All apologies for hyping my own work here (and Steve, if you object, kill this thread) but here's a piece I did for the LA Times Magazine last week that might be of interest: http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2010/06/hear-and-now.html
That was an interesting article. Thanks for posting. I was a bit reminded of finding this Billboard Issue from August, 1975 spotlighting quad. I thought that was exactly about the time the format died, yet the top cover story contains the headline " 'Q' Discs/Tapes Show Chart Rise".
Nice article, especially for the unitiated... I am glad my quad quest started several years before eBay...I managed to snarf up a lot of cool stuff cheap before the revival!
The 1980s were the time to buy quad stuff, lots of tapes and LPs in the cut-out bins, still sealed, lots of barely-used gear, too.
I like the alt takes too, but some albums just come so alive in quad -- S&G's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and Art Garfunkel's "Breakaway" are two particular favorites.
Interesting that the article mentions "a pair" of ZZTop Quads. Fandango was announced in a catalog (as "Here Comes Fandango") but never materialized.
I also started my Q quest long before ebay. By some of the elusive ones, at least elusive in NM condition, I finally obtained once ebay came along. Sly - Hits $14.99 NM, TYA - Space NM $5.99, as well as some more common ones found still sealed on the bay just to see if they had that 3D sound in stereo playback. Ebay was a godsend for me, and my Q collection. I just got Aerosmith - Get Your Wings in Q 6 weeks ago, been wanting that one for decades, $22 NM. There are a few more I need still.
Thanks -- it's always good to read of quad software and hardware. I still pick up quad discs if I don't have (and like) the title. Not that many that I'm still looking for. I had a listening party with a college friend recently (we were still in school when quad was sputtering along). Played a couple of the Firesign Theatre's quad LPs (Bozos and Everything You Know is Wrong) with a modern decoder (Cantares) and they were amazing -- seemingly silent surfaces, great localization, and transportation to another soundspace. Ok, here's a value-add: WXRT FM in Chicago did a series of live shows called the "Unconcert" back in the '70s (later too I guess, but I was gone), and all of the shows that they produced from local performances were recorded and broadcast in SQ quad. Sony produced a quad encoder for radio station use... Fred
A Sony Quad Receiver on this web site: http://www.iavscanada.com/vintage_recvr.htm Pictures: http://www.iavscanada.com/0911 Inve...Audio Surrey BC Sony SQR-8750 Quad_master.htm
So did Sansui (for QS). I have a Sony SQE-2000 (SQ encoder) and a Sansui QSE (QS) encoder...as well as the Tate/Fosgate 101A and QSD-1000 decoders that any true Quad fan has...
I bought a quad vinyl pressing of Barbara Joan Streisand (featuring Fanny) just this Sunday. Can't wait to hear it, as I am a huge Fanny fan.
I remember going to places like Zayers, Woolco, K-Mart and a few others that would have rows and rows of cut-out 8 tracks, usually spotlighted in the Sunday ads. Searching for Q8's in those bins became an "mission" that often resulted in many prize catches.
