Electro-Voice EVX-44 (c. 1972–1973)
The EVX-44 was Electro-Voice's four-channel universal decoder. It was a stand-alone unit at $99.95, aimed at the matrix quadraphonic format war of the early 1970s. It shows up in E-V's advertising from July 1972 through March 1973, always at the same $99.95 suggested retail price.
Matrix quad was a mess. Columbia pushed SQ, Sansui had QS, Electro-Voice had its own Stereo-4, and Dyna's system was also in circulation. E-V's answer was one decoder that claimed to handle all of them. In its own advertising in HiFi/Stereo Review (July 1972, p.114), the company said that playing the competition's best demonstration records through the EVX-44 would reveal little or no difference from their dedicated decoders. It also said some records might sound better through the E-V unit, because its decoding was "basic," aimed at music rather than ping-pong effects. That is a manufacturer's claim, not an independent test.
The same universal decoder circuit was also built into the EVR-4X4, a four-channel AM/FM receiver at $249.95. E-V advertised the two together as two ways to get the same decoding (HiFi/Stereo Review, October 1972, p.142). A related add-on, the E-V 1244X decoder/stereo amplifier, appears in the same campaign.
Beyond the advertising, the record is thin. No independent magazine review, no service manual, and no detailed spec sheet have surfaced in the archive. The decoder's matrix coefficients, inputs and outputs, and production run length remain undocumented. What can be stated with confidence comes from the ads: the EVX-44 was a $99.95 universal four-channel decoder, promoted circa 1972-1973 as compatible with SQ, QS, Stereo-4, Dyna, "and all the rest."
- Universal four-channel matrix decoder
- $99.95 suggested retail
- Advertised compatibility: SQ, QS, Stereo-4, Dyna, and other matrix systems
- Same decoder circuit offered in the EVR-4X4 receiver ($249.95)
- Documented advertising period: July 1972 – March 1973
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