TheRed1,
Great to see you updating the chronology. This is turning into the kind of thread that can be a resource for early Fisher quad owners in years to come.
tcdriver and others,
I FOUND an SQ quadraphonic record after rummaging through about half of my classical LPs: Angel S-37287; Bruckner, "Symphony No. 9 in D Minor"; Carlo Maria Giulini, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1977). Nowhere on the front does it explicitly say it is a quad album, but a little note on the back says: "All Angel SQ albums are identified by the Angel trademark in a double circle" which IS SHOWN on the front.
Then to the right on the back it goes on, "This is an an Angel Stereo/Quadraphonic album which is compatible with both stereo and SQ quad equipment, and does not require a new stylus or cartridge." So apparently "SQ" is the abbreviation for this doubly-compatible format: "Stereo/Quadraphonic."
Further quoting: "Angel's SQ disc offers richer, more spacious sound with greater separation. For the quad listener, Angel's SQ recording surrounds the listener with spectacular, more realistic sound." I've just been listening to side one, and I have to say that it was a rather concert hall type experience...until the stylus hits those little flecks of dust my pre-play cleaning missed. Very pleasant and rich, and without the loss of definition I heard when I played a stereo record with the SQ button pressed. I could see how people would go for quadraphonic...if they could have afforded it in the mid-70s.
I have a Decca "Phase4" record, too, but an old AK thread points out that this is a very pre-quad label for a group of recordings mixed to enhance certain qualities, achieved through a great many microphones and other technical hijinks. Some people really hated them, some say they don't sound that bad, especially with 21st century ears. But Phase4 ARE NOT quadraphonic. Still an early poster in that thread said one sounded good on his quad system. I found a couple of other LPs I thought would be fun to try the "SQ" button on.
Back to my 404. I wasn't quite sure whether to leave the machine switched to 2-channel or change it to 4, when playing an SQ record. Is 4 only necessary when playing an auxiliary source using 4 inputs? Is just pressing SQ enough. In practice, so far, I can't tell any or much difference between whether I'm set on 2 or 4 channels if I have already pressed the SQ button, but it would be interesting to know what I should be doing??????