Scored a Fisher 674 Receiver
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KentTeffeteller
Gimpus Stereophilus!
Hi,
This unit was made by Emerson Electric after they bought Fisher in 1971. They aren't as fine as the Avery era but not Sanyos rebadged. In between era. I am talking about the Emerson Electric Co. in St. Louis that's best known for ceiling fans.
This unit was made by Emerson Electric after they bought Fisher in 1971. They aren't as fine as the Avery era but not Sanyos rebadged. In between era. I am talking about the Emerson Electric Co. in St. Louis that's best known for ceiling fans.
That is a pretty obscure Fisher receiver you have. What is really cool is that it is a quadraphonic unit with a built-in SQ decoder. It looks a lot like the Fisher model 4060 circa 1975. I would guess that the power rating would be between 15 to 25 W/ch. My Fisher quadraphonic receiver is a year or two older and it really sounds good with four speakers hooked up and the SQ quadraphonic decoder engaged. Let us know how it sounds, once you have it up and running.
What is SQ?
The SQ matrix system was by far the most popular quadraphonic system of the quadraphonic era. Columbia, Vanguard, Capital and Angel records were all strong proponents of SQ quadraphonic. Thousands of SQ titles were released and many records and tapes can still be found in used record stores and that famous internet auction website. Since your Fisher has a built-in SQ quadraphonic decoder, you will be able to properly decode any of the SQ source material that you can find. Also note that regular two-channel stereo sources can be played back through a matrix style decoder creating a pseudo-quadraphonic sound. How good this will sound will vary with different source material. Some ordinary two-channel stereo records will “decode” as well or better than records originally made for quadraphonic sound. One can have a lot of fun setting up and listening to music played on a quadraphonic system. Good listening.
The Columbia SQ Quadraphonic system was the most popular of the quadraphonic matrix style formats. Matrix style formats allowed record companies to fit four channels of information onto two-channel media. That is, a four-channel master was fed into a matrix encoder that created a two-channel encoded master. The encoded two-channel master could then be manufactured (LP and tape) just like any other two-channel media. The end user would play these encoded two-channel media into a complimentary matrix decoder to recreate four channels of quadraphonic sound.
The SQ matrix system was by far the most popular quadraphonic system of the quadraphonic era. Columbia, Vanguard, Capital and Angel records were all strong proponents of SQ quadraphonic. Thousands of SQ titles were released and many records and tapes can still be found in used record stores and that famous internet auction website. Since your Fisher has a built-in SQ quadraphonic decoder, you will be able to properly decode any of the SQ source material that you can find. Also note that regular two-channel stereo sources can be played back through a matrix style decoder creating a pseudo-quadraphonic sound. How good this will sound will vary with different source material. Some ordinary two-channel stereo records will “decode” as well or better than records originally made for quadraphonic sound. One can have a lot of fun setting up and listening to music played on a quadraphonic system. Good listening.
CUlater
Member #287, thereabouts
They didn't exactly die - they just went dormant for a while, then reappeared as surround sound. The original Dolby Surround system borrowed heavily on the matrixed quadraphonic systems (i.e., SQ and RM), and most Dolby surround encoded material decodes fairly well on the old quad receivers.
Reason they went dormant? Well, back then there were 3+ 'formats' for quad that were all competing - CD-4, SQ, and RM - instead of the one format that emerged in the surround era (Dolby). Consequently, source material was not always available in the format you wanted or had, which had a freezing effect on buying, since no one wanted to own the losing format (like Beta in the VCR wars...). Coupled with the fact that the quad systems usually were relatively lower powered and required and investment in twice as many speakers and new source materials all conspired to create market paralysis and eventual failure of all three competing formats. QuadBob may check in and give a better explaination, but that's the short version IMHO.
That said, I am a quadaholic still, as the vintage quad gear does work well with modern surround source material (much more plentiful now) and you just don't get the same aesthetics from today's black plastic surround stuff. YMMV...
Reason they went dormant? Well, back then there were 3+ 'formats' for quad that were all competing - CD-4, SQ, and RM - instead of the one format that emerged in the surround era (Dolby). Consequently, source material was not always available in the format you wanted or had, which had a freezing effect on buying, since no one wanted to own the losing format (like Beta in the VCR wars...). Coupled with the fact that the quad systems usually were relatively lower powered and required and investment in twice as many speakers and new source materials all conspired to create market paralysis and eventual failure of all three competing formats. QuadBob may check in and give a better explaination, but that's the short version IMHO.
That said, I am a quadaholic still, as the vintage quad gear does work well with modern surround source material (much more plentiful now) and you just don't get the same aesthetics from today's black plastic surround stuff. YMMV...
Did you get any more specs on this unit? I happened to get one recently and was wondering what all it had in it. Also, the writing for the positions on the far left dial on my machine has been warn off. Could you post a picture of that side of the machine? Thanks
willhowl
Well-Known Member
Oh, My Back!!!!!!......
Howdy, malanga....That's a pretty cool find, there.....obscurity is good.........
What I wanna know is, what's up with that "Disc Out" jack(?) on the back, fourth pic in your original post......
Is it a warning, like before you pick it up, or something?
Or is it a real output????....Inquiring minds, yada yada......
Anyone?........willhowl:scratch2:
Howdy, malanga....That's a pretty cool find, there.....obscurity is good.........
What I wanna know is, what's up with that "Disc Out" jack(?) on the back, fourth pic in your original post......
Is it a warning, like before you pick it up, or something?
Or is it a real output????....Inquiring minds, yada yada......
Anyone?........willhowl:scratch2:
The "Disc Out" jack is the FM radio discriminator output. It was included on many quadraphonic receivers of that era. It was provided in preparation for the time when a quadraphonic FM broadcast system would be approved by the FCC and implemented by the broadcast industry. The concept was that FM radio stations would encode quadraphonic source material for broadcast. On the receiving end an external FM decoder would take the FM detector output and decode the signal into four channels. Although such a system was designed and field tested, it never made it to commercial use.
malanga
Well-Known Member
Hi Golfnut. Sorry I must have missed this post! Right now this unit is stored in the far recesses of my garage, and will be there for some time. Once I can unearth it again I will try to post the picture you requested. :yes:
Elberon
Active Member
If a standard 2-ch turntable with a standard stereo cartridge is used as a 2ch source going into an amp with SQ capability (like this one) and four speakers (front left and right, rear left and right) can it put out discreet four channel sound? Thanks and sorry for my confusion.
A standard two-channel turntable with a standard two-channel stereo cartridge plus an amplifier, receiver or preamp with a SQ decoder is all you need to properly decode SQ (or QS or Stereo-4) encoded quadraphonic records. Matrix quadraphonic records will never produce fully discrete quadraphonic sound, however, they can sound quite good. For discrete quadraphonic sound you would need a Q4 (quadraphonic reel to reel), Q8 (quadraphonic 8-track) or a CD-4 (quadraphonic LP) playback system with suitable software.
