A Gold Mine of Quad History
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Wow. Not sure why I was so pissed. I do remember the part about the reels, as we had a member who lived in the midwest. I think his business was Four Reel to Reel Sound, or something like that. As I recall, he was a 4Quad member, and he advertised in 4Quad. When Jay started offering the same reels for sale, I thought it was a bit underhanded, as that member had a business selling reels and now he had to compete with the newsletter he paid to join and presumably advertise in, when the market for those reels was very small and mostly made up of folks who joined 4Quad. I had no idea if Four Reel to Reel Sound was a hobby or a real business, I just thought it was kind of unfair to undermine a member like that.
Oh well. Looking back I guess I shouldn't have cared. It really didn't do any good for anyone. Heck, that had to be over 30 years ago! Points to Jay for printing the thing!
I would not mind hosting them here, but not without Jay's permission. It was his labor of love and to "steal" it would not be very cool, IMHO.
I remember Jon's "scathing letter" about Jay Frank's SQ Newsletters (4 Quad and later Evolution).
Jay Frank started an AV Business named after the newsletter (Evolution) with his Dad.
Evolution Audio and Video is still in business selling audio and home theater gear in Southern California.
https://www.eavht.com/Our-Staff
Great story and loved the letter from Jon. Thanks for sharing.
K
K
I would absolutely agree that if Jay is still around he should be consulted. Maybe they are already posted and hosted somewhere and we just have not found them. One would think he would want his hard work preserved... Would never want to steal though.
I remember Jon's "scathing letter" about Jay Frank's SQ Newsletters (4 Quad and later Evolution).
Jay Frank started an AV Business named after the newsletter (Evolution) with his Dad.
Evolution Audio and Video is still in business selling audio and home theater gear in Southern California.
https://www.eavht.com/Our-Staff
Hi Brian thanks for the reply!
This discussion has made me realize you are probably the longest standing Quad /surround sound booster around here. You deserve a Lifetime Achievement Award!
surround.sound.enthusiast
500 Club - QQ All-Star
This is a fantastic thread! For me, it just goes to show that I have no idea about who the people are I'm talking with, and this isn't the first surprise I've come to discover.
I had no idea Jon and Brian went that far back (Man, I couldn't even read or write yet. The best I could've done is probably stuff my fingers in my mouth and make a gurgling
sound. And poop in my britches).
Jon and Brian, might you remember a member in the 1970s named Vern Smith? He's the one who connected me with the Quad Quarterly in the early 1980s.
I had a thread several months ago about the brand x stuff and i called jay so i could get the exact story. He had given me a couple copies when we were doing demos at his home theater shop in thousand oaks for the Millennium. He told me he would check us out so he may be here, but i heard running is a more vibrant passion these days.
Thank you everyone for all the replies & likes. It has been a most rewarding conversation.
I'd like to point out another long-timer on the quad scene: Ken Parsons aka par4ken. He used to contribute to Quad Quarterly & MCS Review. One article that comes to mind is the way to make an SQ encoder using two simple SQ matrix decoding chips.
I was a contributer like wise, specializing in DIY projects. I did a lot of building/modifying back then because you simply couldn't buy what was needed to play with quad the way I wanted. At one time I could lay claim that every pice of gear I owned with the exception of VHS ( but including my LD player) had been tinkered with in the desire to increase performance. Nowadays I can do anything I want on the PC for playing with surround sound. I haven't picked up my soldering gun in a long time.
I'd like to point out another long-timer on the quad scene: Ken Parsons aka par4ken. He used to contribute to Quad Quarterly & MCS Review. One article that comes to mind is the way to make an SQ encoder using two simple SQ matrix decoding chips.
I was a contributer like wise, specializing in DIY projects. I did a lot of building/modifying back then because you simply couldn't buy what was needed to play with quad the way I wanted. At one time I could lay claim that every pice of gear I owned with the exception of VHS ( but including my LD player) had been tinkered with in the desire to increase performance. Nowadays I can do anything I want on the PC for playing with surround sound. I haven't picked up my soldering gun in a long time.
I've actually been there! Didn't work 
And QQ Forum is a Fountain of Youth
'Cause You're NEVER TOO OLD TO ROCK 'N ROLL!
Wow and wow. You know, for various reasons I quit quad in the late 70's. I knew not one single person that ,even if they knew what it was, liked it. Too bad there was no internet back then (Al Gore and/or Trump had not invented it quite yet). QS and SQ radio was long gone. Could find no quad in Lakeland, Fl, although shibata stylus & good carts were easy enough to get.
