his 10.2 (or whatever number of channels it was) surround system was cool, there comes the point of diminishing returns - with his involvement in Audyssey, he's hit a home run. Like stereo or surround, Audyssey a requirement now, over everything else.

 

[vinylguy4]

The one feature that I have not yet found on a modern receiver / preamp is a multichannel tape loop.
That is one I really want.

1) did finally get the 'Loudness' button back with Audyssey Dynamic EQ.
2) DTS-610 DTS Encoder
3) Audyssey MultEQ
4) Remote control
5) QQ web site to know about the 100 other features that have come into being.

vinylguy4

 

[dr. simple]

4) Remote control
5) QQ web site to know about the 100 other features that have come into being.

vinylguy4

Forgot about those two!

 

[Disclord]

The one feature that I have not yet found on a modern receiver / preamp is a multichannel tape loop.
That is one I really want.

1) did finally get the 'Loudness' button back with Audyssey Dynamic EQ.
2) DTS-610 DTS Encoder
3) Audyssey MultEQ
4) Remote control
5) QQ web site to know about the 100 other features that have come into being.

vinylguy4

Oh, yes, the DTS-610! Without that I couldn't even use the Audyssey features of my receiver with my Fosgate Tate, Shure and other outboard decoders.

 

[vinylguy4]

Not a multichannel feature, but I would not want to live without my logitech squeezebox touch, or similar.
You can get internet radio on any stereo system.
My current fave is Blue Ears radio from Surinam. Wide variety of blue and blue related music, and you will most likely
not hear the same song twice.

vinylguy4

 

[Disclord]

Not a multichannel feature, but I would not want to live without my logitech squeezebox touch, or similar.
You can get internet radio on any stereo system.
My current fave is Blue Ears radio from Surinam. Wide variety of blue and blue related music, and you will most likely
not hear the same song twice.

vinylguy4

My Denon 3808 has internet radio built in but I have never been able to get it to talk to my router so I could listen to any internet stations - nor can I get it to sync with the router so I can upgrade the firmware to give it the Denon upgrade package that provides Audyssey Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ and Sirius satellite radio - or is it XM? Which ever it has now is the dead satellite service and it needs updating for the only existing one. But, it refuses to talk to my modem - which sucks! Especially since it has a web interface that can control all its setup features and such.