Stuff that sounds amazing with the Surround Master

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Assuming that the Herb Alpert disc was not intended to be surround, know that most of the Herb Alpert record albums were made using the Haeco CSG (Compatible Stereo Generator) years before there was any quad. They produce sounds located in the SQ back speakers and in the BMX front and back that ordinary stereo records do not make.

UHJ is actually not very far from QS in actual encoding relationships. It should play with slightly reduced front to back separation on QS. This is easy to understand using the Poincare sphere.

The phase relations for positions on the sphere are:
Green - in phase (QS front)
Violet - 180 degrees out of phase (QS back)
Cyan (far side of sphere) - Left channel only (QS left)
Red (near side of sphere) - Right channel only (QS right)
Black - Left leads right 90 degrees (SQ left back)
Brown - Right leads left 90 degrees (SQ right back)

View attachment 46851

The following show a sound panned around the room clockwise starting at the front:
QS uses the great circle for the equator green-red-violet-cyan-green
BMX uses the great circle for the meridian black-cyan-brown-red-black
H uses the 45 degree tilted great circle tan-red-blue-cyan-tan
J uses the 22.5 degree tilted great circle using:
- a point halfway between green and tan
- red
- a point halfway between violet and blue
- cyan
UHJ is not a great circle, but a smaller circle, using:
- a point halfway between green and tan
- a point between red and pink closer to red
- a point halfway between brown and blue
- a point between cyan and pink closer to cyan
I always thought the Haeco-CSG system was intended to create stereo records that were compatible with mono phonographs. In any event, hearing a recording that was processed with it, and the same recording without it, you can hear the damage it does to the sound. Part of the idea was to alter phase relationships, keeping everything essentially in phase, to make sure it's all heard in mono. That would destroy creating a quad effect with a matrix decoder. I'm glad the system wasn't used for all that long.
 

Elswhere J Pupster said:
I believe @Sonik Wiz is a big fan of these guys also

Indeed I am! That looks like a great collection of songs. But what? No 16 Story Halo?! That's the most bounceaphonic sound of all ABC material .

Certainly most all of the classic techno-pop stuff sounds amazing on the Surround Master: Yellow Magic Orchestra, The Eurythmics, Thomas Dolby, OMD and The Orb.
 
FM’s Direct to Disc Esoteric Records 2013 reissue in Involve 5.1. Wowie! The dispersion of the instruments is fantastic! I think I found a new demo disc.
 
Gordon Lightfoot - Complete greatest hits. Great separation.
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The two Rich Mountain Tower albums are now on Tidal. I compared what they're streaming vs. my vinyl through the Surround Master and it's pretty clear that the Tidal version of the first album retains the encoding. Listen for the harmonica to dominate in the right rear...

Pretty sure the second album was never a quad.
 
I haven't been following this thread, since up until about several months ago, I was an Audionics S&IC user. Unfortunately that legendary decoder burned out, and I ordered the Soundmaster V2. I have listened to various material which has been good, but tonight I listened to Spirit: The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. This is amazing! I thought it would be, because it did well on the Audionics unit. But using Involve Audio mode 5.1 it was outstanding. Y'all ought to give it a spin.
 
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