Quadraphonic Music The 1970's Fad or Viable Music? Dynaco Dynaquad QD-1 QD-2

November 28, 2018

#292

Gentle reader,

We moved from humidity-free Denver, Colorado to humid Richmond, Virginia in the 1970's in June after I graduated high school. 

I had a plastic suitcase "stereo" then which sounded fine to me. I put stereo in quotes, because calling those POS stereos is like endorsing any Crosley product as a high quality sound source.

Anyway, as I have told you before, I was happy with my plastic-fantastic until meeting my new friend Phillip and his real stereo. 

Since I could not yet afford any real components, AND since there was an incredibly pretty girl named Cindy Short that worked at Woolco, I frequented the store to just get a chance to speak with her. We later went out and I realized that she was not the brightest knife in the kitchen. 

As a result, I found and bought a "bridge" stereo from Woolco to hold me as I saved up my money. Made by Morse, with the fancy name Electrophonic, I bought a Quadraphonic receiver that had a built-in 8-Track/Quad Tape player and four crappy speakers that appeared to have horn tweeters, but were in fact plastic trim pieces. It did have a phono input so I could hook a record player to it. As long as it had a ceramic cartridge.

I found this image on the Internet. A crappy composition, but it was the largest size photo that showed what I remember it looking like.

NOW, Quad-8-Track was the one TRULY Discrete form of Quadraphonic music at the time. Four tracks for side one of the record and four for side two. Or that is how I remember it. My Blood, Sweat & Tears Quadraphonic tape was convincing by surrounding me with music.

The three competing forms of Quad on records then were: SQ, QS and CD4. The latter claiming to be Discrete. Each had a unique way of encoding two extra channels into the music 45 degree stereo grooves of LP records.

Different component makers embraced each of the formats. Sansui used QS. Interestingly, QS could decode Dolby Surround perfectly as I discovered when we played Operation Dumbo, a Disney movie that took place in Vietnam during the war. We were watching it on VHS with the audio through a Sansui Quad receiver. An NVA gunboat was pursuing our heroes and the baby elephant in a boat and when the bad guys fired their cannon. We heard the BOOM! behind us, heard the shell fly over us, then Boom/Splash in front of us! We looked at each other and said, "Whoa. Did you hear that?" in unison. We do that a lot. Soul mates.

But, I digress. Something I am particularly good at. Look, a chicken! 

I started my first real stereo, as you know, in 1975-76, by building a Dynaco PAT-5, two SWTPC Tiger .01 60 watt mono amps and a pair of Dynaco A25 floor model speakers. Plus a B.I.C 940 turntable. 

So, when I saw that Dynaco was reborn and coming out with new all-black high-end products in the 1990's I vowed to own some. All that I could afford was their update to this:

The 1973 Dynaco Quadapter. Sometimes called Dynaquad. Dynaco later incorporated this device in an update to their SCA-80 integrated solid state amplifier. They called it SCA-80Q. They are sought after today.

I wrote to the new Dynaco company and they sent me these brochures.

See that QD-1 brochure? That is all that I could afford then, and here are photos of it:

QD-1 Series II, updated for use with a stereo receiver to passively provide for five speakers while watching movies. I never tried it for that, but did use it with music and four speakers.

Sadly, it had these cheap spring terminals. I carefully drilled them to accept banana plugs.

I later sold it. And as so often happens to me, I missed it. I found that Dynaco had updated  it and now called it QD-1 Series II L. A new fancier faceplate was the only change that I could see.

I was able to convert it to three-way binding/banana terminals.

Granted, I did a crappy job, but they worked and were 3/4" spaced top to bottom so double-banana plugs could be used.

I later sold THAT one too. I went on eBay one day, looking under my search "Dynaco Panor" and to my utter delight was saw and bought this QD-2. The final iteration of the Dynaco QD series.

Faceplate had some kind of stains on it that I could not remove, but I did not care, because.....

It has REAL three-way binding/banana terminals! 3/4" spaced.

