Funny how things from the past can come back as a surprise to either haunt or pleasantly surprise you. This post is certainly the latter. But first the back story.
In ’78 I was living on my own, not married in a little apartment in the Westport area of Kansas City, MO. I had written a “letter to the editor” of the Quad Quarterly & it was published. I have no remembrance at what the topic was but as was the convention at that time the letter concluded listing my name & city.
About a week later I got a phone from someone who looked my name up in, you know- The White Pages. He was another audiophile quad lover named David Wiest & he lived easily close by in a suburb. The interest was mutual & we got together frequently usually at his home as I was embarrassed at my little 3rd floor walk up compared to his nice house.
David retired early at 55 & when I met him he was 60 & I was 28. Because of our age difference he was probably a better friend to me then I was to him. At 62 Dave was diagnosed with prostate cancer & gone by 65. Naturally at one point there was a Hi-Fi garage sale with family members taking the best but still a lot left over. I bought a gazillion quad records at $2 each, lab tech stuff etc. For free I got tons of literature & tech info & old Audio Amateur/ Speaker Builder magazines, AUDIO magazines from the 50> late 60’s.
So about a week ago I’m digging through a closet in my Bassment & find a brown manila envelope written on was “early quad stuff” . I was perplexed as I knew it wasn’t my writing; I could actually read it. Inside stuffed full was a lot of, well, early quad stuff Dave had saved & I had totally forgotten about.
There was a significant amount of personal correspondence, all hand written cuz that’s how it was done back then. Several letters from Brian Moura advising on CD-4 set ups, & sources to purchase quad software. Names popped up like Gary Thilgen, Dave Vaccaro, letters from Lou Dorren. Wow. A few AES white papers and a few of those little promotional booklets published to explain why (enter format here) was the only way to go.
Also found was an incredible collection of 4 Quad/Evolution newsletters.
It goes from Vol 1, #1 to Vol 2 #10. That may be the full run. I had forgotten that Larry Clifton & his Quadlings column was there. Likewise it was good to see Brian Moura’s articles. Memory being what it was I forgot they did stuff before Quad Quarterly (QQ!).
In Vol 2, #10 there was a scathing letter from a reader to the editor. In summary the author blasted Evolution & the editor Jay Frank for failing to accomplish what was promised in the first issue: to be un-biased towards Quad format, educate on surround sound, create local & nationwide promotions. The letter’s author claimed none of this was done, instead doing nothing to promote but settling into a surround agenda that seemed only to care about SQ & CD-4. The author of this letter was someone you may have heard of: Jon Urban.
Of course he was right & as I was able to binge read these articles it was very apparent. Now there is some very good reading & tech info but it lacks the openness, humor & vitality of Quadraphonic Quad. In fact I’d say Jon has succeeded where Jay Frank failed.
Now it’s also unfair to a degree in comparing what a small group of people can accomplish putting out a newsletter & distributing via USPS. QQ is international in scope & every member is a contributor. Could Evolution better succeed today on the WWW? Nah. I don’t think so. Dave Wiest would have loved being part of this forum.
In ’78 I was living on my own, not married in a little apartment in the Westport area of Kansas City, MO. I had written a “letter to the editor” of the Quad Quarterly & it was published. I have no remembrance at what the topic was but as was the convention at that time the letter concluded listing my name & city.
About a week later I got a phone from someone who looked my name up in, you know- The White Pages. He was another audiophile quad lover named David Wiest & he lived easily close by in a suburb. The interest was mutual & we got together frequently usually at his home as I was embarrassed at my little 3rd floor walk up compared to his nice house.
David retired early at 55 & when I met him he was 60 & I was 28. Because of our age difference he was probably a better friend to me then I was to him. At 62 Dave was diagnosed with prostate cancer & gone by 65. Naturally at one point there was a Hi-Fi garage sale with family members taking the best but still a lot left over. I bought a gazillion quad records at $2 each, lab tech stuff etc. For free I got tons of literature & tech info & old Audio Amateur/ Speaker Builder magazines, AUDIO magazines from the 50> late 60’s.
So about a week ago I’m digging through a closet in my Bassment & find a brown manila envelope written on was “early quad stuff” . I was perplexed as I knew it wasn’t my writing; I could actually read it. Inside stuffed full was a lot of, well, early quad stuff Dave had saved & I had totally forgotten about.
There was a significant amount of personal correspondence, all hand written cuz that’s how it was done back then. Several letters from Brian Moura advising on CD-4 set ups, & sources to purchase quad software. Names popped up like Gary Thilgen, Dave Vaccaro, letters from Lou Dorren. Wow. A few AES white papers and a few of those little promotional booklets published to explain why (enter format here) was the only way to go.
Also found was an incredible collection of 4 Quad/Evolution newsletters.
It goes from Vol 1, #1 to Vol 2 #10. That may be the full run. I had forgotten that Larry Clifton & his Quadlings column was there. Likewise it was good to see Brian Moura’s articles. Memory being what it was I forgot they did stuff before Quad Quarterly (QQ!).
In Vol 2, #10 there was a scathing letter from a reader to the editor. In summary the author blasted Evolution & the editor Jay Frank for failing to accomplish what was promised in the first issue: to be un-biased towards Quad format, educate on surround sound, create local & nationwide promotions. The letter’s author claimed none of this was done, instead doing nothing to promote but settling into a surround agenda that seemed only to care about SQ & CD-4. The author of this letter was someone you may have heard of: Jon Urban.
Of course he was right & as I was able to binge read these articles it was very apparent. Now there is some very good reading & tech info but it lacks the openness, humor & vitality of Quadraphonic Quad. In fact I’d say Jon has succeeded where Jay Frank failed.
Now it’s also unfair to a degree in comparing what a small group of people can accomplish putting out a newsletter & distributing via USPS. QQ is international in scope & every member is a contributor. Could Evolution better succeed today on the WWW? Nah. I don’t think so. Dave Wiest would have loved being part of this forum.
