The Smiley Smile Message Board

I picked up an early 1970s Sherwood amp/receiver at the swap meet the other day.  It needed some cosmetic repair, but for $10 I figured I could fix it up and put it in my record store for sale.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed a selection on the receiver labeled "Dynaquad".  I figured it was just some oddball format of quadraphonic that never made it.  I looked up some information about it on wikipedia, and was shocked at what I saw.  According to the article, there were only a few albums ever made in this format, including Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions, 15 Big Ones, Love You, and the album by The Flame.

So of course I now have this thing hooked up in my listening room!  I can't detect much as far as four-channel separation is concerned, but I can't deny the thing sounds amazing, whatever is going on. 

I was just wondering if the information in the wikipedia article is correct regarding all these BB titles being recorded in quad.  The only BB albums that seem to outwardly mention quadraphonic in their packaging are Surf's Up and Carl and the Passions.  I seem to recall recall Steve Desper saying that he prepared a quad mix for Sunflower, but the stereo mix was ultimately chosen.   

The wikipedia article cites a post on Brian's message board (http://brianwilson.websitetoolbox.com/post/the-flame-reissue-6987535) for that info, and if you scroll down, AGD corrects that information a little.

Err... quite a lot, actually.  ;D

Thanks for the info.  It seems the Beach Boys were ahead of their time when it came to this technology.  I heard "Cool Cool Water" in quad tonight... what an experience. 

Try putting the Chuck Britz stereo "mixes" through it.  ;D