No data exists nor contact information anymore for Panor. So, I have no idea how many of anything they made were sold. But not many come up for sale. I have not seen a QD-2 since.

You can see it below between Dynaco brother components. You can also see the speaker cables attached to it.

As a result of my constantly checking for 1990's Dynaco products on eBay I was able to score a Stereo 200 (ST-200), 100WPC power amplifier and much later a PAT-6 preamp-tuner. The PAT-5 Series II sadly never made it to market. I would have preferred it to the PAT-6 as it is limited in the number of inputs and outputs. I have thought about buying the ST-400 Series II power amplifier. At 200WPC, it has more headroom than the ST-200, but it is a simpler amp with no controls or the ability to play more than one pair of speakers.

Not shown in this photo are the two Dynaco A25XL speakers that act as rear or surround channels in concert with the less efficient Advent Baby Advent II speakers atop my Klipsch KG4 main speakers.  

All of the preceding has been building to the POINT of this article. You see, that LP record at the top of the article is the first CD4 Discrete record that I have ever found. 

I have many QS and SQ albums and in fact, had previously found and bought THE Dynaco record they made to showcase their Quadapter.

I tried that LP, and well, was not impressed. If you read up on Dynaco's original device, you see it was a simple circuit that someone else came up with. Dynaco packaged it and gave it their own name, perhaps to embrace but not to commit to any of the competing Quad formats.

So, anyway, I played the Henry Mancini album. It is sort-of quasi-Jazzy music with Henry on piano. Then all of a sudden, there were strings playing in the rear speakers! Then they went silent only to reappear later in the music.

This was the most dramatic evidence of the Dynaco QD series ability to actually provide surround sound music that I have heard. Yes, it was kind of corny which is why Quadraphonic eventually faded away.

I have written about Quad in the past and the QD-2 as well. For stereo music, it does greatly add depth to the soundstage. Almost like having room-sized headphones on. I am sold on using it. I can sense the acoustics of the recording space. And that pleases me.

While my wife will not believe it, I truly am, finally, satisfied with my stereo. After a more than forty years (not quite Old Testament) journey through countless iterations and combinations, and I don't want to know how much money, I am really happy. 

On another happy note, my oldest grandson, who is 12, went with his mom, to see the movie about Queen. He is now SO excited about Classic Rock music!
I found him a bang box (smaller version of a boom box) and cleaned and tuned it up. They live in a small house and the only source of music is a retro table radio I gave them that has a cheap cassette player on the side. No room for a real stereo.
For Christmas, I used all five of my sealed Chromium-Dioxide cassettes to record ten CDs of classic music for him:
QUEEN, CAT STEVENS, SANTANA, THE WHO, THIN LIZZY, LOGGINS AND MESSINA, OUTLAWS, THE MOODY BLUES, LED ZEPPELIN AND THE BEATLES.
All were from CD sources. When I tried to record an LP, there was no input. Weird. When I went back later, there was no input from any source! It is this JVC 3-head deck:

Which for some reason looks like this in photos instead of black. It plays cassettes fine, however. I have not investigated yet why no input. If it simply has failed internally, that is OK. I have my Fisher CR-124 right next to me which records fine. As long as the JVC still plays music it will remain in place.

Identical to the CR-125, the CR-124 (both are one of the few black cassette decks with VU meters) was made to plug into a matched set of integrated amp and tuner. Since it runs on 19 VAC, I found a 16 VAC transformer that put out more than 20 volts with no load. It powers the deck just fine.

So, if you collect records and have CD4 Quad ones and you want to splurge on a Dynaco QD unit, even the original, give it a try. 

Thank you once again for taking the time to read my words and view my photos. It is a labor of love. You make it all worthwhile.

Scott
November 28, 2018
#292

Improving Ultra-Rare Legend LE414 Speaker Control Selector Switch Assembly

November 26, 2018

#291

Gentle reader,

After the more than forty year journey building the best sounding stereo system that I could afford, I have tried a LOT of components of all kinds.

