Koss Phase 2+2 Quad Headphones

[fixed1t]

Hi, I'm new to the group despite being into QUAD since I bought my first HiFi around 1975 which consisted of a Ferguson SQ Quadraphonic Amp and 4 JVC speakers and a JVC CD-4 decoder. I also had a pair of Koss Quadraphones which are around somewhere but don't work properly.

Two weeks ago my estranged father passed away who lived in Falmouth Cornwall England. I hadn't seen him for over 15 years or more, but he had run a little electronic shop in Penryn Cornwall, England. His place small place was packed to the ceiling in every room with old defunct electronic devices and electronic component racks. The council gave us one week to clear the place and I decided to give all the components and electronics to the local radio ham, cadet and radio boat club members, and they did a great job clearing the place. Being an Synth builder myself for years I looked at various piles of stuff to see what may be useful, little was. Until I put my had on the workshop wardrobe top and discovered a old plastic bag. I had decided not to through any bags away without looking in them and to my amazement I found a decrepit pair of Koss Phase 2+2 headphones. They were in a sorry state but I was pleased with the find. The clearing continued and on top of another cabinet I was stunned to find a second pair of Koss Phase 2+2 headphones. Having never really known my father I was amazed how much we had in common, the electronics, interest in Quadraphonic and sound, bio-feedback machine etc.

Last weekend my mate Matt Preston and I decided to have a go at servicing the worst pair, one the groups that if they were damaged we still had a good pair to try out. I'll be post some video's on the service etc on my website. Also I'd been hunting for years for these headphones, which I haven't seen a pair of even on ebay. But when I was on hear a few weeks ago before the house clearance I saw some thing about Sock Ear Pads. I had contact KOSS about the Phase 2+2 and the first thing they said was, these aren't covered by our lifetime warranty, and the 2nd thing they said was nobody makes the earpads. The first service went well the headphones are working great and here are a couple of pictures. I'm putting more on my fixed1t myspace site at: http://www.myspace.com/fixed1t

Cheers fixed1t (aka Malcolm)



(which blue up two days ago after being take from the garage where its sat for 5 years

 

[JonUrban]

Nice find. I actually had a pair of those oh so many years ago.

The foam pads for the ears were huge and very unusuall, it's no wonder they don't make them anymore. That was a very speciallized set of headphones. I remember buying mine at a Dixie Hi-Fi in Norfolk Virginia for around $150 back in 1976 or so.

I really can't remember what I did with mine...............

 

[Quad Linda]

Very cool, fixedIt. Those were top of the line and not a huge quantity were made.

Aah, good old Dixie Hi-Fi.

Linda
Earrings cost twice as much for Quad!

Nice find. I actually had a pair of those oh so many years ago.

The foam pads for the ears were huge and very unusuall, it's no wonder they don't make them anymore. That was a very speciallized set of headphones. I remember buying mine at a Dixie Hi-Fi in Norfolk Virginia for around $150 back in 1976 or so.

I really can't remember what I did with mine...............

 

[fixed1t]

Nice find. I actually had a pair of those oh so many years ago.

The foam pads for the ears were huge and very unusuall, it's no wonder they don't make them anymore. That was a very speciallized set of headphones. I remember buying mine at a Dixie Hi-Fi in Norfolk Virginia for around $150 back in 1976 or so.

I really can't remember what I did with mine...............

All of my 1975 Quad kit was bought from a little HiFi shop in Aldershot, England as a very young Army Medic at the time it was beer or HiFi and Hi Fi won. Even though there was little QUAD about that I could afford I always found that hitting the SQ button on any recordings filled the room with sound.

I'm disappointed that in searching for years I haven't found any high quality Colour pictures of the Phase 2+2 so I could see what the original pads looked like. I was so pleased when I got them working but then 15 mins later the Ferguson blew. It was my fault for years they'd blow fuses if no speakers were present and I mistakenly thought the headphones were on a different circuit. I should have know better I have the service manual and I'd repaired it many times.

Luckily I bought a Rogers SQ Decode off eBay some years back so I plugged that in and with lots of wires got quad.

I'm in two minds whether to try and repair the Ferguson or whether to take out the SQ board and build some headphones amps around it.

