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Views and Comment By Ralph Hodges WILL QUADRAPHONICS RISE AGAIN? THE winter Consumer Electronics Show is a smaller, quieter, and chillier (remember last January?) counterpart of its gigantic summer relative. Instead of McCormick Place, the venue becomes the Conrad Hilton in downtown Chicago, with plenty of unofficial spillover into neighboring hotels. As the secondary show, the winter CES does not pre sent the overwhelming numbers of new products that are to be seen in the summer. In stead, manufacturers emphasize the marketing possibilities of existing products in their lines, and dealers have another chance to take on a product they passed up or failed to see seven months before. New Products. There were, of course, a few new products here and there. For example, Marantz presented eight, all of them stereo receivers, and one of them (Model 2385) raising the high-power mark for receivers to 185 watts per channel. Adding to the 2385's hearty appeal is a uniquely compact Dolby module (optional) that plugs into the rear panel for Dolbyized FM broadcasts. The somewhat smaller Model 2330 (130 watts) has this facility already built in. Pioneer forsook Chicago and introduced its new products-thirteen of them-in New York instead. The highlights of the Pioneer showing were probably the new top-of-the-line tuner (see this month's New Products) and a pair of direct-drive turntables speed-regulated by means of quartz-crystal oscillators and phase-locked loops. The Four-channel Phoenix. Quadraphonics, obviously, will rise again. At the show, four-channel was borne aloft by Peter Scheiber, the man who pointed the way toward matrix systems almost ten years ago. The latest Scheiber decoder carries the designation Deltek Model One after the company producing it. It is primarily an SQ instrument, although in two of its operating modes it will synthesize a four-channel effect from stereo sources for ambiance-type or semi-surround presentations. Separation is specified as exceeding 35 dB between any two channels. The price, unfortunately, is $2,150. Mr. Scheiber is on record as saying that current SQ recordings do contain all the spatial information necessary for a satisfactory four-channel effect; all that is needed are "refinements in decoding technology" to bring it forth. The Deltek demonstration certainly did nothing to contradict his words, providing a rendition of the Boulez Firebird that was the best I've heard from the aspect of spaciousness and non-ambiguity of sound localization. There was some indication that the long-awaited SQ decoder from Tate, a representative of which English company was present at the Deltek demonstration, will in future supply the needs of manufacturers requiring less expensive electronics to build into four-channel receivers and amplifiers. The Deltek device will-for the moment-remain the ultimate. As for quadraphonic receivers, still they come. Sansui's QRX-9001, introduced along with the slightly smaller QRX-8001, raises the company's power-output capability to 60 watts for each of four channels. As expected, the matrix-decoding facilities are most elaborate for QS, with Variomatrix included. How ever, the receiver will accept any four-channel source material, and in addition it has built-in Dolby circuits for processing tape recordings and Dolbyized FM. Other Developments. In amplifiers, Sony displayed a prototype of the first Class-D power amplifier to utilize vertical field-effect transistors. Power output is presently 150 watts per channel, projected price is approximately $1,000, and availability is scheduled for a year hence. Hitachi's first Class-G power amplifier, the HMA 8300, was introduced; it has a continuous-power rating of 200 watts per channel (400 watts "transient music power") and a price of $750. It was accompanied by a new preamplifier, the HCA 8300. Larry Klein's write-up of the Tokyo Audio Fair (February) noted the Japanese use of meter-like tuning dials on some radio products. The first exponent of this possible trend to arrive on these shores is the Rotel TX-7707 receiver. In its case, an actual meter is used. This is a logical step, since the receiver has five FM-station presets activated by pushbuttons. The voltages that tune the station-selecting circuits also drive the meter. which is calibrated in megahertz. A conventional tuning dial would have to be motorized to work with the preset system. It is rare that a tone arm makes headlines, but the Dynavector arm is unusual enough to rate a mention. Involving a design intended to minimize vertical effective mass (for good performance on record warps) and maximize lateral mass (for stability), the arm employs magnetic damping and a number of other novel features. It and the moving-coil Dynavector phono cartridges, all made by Onlife Research in Japan, are currently distributed here by Audioanalyst. The Burwen people, reorganized under the name Burwen Research, have a new dynamic noise filter, the Model 1201A, with improved time constants. The show also coaxed forth a few new turntables, but I saw nothing in the way of new tape equipment. As always, how ever, new loudspeakers were everywhere. Dynaco has an entire new line of five models, the LMS ("Laboratory Monitor") series. And the Sharp/Optonica people have created the first new speaker system with a ribbon tweeter (the CP-5000) in quite some time. I could go on almost forever about speakers, but I see the bottom of the page coming up fast. We will pass this way again in September for the summer show report, at which time we'll get in as many speakers as we can. ------ Also see: TECHNICAL TALK, JULIAN D. HIRSCH |