Ever experience surround in a public place?

[aquadad]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone out there has had any experiences with coming across surround sound being used in a public place like a coffee house or a retail outlet? This would exclude the obvious theatre use and showroom floor for audio video hardware (though even that done properly is rare).

If you have noticed this sort of thing in public did it go unnoticed by the JSP's or were people taking notice and enjoying the difference.

Also if given the choice would surround sound influence your decision when you go to a restaurant, bar, coffee house, or music store etc.?

Just Wondering

 

[solaris]

My dream is to have a coffee house with a good 5.1 set up.
I remeber coffee houses in Japan that played great music, they were more like going to someones house with a great record collection. The jazz coffee houses were the best, the owner would come out and play his favorite recordings for you. There was one great classical coffee house with the greatest speakers made for the place.

 

[Lucanu]

I remember a pub where there was music in surround, but it was not the best place for that. Too much noise all around the place that you can't hear the difference from a mono or surround system.
I think a good place to listen to music in surround would be a sort of a small room where you can eat, drink and listen to music. I saw something like that in a television show where they talked about some places in japan where they played karaoke. There was about 50 rooms where you can seat and join your own music or sing along.

 

[daved64]

It's hard enough to listen to the Beatles in stereo in some places if they have the speakers too far apart and all you hear is the channel with the vocals.

 

[solaris]

I remember the coffee house in Japan that played classical music. I called it the Church of Classical Music, as it had a few lines of seats that faced the speakers and everyone was very quiet in there. There were tables at the back and in the balcony. An announcer would walk up to a mike and announce what was playing.

 

[aquadad]

I remember the coffee house in Japan that played classical music. I called it the Church of Classical Music, as it had a few lines of seats that faced the speakers and everyone was very quiet in there. There were tables at the back and in the balcony. An announcer would walk up to a mike and announce what was playing.

What is it about the psyche of the Japanese culture that makes them so much more open minded and receptive to changes in the music industry. Even back in the day they were putting out quad titles that never saw the light of day here in the states. Not to mention the better quality product. It sounds like an oxymoron, but they seem to take "having fun enjoying their music" much more seriously than we Americans do. In fact they seem to have more fun enjoying American music than Americans themselves do.

The Japanese music industry seems to be ruled by the people and the people seem to be more progressive in their wants and desires. Is it because so much of the hardware is manufacured there that the average guy gets more exposure and working knowledge? If that's the case then who, what, when, where and why isn't there some kind of an effort put forth to educate the masses so that they can make informed purchasing decisions here in the states? All I see happening here is that the industry just keeps throwing things up against the wall to see what will stick.

Maybe if a small hardware manufacturer were born here in the states that took the time to nurture a total surround package from the assembly line, to the showroom floor, to Americas living rooms, we could see a paradigm shift in consciousness here. After all it's perfectly normal to fear what you don't understand. Eventually with enough information the buying public would begin to see how beautiful these little monsters are. And when that happens every home will have one. Remember when you swore that you would never trade in your slide-rule for a calculator. And oh by the way were you ever in computer denial? Surely I'm not the only fifty year old that totally digs surround sound. Now I need a nap. :zzzzzGoodnight...

 

[Lucanu]

Japanese are a child-minded kind of people.
They have no filters, they have imagination, they play with things, so no kind of filter.
Think of us when we were kids: when I saw some things that interested me I was wondering how it worked and so on. So I just imagined in my head how to recreate those things. In fact, when I was 5 or 6 I tried to create myself a turntable the way I thought it worked. Took an old tt with no arms or motors, just the platter.
Added a 5cc syringe with a funnel and had to spin records with my hands.
Pretty funny!

 

[Dylan Berichon]

There's a record store owner here that has a Quad set up in his shop.

It's pretty cool.

 

[aquadad]

There's a record store owner here that has a Quad set up in his shop.

It's pretty cool.

Hello, So what's the name of the shop? Does he have a website? Love to give a fellow quaddie some biz.

 

[Dylan Berichon]

Hello, So what's the name of the shop? Does he have a website? Love to give a fellow quaddie some biz.

The name of the store is Crossroads Music. I don't know if there is a website. I do know that the owner of the place is a pretty nice guy, and pretty sharp about all things music (Quad being no exception).

 

[Dylan Berichon]

Hello, So what's the name of the shop? Does he have a website? Love to give a fellow quaddie some biz.

Found a website after doing a Google search:

http://www.xro.com/

 

[Quadwreck]

The name of the store is Crossroads Music. I don't know if there is a website. I do know that the owner of the place is a pretty nice guy, and pretty sharp about all things music (Quad being no exception).

Gee thanks. Yes, that's me and my store.

 

[Led9]

I understand there actually were quad jukeboxes produced. What was to be played on them I'm not sure. I know Joe Walsh "The Smoker you Drink.." and Steely Dan "Pretzel Logic " were released as juke box EP's in quad (QS) but that's all I know of.

 

[aquadad]

I understand there actually were quad jukeboxes produced. What was to be played on them I'm not sure. I know Joe Walsh "The Smoker you Drink.." and Steely Dan "Pretzel Logic " were released as juke box EP's in quad (QS) but that's all I know of.

Hello, Dr.8Track can probably give you the purrfect answer to your question. See this thread-> https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5618

 

[randy h]

...If that's the case then who, what, when, where and why isn't there some kind of an effort put forth to educate the masses so that they can make informed purchasing decisions here in the states? All I see happening here is that the industry just keeps throwing things up against the wall to see what will stick....

Aquadad,
The educating of the masses is one of my biggest beefs concerning DVDA/SACD. You know how I found about it? I accidentally bought a DVD player that said it played DVD Audio too. When reading the manual, I thought, "What the heck is that!". So I got on line and did some research, and finally figured it out. Went out and bought a DVDA and I have been buying ever since. And this may seem sacriligous to a lot of you, but I had not bought ANY music in at least 10 years before that.

After my "discovery" I thought, "well, we will all soon be hearing more about this on David Letterman and the Tonight Show", when artists are interviewed. But no, the industry left it up to little ole me to share my "discovery" with my circle of friends. I could have used some help.

randy