 

[JonUrban]

I remember they came in this large silver foil covered box, with a huge picture of the phones. They also included the mail in card for the exclusive QS demo disc made for the headphones that included the unreleased in QS Joe Walsh track from the "So What" QS LP that never came out.

 

[fixed1t]

Thanks for this, it looks like a solid chamber of a hole, I'll have a go with some more memory foam. I'm even contemplating doing a bit of leather stitching. I showed my partner Debbie my handwork from all the mess I made last week. Rather than looking impressed she said where did you find those socks, In my sock draw I replied, close inspection identified them as her best golf thermal socks, ooops looks like I'm buying some new pairs LOL. I must see if I can find this album. and a QS decoder. I only have SQ and CD-4 matrix at present.

Cheers Malcolm

 

[fixed1t]

The other plan I have is to trace the PCB board match it with the patent schematic so I can make myself my own box to play with without risking damaging the Koss Controller. See what happens when I plug in my standard quadraphones. I'd also like to mock it up in software to see if I can get a similar effect with a Maplin Electronic Sweex cheapo matrix headphones which I bought last year. I thought the had a 5 channel decoder in the box, the don't but they are headphone and pre-amps. Hmm, I think I just stumbled on a use for the SQ card in my old flaming ferguson SQ amp. Actually that was hilarious, 01:30 in the morning when I'd retried in from the garage and put a new plug on it. They pop fizzz the main capacitor blew and began filling the room with smoke. I unplugged then realised all the smoke alarms would start screaming waking Debbie who would not be amused, so I shut the door and waited till the smoke had gone, then put it outside on the lawn in case it wasn't quite out. She got up next day and said "why is your old Quadraphonic amp in the middle of the lawn? LOL Then I got that, your are mad look she does so well.

 

[Quad Linda]

FixedIt, I hope you are equally adept at building doghouses.

Linda

The other plan I have is to trace the PCB board match it with the patent schematic so I can make myself my own box to play with without risking damaging the Koss Controller. See what happens when I plug in my standard quadraphones. I'd also like to mock it up in software to see if I can get a similar effect with a Maplin Electronic Sweex cheapo matrix headphones which I bought last year. I thought the had a 5 channel decoder in the box, the don't but they are headphone and pre-amps. Hmm, I think I just stumbled on a use for the SQ card in my old flaming ferguson SQ amp. Actually that was hilarious, 01:30 in the morning when I'd retried in from the garage and put a new plug on it. They pop fizzz the main capacitor blew and began filling the room with smoke. I unplugged then realised all the smoke alarms would start screaming waking Debbie who would not be amused, so I shut the door and waited till the smoke had gone, then put it outside on the lawn in case it wasn't quite out. She got up next day and said "why is your old Quadraphonic amp in the middle of the lawn? LOL Then I got that, your are mad look she does so well.

 

[fixed1t]

Luckily, my electronic, computer, musical and technical skills have enough occasional use doing 'Good' things to outweigh the mess such things can create, but as you say sometimes its a real fine line ;-) when I was a youngster I lost a girlfriend to a 74154 demultiplexing chip or should I say becuase of a 74154. I had a one room bedroom synthesizer building lab. She accidentally knocked a box of components on the floor and in the night got up and stood on the 75154 which had landed the wrong way up. Dog house didn't come into it 'Howling Wolf' was a better description.

It's like stepping on a metal centipede with its 32 pin legs,

http://elektroniksforkids.com/projects/view/PRO118/LED-Chaser-16LED.php

the difficultly was trying to get her to keep still so I could pull it out with a chip remover. On the QUAD side she did like the KOSS K2+2 headphone sound, but then not me :-( LOL

Malcolm

 

[fixed1t]

Here are a couple of pictures of the inside of the control box of the Koss Phase 2+2, its amazing it worked after the cleanup but it does, its no wonder the switches were very sticky or stuck.

Malcolm

 

[Disclord]

What did all the various buttons "do" and how was the effect? I've never heard of or seen these before. That control box for them is amazing looking.

BTW, I've never heard a pair of quad headphones - do they 'work' or are the speakers too close together to hear any real effect? Un-decoded SQ on stereo headphones works well due to the "SQ Dicophony" effect.

 

[Doug G.]

I never heard a pair of quad headphones that really worked. I never bought a pair either.

Quad needs speakers.

