craigb
I think he meant, what do I need to play Quadrophonic recordings on. 

You need surround speakers and an AVR and an SACD player or a Blu-Ray audio player or, if you have any DVD-Audio discs, something known as a "universal disc player".
 
If you connect the output of the disc player to your AVR digitally (as almost everyone would), you can have some fun by playing some SACD recordings and go online and post on and on about how the "smoother" DSD sounded just incredibly, unimaginably better than the standard CD and have all the true believers nod their heads and say, "See, I told you so!".
 
Then after awhile you come back and say, "Oops, I read the manual and it turns out it wasn't really DSD as the player was automatically converting it down to a digital format my AVR could understand". Not that they'll understand what you're talking about or the implications of it, but still fun....

drewfx1

craigb
I think he meant, what do I need to play Quadrophonic recordings on. 

You need surround speakers and an AVR and an SACD player or a Blu-Ray audio player or, if you have any DVD-Audio discs, something known as a "universal disc player".
 
If you connect the output of the disc player to your AVR digitally (as almost everyone would), you can have some fun by playing some SACD recordings and go online and post on and on about how the "smoother" DSD sounded just incredibly, unimaginably better than the standard CD and have all the true believers nod their heads and say, "See, I told you so!".
 
Then after awhile you come back and say, "Oops, I read the manual and it turns out it wasn't really DSD as the player was automatically converting it down to a digital format my AVR could understand". Not that they'll understand what you're talking about or the implications of it, but still fun....

This.  Not whatever Pedro just posted! 

craigb
This.  Not whatever Pedro just posted! 

With one exception ... you're not big enough to ever ask and listen to it. Again, I can't copy (legalese and otherwise) but I can play them at home! So you have no idea what I am talking about, or even imagine it. As usual, it's always about anything but what you might want to learn and know, that you don't.   You've been invited more than once, and you do not have to touch/look at the music setup ... just enjoy a beer, or becan listening to music ...

Moshkito

craigb
This.  Not whatever Pedro just posted! 

With one exception ... you're not big enough to ever ask and listen to it. Again, I can't copy (legalese and otherwise) but I can play them at home! So you have no idea what I am talking about, or even imagine it. As usual, it's always about anything but what you might want to learn and know, that you don't.   You've been invited more than once, and you do not have to touch/look at the music setup ... just enjoy a beer, or becan listening to music ...

No, I know exactly what you're talking about, however, that wasn't the information the OP was asking for.

craigb

Moshkito

craigb
This.  Not whatever Pedro just posted! 

With one exception ... you're not big enough to ever ask and listen to it. Again, I can't copy (legalese and otherwise) but I can play them at home! So you have no idea what I am talking about, or even imagine it. As usual, it's always about anything but what you might want to learn and know, that you don't.   You've been invited more than once, and you do not have to touch/look at the music setup ... just enjoy a beer, or becan listening to music ...

No, I know exactly what you're talking about, however, that wasn't the information the OP was asking for.

Let's just say that the experience, is as good as anything else that anyone can come up with out there. I, myself, have not heard anything close, including systems that cost thousands of dollars, and I tested this with one such store on Hawthorne, some 25 years ago, when I played him what I had ... and he was impressed. He didn't think that the current technology (1990) would be good enough, but it might by 2010/2015 ... however ... he didn't think anyone would purchase that kind of expansive systems ... because there were not enough people into the fidelilty/quality of it all.
 
I have to agree. But there is a difference ... that is passed by in here ... there is a massive difference in hearing these things with the Rolling Stones, as opposed to Tangerine Dream, with music specially made for that kind of environment ... but I doubt that enough people really know what that means ... because you can not "hear" that movement in the cheap mp3's out there of TD material. In rock'n'roll, and top ten, this kind of quality is not really necessary ... it doesn't make Brittney, or Taylor or Beyoncé, or Miley look/sound any better!  

Hi,
 
"I Dream of Wires" is one of those specials about a part of the history of electronic music, that is rarely discussed and looked at. Essentially, there are two parts to that history, and a part of this thread has mentioned it. In most cases, the synthesizer became nothing but a replacement instrument within the rock, jazz, or some other style of band.
 
But, since the early days of the synthesizer growth, not many folks stuck to the essence of the instrument itself, and its sounds, and what could be done with them. Essentially, "I Dream of Wires" is about those people and some of their thoughts and design, and how some folks got this far into what today is looked at as "modular synthesizers", which is a bunch of modules connected individually so someone can create their own ideas in regards to the sound.
 
To this effect, the special interviews many folks that were involved, and the ones that anyone might be interested in hearing, would be the ones in SF and NY, the two completely different ideas that helped generate the ideas that these sounds could be used for more than just ... sounds.
 
However, here is where the whole thing splits ... Mr. Subotnick explains it as well as anyone else, that Mr. Moog went in that direction, to see what musicians could do with the whole thing, while the other "purists" were looking to play with the sounds themselves, and see where and how far they could take this.
 
This "experimental" school did nto lose its traction. Through out Europe there were many other folks that took this design and went with them, and creating a "song" or "music' was not what they were looking for, and the early electronic music folks in Germany, and then the likes of Richard Pinhas with Heldon in France, showed that they had ideas (specially Pinhas with massive articles and discussions published on Eurock issues, that showed there was an interest in taking this electronic design into another area.
 
Later, there some popular musicians that discussed their work and use of the synthesizer and how they wrapped their work around the "noise" and its design. It made for different things, and help usher a lot of music, and we get to hear some of the names that were known to play with these things, but the real fun in this special, is not some of these better known folks like Gary Numan, Vince Clarke and a few others, but the folks that stuck to the original parts of the "analog" synthesizer (which is the name of the conglomeration of these modules!!!), and all of a sudden you get to see a bunch of crazy looking things, and people being totally nutz with their creations and sounds ... and this part is fun to watch.
 
The special throws out an idea that today's social gatherings with a live DJ, are helping define and create many of these sounds, to help entertain their audience, and in some ways, their work is fine, and I would not criticize, although many "musicians" think this is bad for music in general, as it makes them un-necessary.
All in all, this is a nice special, although for my tastes, i would have liked to hear/see a bit of Tomita, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and Ryuichi Sakamoto, folks that were massive as well in the growth of these things, but in the end, with the exception of Klaus Schulze, all of them went into melody and the more accessible sounding music with these instruments, and in many ways, this is a special about the parts that keep this not accessible to most ears, so to speak.
 
Interesting to watch and listen to if you love historical moments, and this one is full and will help you see major differences between the East and West Coast in America ... which also happened in rock and other music's.