Dynaco test record - quad or not?

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boojidad

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https://www.ebay.com/itm/QUAD-DYNAC...163602?hash=item46a132ad12:g:F4IAAOSwFbhdw2zE

Considering marketing is everything, why doesn't this say "quadraphonic" or "four channel"? It says "four dimension", but is it truly 4 channel, or just hoping the words are sufficient to fool you? Historical reference: London Phase 4 records. There were quad versions on 8-track, but the vinyl were all stereo. Good stereo, but strictly two channels.
 
I think this was to demonstrate what you could get if you hooked up four speaker systems to a Dyna stereo amp. See page six and seven of the Stereo 120 assembly and operation manual.

You can download it from the HiFi Engine site but the file is locked and I can't cut out the pages.

pages four to eight, smaller pdf.

This is pure "back in the day":ROFLMAO:;)

It's likely a rarity that might be worth ripping to digital file.
 
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I think this was to demonstrate what you could get if you hooked up four speaker systems to a Dyna stereo amp. See page six and seven of the Stereo 120 assembly and operation manual.

You can download it from the HiFi Engine site but the file is locked and I can't cut out the pages.

pages four to eight, smaller pdf.

This is pure "back in the day":ROFLMAO:;)

It's likely a rarity that might be worth ripping to digital file.
Thanks for the Dynaco 120 manual.
In ancient days when home theater started pushing the center front ch speaker, I had only 2, Adcom 555 stereo amps for my quad listening. Curious what a center front might bring (with out me having to buy another amp) I hooked up the 3 front speakers as shown in the diagram. First test was too much cenetr & not enough width. A simple 8 ohm resistor in parrallel with the center front speaker fixed that. I was espicially impressed at how natural & well integrated the front soundfield was. I liked it enough to buy another 555 power amp & went the full 5.1 route. Interestingly except for movie dialogue it didn't really contribute more than what the simple passive arrangement did.

Anyway I bet this Dynaco test record would be blast through the Surround Master. I didn't even know Dynaco made a test disc like this. Cool find boojidad. I see there are more than one on ebay:unsure:.
 
Another title that could use some scrutiny if it is encoded

VANGUARD Dynaco 4-Dimensional Sound Demonstration. SPV-7 (DY)

DYNACO 4-Dimensional Sound Demonstration. SPV-7 (DY)a.jpg


DYNACO 4-Dimensional Sound Demonstration. SPV-7 (DY)b (2).JPG


DYNACO 4-Dimensional Sound Demonstration. SPV-7 (DY)b.jpg
 
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My very first 'experience' with Surround Sound was from a Dynaco contraption [the Dynaco Quadaptor] which if you hooked up your speakers according to their instruction manual would 'miraculously' derive surround from the out of phase information coming from the front speakers and veer it towards the rears. I really wasn't at all impressed ..... probably more so from the sound coming from four versus two speakers.

Doubtful the record was in any way encoded with any type of discrete sound ....... the record does state: STEREO DEMONSTRATION DISC .... but for those with Surround masters, I'm sure you'll get some type of discrete info.
 
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FWIW,

I found that disc pretty good with my Sansui QSD2 , and I also had the SQ Vanguard album with like tracks for comparison , through a pretty decent Sony SQ decoder.
It wasn't spectacular (the Dynaquad disc),but it worked ok.

And let us not forget that : Gately Electronics did make the DY 4D encoder , (for those who doubt DY-4D was even a quad matrix.)

:)
 
And let us not forget that : Gately Electronics did make the DY 4D encoder , (for those who doubt DY-4D was even a quad matrix.)

Indeed. Taken from midimagic's website:
In 1971, Dynaco changed the Dynaco Diamond into the Dynaquad system, which has the speakers in the corners of the room. It is still a passive system. This system also uses different sets of coefficients for encoding and decoding. This is a front-oriented system, because it emphasizes front separation and front-to-back separation, at the expense of back separation.

Few recordings were made in this system. It is better suited to classical music than most of the other systems. I have normalized the equations, so all of them have the same amplitudes (the original equations did not).

Encode:
L = .97lf + .24rf + .89lb - .45rb
R = .24lf + .97rf - .45lb + .89rb


Quadaptor Decode equations
lf = L
rf = R
lb = .86L - .5R
rb = -.5L + .86R

Audibly I imagine stereo played through this would sound much like being played through the original Electrovoice decoder. And I can see why a Dynaquad record would play well with a QS decoder but not SQ.
 
Indeed. Taken from midimagic's website:


Audibly I imagine stereo played through this would sound much like being played through the original Electrovoice decoder. And I can see why a Dynaquad record would play well with a QS decoder but not SQ.



