Dynaco QD-1 series II L Surround Processor

Person123

Owner of gadgets
Hey guys,

Got a Dynaco QD-1 II L, inherited it from a family. I'm not sure how it works or what it's worth, I assume it works on some principal similar to quadraphonic encoding or Dolby Pro Logic.
Anyone got any info on it?
.
 
nothing really quad or dolby about it. The idea was to decode the difference signals that are more or less inherent to stereo recording. This worked anywhere from amazingly well ( Meloydia stereo recordings at the Bolshoi theater ) to pretty much not at all. It's appeal was you needed only stereo amps and recordings. You do need four speakers -I used 2 Dynaco A35 front and A25 on the rears -worked well. In my experience it yielded either a very natural sounding back/front enhancement or didn't sound like much of anything different - depended on the recording. What was very nice about it was it never sounded weird or artificial. Don't think these get high prices used. New they were around thirty bucks -with some versions going up to $59.00 later.
 
Stonedeaf has described it well. To get the optimal effect, it's important that the rear speakers be at least as far from your ears as the front ones, because unlike Dolby or other modern surround systems, there's no rear-channel delay built in. Also, be sure that your amp has a common ground between channels, or you run a risk of damaging it. Well worth a try.
 
Very good point about the common ground - the best Quadaptor hook up I had used a pair of Stereo 70's run in mono. the first time I powered this up I had sat down in my listening chair when the tubes heated up and I thought a squad car had tripped a siren below my second floor window -only as I walked between the front speakers to look out the window did it become obvious that the siren was my SPEAKERS!!!. Grounding the two chassis together took care of this - but very exciting.
 
It's a glorified Hafler circuit... not a bad thing at all. If you've ever seen some Realistic receivers from the 70s many of them had what was called Quatravox. Sherwood called it Dynaquad. They are ambience units and can add quite a bit to the sound of the recording if you have front and rear speakers. It basically takes the difference between the front L and front R speakers and puts that difference in the rears and creates something of a fuller sound such as one might experience in a music hall.

Give it a try.
 
Cheers guys,
It's sounds a bit quiet on the back speakers because they're crap samsung speakers, so I'll have to get a better pair to really test it out.
 
Cheers guys,
It's sounds a bit quiet on the back speakers because they're crap samsung speakers, so I'll have to get a better pair to really test it out.

It will be always be "bit quiet on the back speakers" when running the Hafler unit. That's the nature of it. While they may sound quiet, they still contribute much to the overall sound effect. Sit in your listening chair, and then have someone flip back and forth between the Hafler unit being on then off while listening to music. On most recordings, you will hear the difference and the difference is impressive.
 
Do you still have the QD-1 series 2 L? Interested in selling it if you're not using it?

These show up on the 'bay sometimes... search for them for a month daily and one will likely show up. Or get a Quadapter.... same thing.
 
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