Consumer Electronics

MONOPHONY

The word monophony is derived from two Greek roots: mono meaning one and phone meaning sound. Thus the combined roots mean one sound or, as we use it in hi-fi parlance, one-source sound. To be more specific, monophony (mono) signifies, one-source sound, one-amplifier channel, one-speaker system.

Yet another term used in describing monophonic sound is monaural. Since mono means one and auris means, ear, the root of monaural is one-ear. However, due to limited scope of the word monaural the word monophonic, meaning one channel from start to finish, has superseded it.

Figure 15.1 is a simplified illustration of how an orchestra was recorded, back in the late 1950’s. Sometimes multiple microphones were used in a session, but they were mixed ...