Just a quick note on stereo discs for Dynaquad decoding :

David Hafler of Dynaco fame contributed a list of noteable stereo recordings that performed exceptionally well in that quad matrix.
I tried QS on a few of them fwiw and was impressed with most of them, I listened to.
Such as Lee Michaels self titled live album on A&M , the song Heighty Hi has the audience singing along in those Rear channels.
Pink Floyd Electric Moo , Grandchester Meadows (the steps and fly chase sequence goes in a circular fashion).

Anyways that's only 2 and there are many many more. I suppose this unique quad or natural surround matrixing might have to do with early stereo mixing and miking by some fine engineers.








PS,

You can find a copy of that "Dynaco recommended " down in QQ'S matrix threads , has it's own thread btw.
 
My very first 'experience' with Surround Sound was from a Dynaco contraption [the Dynaco Quadaptor] which if you hooked up your speakers according to their instruction manual would 'miraculously' derive surround from the out of phase information coming from the front speakers and veer it towards the rears. I really wasn't at all impressed ..... probably more so from the sound coming from four versus two speakers.

Doubtful the record was in any way encoded with any type of discrete sound ....... the record does state: STEREO DEMONSTRATION DISC .... but for those with Surround masters, I'm sure you'll get some type of discrete info.
There is no reason to believe that this record is not encoded. Remember that matrix encoded records are still stereo, this came out in the very early days of Quad, that term was not yet widely used. Although labeled Dynaco it's actually a Vanguard release. It was later released in SQ, so discrete masters must exist. Out of curiosity I just purchased this on eBay to try it out. I already own the SQ version. Also I just came across the Lucanu DY script, so might give that a try.
 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/QUAD-DYNAC...163602?hash=item46a132ad12:g:F4IAAOSwFbhdw2zE

Considering marketing is everything, why doesn't this say "quadraphonic" or "four channel"? It says "four dimension", but is it truly 4 channel, or just hoping the words are sufficient to fool you? Historical reference: London Phase 4 records. There were quad versions on 8-track, but the vinyl were all stereo. Good stereo, but strictly two channels.
I bought this record too, out of curiosity and because I love all things Quad. In the early days the term Quad, Quadraphonic were not always used. Vanguard Q4 tapes where called Surround Stereo, Electro Voice called their system Stereo-4. I do remember the Phase 4 stereo releases, I don't know why on earth they would choose that name, other than to confuse. Pre Quad Columbia touted their stereo as 360 degree sound.
 
Yes, DynaQuad (DY) was a 'real' 4-2-4 channel matrix method. Here are the matrix encoding coefficients:
Left FrontRight FrontLeft BackRight Back
Left Total1.00.00.64-0.36
Right Total0.01.0-0.360.64
You will notice that there is no 90 degree phase shifting applied (as per SQ). As such it particularly lends itself to the Hafler / Dynaco passive decoding technique. Could you tell the difference between a DynaQuad encoded record played back through the Hafler / Dynaco box and any stereo record played back that way? Probably not really, given that the Hafler connection was surprisingly good at extracting out of phase ambience from any common-or-garden stereo source, which I guess is why hardly anybody bothered to make any such records.


“Phase 4 Stereo” was not a quad or surround sound format. It was an approach using microphone placements together with new multitrack recording and mixing techniques to highlight the stereo panorama. It was invented by DECCA for particular application to classical music recordings. Interestingly though, because the techniques used created a lot of out of phase information, they sounded particularly impressive if played back using the Hafler technique.
 
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And numerous Phase 4 albums were release in discrete quad on reel and 8-track. If they could do it on tape, why not do it on vinyl? Oh well, history is what it is.
 
And numerous Phase 4 albums were release in discrete quad on reel and 8-track. If they could do it on tape, why not do it on vinyl? Oh well, history is what it is.


It is confusing , I have the Phase 4 demo disc and have to scratch my head to wonder. I believe it was more of a panoramic type of stereo , but I might not be that accurate with that term. Perhaps someone knows more.
But it does pre-date all matrix quad systems (including 1969's Scheiber matrix).
 
I bought this record too, out of curiosity and because I love all things Quad. In the early days the term Quad, Quadraphonic were not always used. Vanguard Q4 tapes where called Surround Stereo, Electro Voice called their system Stereo-4. I do remember the Phase 4 stereo releases, I don't know why on earth they would choose that name, other than to confuse. Pre Quad Columbia touted their stereo as 360 degree sound.


That's correct Ken , also early quad matrix (and some discrete tapes) were eager to tout the fact that their system could be used on stereo systems , thus being " stereo compatible ".
 
I bought this record too, out of curiosity and because I love all things Quad. In the early days the term Quad, Quadraphonic were not always used. Vanguard Q4 tapes where called Surround Stereo, Electro Voice called their system Stereo-4. I do remember the Phase 4 stereo releases, I don't know why on earth they would choose that name, other than to confuse. Pre Quad Columbia touted their stereo as 360 degree sound.
how could you ignore discrete Q* tapes that were called "quadrasonic"?
 
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