Besides, LPs had two competing decoding schemes, QS/CD-4 and SQ.  I know there are still vintage receivers from Pioneer and Fisher with this included, but it will be harder to source a reliable cartridge, and a phono stage with four leads.

But am I reading correctly that the LPs will be discrete four-channel?  Is Rhino coming up with a non-matrixed method of encoding rear channels?

RadioActive wrote:

I can't quite recall - did any Toronto FM station jump on the quad bandwagon back in the day? (Seems to me Q107 may have tried it.)  If so, they spent an awful lot on an upgrade to nowhere,

CKQT (at the time) went Quad with their Beautiful music format. 
 

I would've imagined Blu-Ray to be the medium of choice over DVD. Most music box sets now come with 5.1 or Atmos mixes on Blu-Ray.

RadioActive wrote:

I ask the question because Rhino Records, the iconoclastic and eclectic music company, has announced it's releasing a series of "Greatest Hits" compilations in quadraphonic sound. 

The entire thing makes no real sense to me. Not only are they not issuing these recording as records, but they're coming out as DVDs. Does anyone still have four speaker systems that could really reproduce the effect the short-lived quad format brought to music?

According to Rhino, they've done everything to get this right:

"Every disc is sourced from the original four-channel quad master tapes and offers the original quadraphonic (4.0) mix alongside a hi-res 192 kHz/24-bit stereo track. Quadraphonic sound creates an expansive, immersive soundscape by dimensionally mixing four discrete channels through speakers in each corner of the room."

Anyway, if this is of interest to anyone, here's the info on where to buy the new releases - which likely are four times more expensive than stereo!

Rhino Celebrates Elektra's 75th Anniversary with Quadio Releases from Judy Collins, New Seekers, Bread & Carly Simon

I can't quite recall - did any Toronto FM station jump on the quad bandwagon back in the day? (Seems to me Q107 may have tried it.)  If so, they spent an awful lot on an upgrade to nowhere,

When Q 107 launched Quad was more or less dead. I do have some recordings of a Bay area station experimenting with Quad which you can hear here

I have a Dynaco Quadapeter which was one of the earliest Quad systems and based on the Halfner circuit. Two of the earliest albums to feature Quad were Sunflower and Surf's Up by the Beach Boys and they used the Dynaco system. See notes below.  The Rhino series is part of a project they call Quadio that was launched quite a few years ago and they use the original Quad mixes on bluray and it's just four channels. I have the Doobie Brothers quadio box set and it is excellent and gives you 70's Quad on today's systems. There is also something called DTS which is neither a CD or Blu-ray or DVD  but is multi channel . I have a Moody Blues album on that. In addition I have a number of multi channel but not quad DVD's. There are also original quad mixes available on SACD. 

I have been looking for the Chicago quadio box set but have not found one at a resonable price. I visted a store over the weekend for the best of Bread but no luck. The Quadio series is really a great way to expereince 70's Quad today in the exact original mixes.

Finally I have quite a few quad albums mostly on the Columbia SQ system.  There were actually at least 5 Quad systems. Dynaco, EV, SQ,QS and CD4 which was the best and a discrete 4 channel system and you need a special turntable cartridge in addition to the decoder.  See pictures below for a sample of above described media.

Last edited by Fitz (July 22, 2025 12:15 am)

RadioActive wrote:

Impressive equipment. But how many people still have anything they can hear true Quad on? It makes me wonder how they make any money on this, beyond the collectible market. But that's often been Rhino's M.O., so I suppose it doesn't surprise me. Are you buying any of their new releases cited above?

Actually all you really need to decode the Rhino Quadio releases is a modern surround sound receiver. I have been looking for the Best of Bread since the latest releases were announced. Would probably also get the Judy Collins set.
Don't like ordering online though. BTW some of those quad album releases like the Sly and The Family Stone are highly sought after even in stereo for their unique mixes.
 

Jody Thornton wrote:

Fitz wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

Impressive equipment. But how many people still have anything they can hear true Quad on? It makes me wonder how they make any money on this, beyond the collectible market. But that's often been Rhino's M.O., so I suppose it doesn't surprise me. Are you buying any of their new releases cited above?

Actually all you really need to decode the Rhino Quadio releases is a modern surround sound receiver. I have been looking for the Best of Bread since the latest releases were announced. Would probably also get the Judy Collins set.
Don't like ordering online though. BTW some of those quad album releases like the Sly and The Family Stone are highly sought after even in stereo for their unique mixes.
 

So Fitz, just how the heck did they get discrete four-channel audio on a single groove?  I'm aware of QS and SQ, which both used matrix encoding (taking the rear channels and transposing their frequency range above 20 KHz), but that would be crosstalk laden, not to mention wear-prone.  Those ultra-high frequencies would've been hard to faithfully track (although, thanks to that experiment we do have elliptical styli ).

I get that open-reel and tape cartridges would allow for discrete audio.  I just don't get how discrete audio was placed on LP.
 

The QS and SQ ( Sansui's system) were never discrete but they can sound good and don't need a special cartridge and don't result in any cross talk or stylus wear as far as I can discern.  The Rhino Quadio Blu-ray series is a different animal - it marries 70's quad mixes with modern playback capability and the sound is excellent. The Doobie Bros quad albums I believe were originally released in discrete CD4 by Warners Bros. Their Blu-ray box set of 4 albums sounds fantastic and I got mine at a Sunrise records store at a great price. Currently on e-Bay the set is going for close to 300 CDN and so there is a demand as the original set is out of print.

The discrete CD4 system needed a special cardridge and I think needle and all of the quad systems needed a special decorder or reciver.. This is what I got online about CD4:

Yes, the CD-4 (Compatible Discrete 4) quadraphonic system did require a specialized phono cartridge and stylus for accurate playback of the encoded high-frequency signals. These cartridges were designed with a Shibata or line contact stylus to reproduce frequencies up to 45kHz, far beyond what standard cartridges could handle. 

Last edited by Fitz (July 22, 2025 11:47 am)