Doug

 

[JonUrban]

There's a small picture of them on the Koss History of the '70s Products webpage

and here's a small Billboard article from November 23, 1974 announcing them as "coming soon":

 

[Quad Linda]

I own two pairs of Quadphones, Koss & Superex. Quad effects are minimal on Qhp. 2+2 may be the best Quadphones. $145 in '74 might be like $500-$600 today.

Linda

 

[fixed1t]

HI Disclord,

The effect is quite striking, with just the brown stereo jack plugged in, the QUAD COMPARATOR switch needs to be set to phase 2+2 and the QUAD FIELD to 2 pi the ambience expanders above can then be switched in and they change the Phase relationships of the positioning of the instruments and their tone, Increasing bass emphasis or moving position. The BINAURALATORS expand the field in space. The beast comes alive when the grey back channel plug is also used. You then have 4 speakers on your head at once, the QUAD COMPARATOR switch needs to be set to phase Ch4 and the QUAD FIELD to 4 PI the remaining buttons again move things around on the sound stage, moving instruments front to back left to right and changing the tonality. I noticed yesterday that somebody has put the 4 separate CD-4 audio channel recordings of a couple of tracks for dark side of the moon on youtube. I will try and download them into Digital Performer and send them as 4 seperate channels to the KOSS Phase 2+2 and try and describe what happens to what when I flick the switches.

 

[fixed1t]

Linda I found a site called dollar times that calculates the possible interest it says:

$145.00 in 1974 had the same buying power as $687.90 in 2011.
Annual inflation over this period was 4.30%.

This of course takes no account of desirability

 

[fixed1t]

I've listened to lots of QUAD over the years very little swirls around in space 360 degrees as was promised although the Ferguson had a ganged 4 channel pot that you could literally push around, great for those stereo sceptics as the sound wizzed 'fraudulently' round the round as they sat in the middle of 4 speakers in the classic 2 front 2 back box setup. The reality as we all know its just different but I love the fact that you can be anywhere in the room and still hear everything although not perhaps as the mix intended, this is great for stereo material where being on one side of the room normally means losing most of the left or right information. But reading the great Wendy Carlos pages on QUAD she explains technically why we never got what we thought we'd bought and the box is a terrible setup

http://www.wendycarlos.com/gosurround.html

4 speakers or more are needed for quad and the Phase 2+2 have 4 speakers plus Phase shift experimental box, i.e. drug induced sound fun without the drugs. I can imagine a group of hippies with a borrowed (Hey man can I borrow your cool cans) not bought (we not into funding capitalism of the man) pair thinking the universe had been placed in their heads.

So to sum up the 4 ear speakers make a real difference to how the sound is heard, is it true QUAD I doubt it but I'll run the standard 4 channel hiss test on my mac and see where they appear in space.

This find must be akin to winning the lottery as far as odds are concerned, but I'd still like the lottery win if possible ;-)

 

[fixed1t]

Here is the google patent page for the KOSS Phase 2+2, I haven't yet read it all myself, but I think I need to so I can build my own external box to play with.

http://www.google.co.uk/patents/abo..._sound_disti.html?id=GMgfAAAAEBAJ&redir_esc=y

 

[fixed1t]

Sorry the link failed try this one

http://www.google.co.uk/patents/about?id=jqx8AAAAEBAJ

Malcolm

 

[Quad Linda]

Malcolm, you really know how to romance a girl! You gave her a story to tell FOREVER about the night she encountered a DIP. She didn't mean Dual Inline Package, either!

Linda

Luckily, my electronic, computer, musical and technical skills have enough occasional use doing 'Good' things to outweigh the mess such things can create, but as you say sometimes its a real fine line ;-) when I was a youngster I lost a girlfriend to a 74154 demultiplexing chip or should I say becuase of a 74154. I had a one room bedroom synthesizer building lab. She accidentally knocked a box of components on the floor and in the night got up and stood on the 75154 which had landed the wrong way up. Dog house didn't come into it 'Howling Wolf' was a better description.

It's like stepping on a metal centipede with its 32 pin legs,

http://elektroniksforkids.com/projects/view/PRO118/LED-Chaser-16LED.php

the difficultly was trying to get her to keep still so I could pull it out with a chip remover. On the QUAD side she did like the KOSS K2+2 headphone sound, but then not me :-( LOL

Malcolm