I've alway felt that if I had any sort of contact at all with fellow Quaddies I would have stayed in it, even through dire times. In the late 70's I was struggling with my ex constantly for visitation rights and just trying to survive and push came to shove, unfortunately and my remaining Kenwood w/CD4, Thorenz TT, Infinity 1001 speakers and Teac cassette deck were sold at discount to my roomie.
Anyway it is always a marvel to me that (relatively) so many stuck it out, and I enjoy the stories as much as anyone.
Bless you all for keeping it alive.
I've alway felt that if I had any sort of contact at all with fellow Quaddies I would have stayed in it, even through dire times. In the late 70's I was struggling with my ex constantly for visitation rights and just trying to survive and push came to shove, unfortunately and my remaining Kenwood w/CD4, Thorenz TT, Infinity 1001 speakers and Teac cassette deck were sold at discount to my roomie.
Anyway it is always a marvel to me that (relatively) so many stuck it out, and I enjoy the stories as much as anyone.
Bless you all for keeping it alive.
Thanks for the reply!
Sad story of parting with your quad goodies. Maybe we even had the same Kenqood quad receiver? Mine was the 9940. We are still living in a great age for surround music if not quad. But even then so many wonderful re-issues on SACD, etc. I don't know what kind of reciever you have now but if it has 5.1 analog inputs consider getting the Involve Surround Master V2. Even if if you don't have any quad recordings it is great for decoding stereo. That's the main purpose I'm getting it for.
Sad story of parting with your quad goodies. Maybe we even had the same Kenqood quad receiver? Mine was the 9940. We are still living in a great age for surround music if not quad. But even then so many wonderful re-issues on SACD, etc. I don't know what kind of reciever you have now but if it has 5.1 analog inputs consider getting the Involve Surround Master V2. Even if if you don't have any quad recordings it is great for decoding stereo. That's the main purpose I'm getting it for.
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I honestly don't remember the model of the last Kenwood (or any of them now) only that retail was just under $1,000. Miltary audio store price was $555. It had a long CD4 demodulator that slid into the back on one side. It had modest power of (I think) about 45 w/ch RMS x 4. At the time I had some Altec speakers that were super efficient and lack of power only became evident to some extent when I bought the Infiniti 1001's.
Only receiver I have left with analog inputs is a modest Sherwood RD-6105 I use at my pc sound system to drive Polk bookshelfs.
Hello @Rickenbacker . Thanks for the like to my 3 year old post. I like to say old posts never die on QQ and it's a blast to discover a gem from 5, 10, or more years ago, sometimes from members that are no longer with us. That is why I've come think of this forum as the IMDB of surround sound!
I fondly remember 4Quad but came to it rather late, it was already called Evolution/4Quad. I believe that the addition or name change to Evolution was in recognition that Quad was dead/dying but surround was experiencing a rebirth (via video). No surprise that Jay entered the world of LaserDiscs. Similarly Larry Clifton renamed his publication MCS Review rather than Quad Quarterly. As Larry explained with the name change we are no longer "hunting the last buffalo".Wow. Not sure why I was so pissed. I do remember the part about the reels, as we had a member who lived in the midwest. I think his business was Four Reel to Reel Sound, or something like that. As I recall, he was a 4Quad member, and he advertised in 4Quad. When Jay started offering the same reels for sale, I thought it was a bit underhanded, as that member had a business selling reels and now he had to compete with the newsletter he paid to join and presumably advertise in, when the market for those reels was very small and mostly made up of folks who joined 4Quad. I had no idea if Four Reel to Reel Sound was a hobby or a real business, I just thought it was kind of unfair to undermine a member like that.
Oh well. Looking back I guess I shouldn't have cared. It really didn't do any good for anyone. Heck, that had to be over 30 years ago! Points to Jay for printing the thing!
I remember Four Reel to Reel Sound but don't think that I ever purchased from them. I used to get my reels from Barclay-Crocker (no not Betty Crocker). They used to produce their own audiophile stereo tapes (7 1/2 ips) as well, I only purchased the Quads that came from Stereotape.
I did purchase several LP's from Evolution/4Quad. Notably Brand X "Squared", Mike Oldfield "Boxed", Santana "Lotus". Also Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" that turned out to be a stereo copy.
I can't help but share a couple reviews of the S&IC from 4Quad one was written by Bob Hoffman, both were supplied to me by Audionics years ago along with their brochure. I remember an equally flattering review of the original Fosgate Terasound Tate decoder. I think that 4Quad were selling it as well.
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It says Bob Hoffman, not Steve.
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