Discrete Formats
Discrete reproduction is the only true Quadraphonic system. As its name suggests, with discrete formats the original four audio channels are passed through a four-channel transmission medium and presented to a four-channel reproduction system and fed to four speakers. This is defined as a 4–4–4 system.
To transmit 4 individual audio signals in a compatible manner, there must be four simultaneous linear equations to reproduce the original 4 audio signals at the output. The term 'compatible' indicates that:
(a) A single channel (mono) system will reproduce all four audio signals in its one speaker.
(b) A two-channel (stereo) system will reproduce the Left Front & Left Back audio signals in the Left speaker and the Right Front & Right Back signals in the Right Speaker.
A full, four-channel (Quadraphonic) system will reproduce the Left Front, Left Back, Right Front, and Right Back audio signals in each of four separate speakers. In discrete four channel stereo the rear speakers should be of the same or almost same size or quality and have the same or almost same frequency range as the front speakers.
Read more about this topic: Quadraphonic Sound
Famous quotes containing the word discrete:
“One can describe a landscape in many different words and sentences, but one would not normally cut up a picture of a landscape and rearrange it in different patterns in order to describe it in different ways. Because a photograph is not composed of discrete units strung out in a linear row of meaningful pieces, we do not understand it by looking at one element after another in a set sequence. The photograph is understood in one act of seeing; it is perceived in a gestalt.”
—Joshua Meyrowitz, U.S. educator, media critic. “The Blurring of Public and Private Behaviors,” No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior, Oxford University Press (1985)