I have determined, that for maximum signal contact, banana plugs cannot be beat for speaker wires and cables. Below shows several types and brands of terminals one can use instead of bare wire. The forked ones are called Spade Lugs.

Above are examples of the many types of plugs I have tried. The one laying down in the middle is a double-banana plug.

After MANY tries with various brands and styles, I decided these from Nakamichi to have the greatest contact area and firm hold.

However, sometimes they hold too tight. So, lately, I have been using these:

The one drawback is that the bodies although painted are still conductive. Fortunately, my amps have built-in protection which automatically resets. There are many fake Nakamichi plugs made largely in China. So if you like what you see here, look carefully at their design.

These are the double banana plugs which are coming that will be used in association with the speaker control switch below.

If I need a speaker switch, I want one that uses banana plugs.

Some years ago, I came across a LEGEND LE412 Speaker Control. It had three-way binding/banana plug terminals, a unique style and look. So, I bought it. 

Soon after, they may have stopped making them, or so it seems. I could not even find a photo on one!

What you see here, is only the SECOND LEGEND brand speaker switch that I have ever seen. So, naturally when I spied it on eBay, I bought it. 
It is the LE414 and switches FOUR pairs of speakers.

They cleverly used clear rubber feet to cover the screw holes on the bottom. One was missing, but that is not a problem.

See what I mean, a clean and unique design, well thought out and executed.

Measured top-to-bottom, the terminals holes are the industry standard 3/4 of an inch apart. Which means using double-banana plugs is an ideal solution.

The problem is, they assembled it with the + and - terminals going left to right, not top to bottom. Side-by-side, they are less than 3/4" apart.

So, I fixed that. Let me show you how I did it. And if you are fortunate enough to EVER find one of these LEGEND Speaker Controls, you too can make it work better.

First, pry off the clear rubber feet. A utility knife, Xacto knife or sharp tweezers will free them from the bottom cover.

Using a #2 Phillips screwdriver, remove the four screws and set aside in a safe place so that they do not get lost.

Lift off the top and if it is the 414 model, this is what you will see. The 412 is simpler since it has half of everything.

A "bundle of snakes" could describe this mess of wiring. This is 600 volt rated wiring, so it will easily handle large amplifier's output. My LE412 has never given me trouble.

I meant to measure these resistors, but it slipped my mind. They are fairly large so they can handle a lot of current. Do you know how to read those stripes?

Three #2 Phillips screws secure the board to the case's base. Set them aside as well. They are shorter than the main screws, but the same diameter.  

They wisely added a steel plate to the base to stabilize the unit, but it is not enough weight. Well, not if you use 12 gauge speaker cables like I do.

Once freed, the assembly shown starts to make sense. All neatly done. Note the terminals are double-nutted. This keeps them from loosening.

NOTE also the factory setup of RED-BLACK-RED-BLACK, etc.,  from left to right.

The first thing one must do to reorient (re-Asian?) the terminals is to trace each pair of RED-BLACK and wire-tie them together and label them as I have done below. 

NOTE: The board where each pair of wires passes through is marked as to which goes where which should help.  

Since they are three-way binding terminals for the speaker wires or cables, one can use bare wires through the holes, spade terminals, even ring terminals in the case of these since the plastic/metal nuts can be completely removed. I, of course, use banana plugs. 

The photo above shows how I used a #1 Phillips screwdriver passed through both terminals to hold them for loosening and tightening the nuts. Taking the red and black nuts all the way off is not necessary, however. NOTE how thin the metal is. Proceed carefully.

It is VITAL to do one set (four wires/terminals) at a time so as to avoid mixing up the wires.  ABOVE shows the new orientation with the black wire(s) on the bottom and red ones on the top. NOTE that I secured them differently: Washer, nut, ring terminal and then the second nut.

