Consumer Electronics

QUADRAPHONY

The word quadraphonic is derived from two roots, quad meaning four and phone meaning sound. Thus quadraphony denotes four-channel sound; see Fig. 15.3.

Let us now look at the various ways of achieving four-channel sound. The most straightforward method is called discrete. This is a copy of the master tape which consists of the two tracks of music that was fed to the microphones near the orchestra and two tracks picked up by microphones placed out in the hall itself-generally toward the rear. These four channels of music are recorded onto a tape and reproduced by means of a tape player that is equipped to pick up the four channels of music and send them through four amplifiers to four speakers, as shown in Fig. 15.4.

In this way, the ...