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AR4x / Sansui Quad Experiment


Guest matty g

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Guest matty g

Just finished repairing a basket case Sansui QRX-5500 (gigantic quad) receiver, and to test it out I hooked it up to four AR4x's I have here. As skeptical about quad sound as I was, I have to say that the quad synthesizer in the Sansui actually does work!

After hooking up the four systems, I tuned in a station (it has a very good tuner section, by the way) and Chicago's "Saturday in the Park" blurted out of the front two 4x's. Nothing seemed to be coming from the rear set. What a bummer, I thought. All that work and this thing doesn't even function properly. Then a trumpet blasted out of the right rear 4x - wha? Next the left rear 4x returned the call - wow! It actually did seem to be sending seperate signals to the four individual 4x systems - interesting.

Next "Yours is No Disgrace" by Yes came on, and music was coming out all over the place. The vocals seemed to come primarily from the front system, but some was allowed through to the back set with a slight time delay between the two rear sets. Steve Howe's guitar solo and lead was switching from front to rear while the bass and drums tended toward the front. Keyboards were mostly in the right front, but certain registers would filter to the back system. Wow!

The cost of having to buy four speakers (particularly good ones such as the AR's) and the overwhelming task of converting the industry to four channel may have killed the quad phenomenon back in the 70's, but a lot of work and thought went into designing and engineering those great receivers. Quad units are not known for their raw power, however they do offer four seperate discrete amps which can be used separatley through switches on the front panel and inputs on the back. It's not 7.1 surround or anything like that, but it's pretty neat - especially with four AR4x's in the corners of the room. If you ever find a quad amp kicking around you may want to pick it up (they're not too expensive these days) and try it out - very interesting indeed!

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I myself have come to like quad set-up's. It can make a big differece to place the speakers properly in a given room. Various trade magazines back in the late 60s and 70s such as High Fidelity, went into detail on quad set-up speaker placement. Some of the configurations look odd at first glance, but are sonicly beneficial. I have a Dynaco SCA 80Q four dimensional amp mated to a Dynaco FM-5 tuner, these are hooked up to 4 KLH Model 23's. They are in a basement room of 800 sq. ft. and the sound is really very nice in my opinion. The early 1970s was the age of quad, but since it meant spending more money and was tricky to get sounding worth the extra money, it sort of died out after several years...but that does not mean it can't be re-created !

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I've recently set-up two quad systems utilizing the Dynaco Quadaptor, one of which I built from a kit back in 1971. The first system consists of a Yamaha CR-600 driving a pair of AR2a's for the front and AR4x's in the rear. The other is comprised of a Yamaha A-520 integrated amp from 1985 driving a pair of AR3a's for the front and some Minimus 7's in the rear.

I would say that, for most program material, the improvement is noticeable, as the sense of "air" is greatly enhanced. I believe the Dynaco sytem was touted as an "ambience" recovery system, and, as such, was supposed to have the rear speakers' volume set so they were just audible. Program material that was recorded live seems to have the most information that is projected from the rears. But certain recordings done in a studio can really impress with the sense of "being there" in the studio.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with the sound. I think it's something that many people would find enjoyable.;)

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I strongly recommend experimenting with the location and aiming of the rear speakers. Since AR4xs are small, light, and easily moved around this should be no problem. One suggestion I'd make is to move them several feet from the wall and aim them backwards. Another is out of sight on their backs aimed at the ceiling (I have a similar set up in my bedroom right now.) By aiming the rear speakers indirectly, the listening area in which the level between the front and ambient channels is satisfactorily balanced should be greater. This is where my own experiments in surround sound started over 30 years ago (but hardly where they ended.)

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1-17-07

I go way back with derived ‘4 channel’ set-ups with my Phase Linear 4000 pre-amp in 1974. It never really was a 4-channel pre-amp, but somehow some of us thought of it as such because of the ‘joy-stick’ and advertising claims. The only time I really got it to sound half way decent was when I ran my two AR-3a’s in front driven by a Phase Linear 400 amp, and in back a Dynaco ST-120 amp driving two AR-2ax’s. I once tried it with a bigger amp in the rear and still it did not impress me. Needless to say the rear seemed to only serve up a small bit of ambient sound in the rear when I played ‘4-channel’ vinyl discs, cassettes had no noticeable information to retrieve at all, FM radio back then didn't offer much material either. Most times the rear channels were under powered because the actual program material didn’t feed much into the rear to begin with. Although one starry night a Jimi Hendix tune from the ‘Electric Ladyland’ album did satisfy me with some info coming out of the rear more than ever before and I felt it to be just O.K. at best, but still somewhat thrilling. Over all the extra speakers and amp were simply a waste of equipment as the PL system in my mind wasn’t worth it at all, I was greatly disappointed. That pre-amp is a wonderful piece for 2 channel vinyl and tape though! I do feel that even the Dynaco ambient system might out do the PL system easily from what I recall hearing at a friends house. If I recall correctly from back then, the Sansui attempt at 4 channel was one of the best. In general 4 channel was mostly an advertising ploy that never really succeeded, nor did the technology on a consumer level.

My friend and no doubt your’s too, Frank Marsi

P.S. Any one try those new Belkin Pro-AV silver interconnects? Good write ups and low prices to boot.

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