BE VERY CAREFUL when tightening the nuts! These are very thin terminal barrels and I broke one. Fortunately, I kept the old ones from my LE214 from when I upgraded that unit to heavier duty terminals. 
I was forced to do that since I was using the Nakamichi banana plugs with a zig-zag slot cut in them rather than the traditional spring design bananas. While that type offer the best conduction, they are hard to get in or out of terminals and I snapped a few of the terminals on my LE412 as a result. 

Above shows the new orientation, RED on top, BLACK on the bottom and the screwdriver in place holding the two terminals parallel so that the wire holes line up with the grooves LEGEND molded into the back panel to allow for easier inserting of the speaker wires. NOTE, that these can only accept fairly thin gauge wires.

Above shows all of the wires and terminals in their new locations. I marked the RED terminals with an "L" to remind me which is right and left. NOTE all of the cable ties and flag labels that I made still in place at this time.

While the silver stickers denoting what plugs in where are still valid, the factory R and L markings (on the ends of the back panel) no longer apply. Thus, the L I wrote on every other nut.

I snipped off each wire tie with small wire cutters prior to reassembling the components.

With my digital-VOM, I checked each right and left terminal using each switch as I went along to assure that they had continuity. 

Photo below shows the improved LE414 it in place for testing. I hooked it to my Yamaha receiver. That is the PC on which I create. Smeagol (Gollum) says hello.

Using a pair of jumper cables equipped with banana plugs, I hooked it to my Yamaha and made sure each channel worked for all four pairs of terminals and switches.

As we have seen, there are two resistors on the board, I assume to add resistance since this is a parallel circuit switch. However, I would still not use more than two pairs of speakers at a time, even though one can press all four switches in.

I have those twelve new double banana plugs coming (shown near the top of the article) which I will be using with the switch.  Their design will help to prevent breaking the sadly thin metal barrels of these terminals.

As I wrote above, the internal steel weight is insufficient to hold down the front of the speaker control if using heavy cables. I added these weights to my LE412. But still have to use reusable adhesive like BluTak underneath to keep it from "popping a wheelie". I don't remember where these weights came from, but they are the type of things I keep, "I might need these some day."

I am now using my LE412 as a switch for the Realistic Audio Power Meter 300 shown above. Which allows me to monitor either A or B speakers being used.

I have six speakers in my system in the listening room. Klipsch KG4s are the main ones and a pair of Advent Baby Advent II wired through a Dynaco QD2 and a pair of Dynaco A25XLs as the surround speakers. 

The Dynaco QD-2 has passive internal circuitry to protect the amplifier from too low of resistance while creating an ambiance and much greater depth to the soundstage.

The 1990's QD-2 is an improvement on the 1970's Dynaquad which used simple circuitry to "free" ambiance and the acoustics of the recording space used.
This version is an improvement and adds a center channel which can be switched out. 

Previous models were called QD-1 Series II and lacked these three-way binding/banana terminals. Using cheaper plastic spring terminals.

In place between my Dynaco PAT-6 preamp/tuner and ST-200 power amplifier and wired. I use Monster Cable Z-Series speaker cables. 

As I stated, the QD-2 has circuitry designed to add resistance so that when using all four speakers, the total resistance does not fall below four Ohms.

Here is a recent photo of the listening room's system and front speakers. Not seen are the two Dynaco A25XL speakers on stands made from bamboo which flank my chair on the side walls. The soundstage fills the whole room. I love it.

Wooden Speaker Stands and Risers too Expensive? Try Bamboo Stools. How-To Guide. 

The link above shows the bamboo stands which are actually stools which I repurposed to raise the A25XLs closer to ear level. The stands (above) under the Klipsch KG4 speakers are also made from bamboo. The factory bases were too low for me.

I hope that you have enjoyed my latest project. I have replaced spring terminals with three-way binding/banana terminals (look at the photo with the switch on my PC) before, so if you want to buy and try one of the Dynaco QD-1 Series II units, it is possible to do.

Thank you once again, for taking the time to read my words and view my images. You are the reason why I spend hours documenting my adventures.

Scott
November 26, 2018
#291