Quadraphonic sound

Quadraphonic (or Quadrophonic and sometimes Quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for the reproduction of sound signals that are (wholly or in part) independent of one another.

A 4 channel quadraphonic diagram showing the placement of speakers

Four channel surround sound can be used to recreate the realistic effect of a three-dimensional live concert hall experience. It can also be used to enhance the listener experience beyond the directional limitations of two channel stereo sound. Quadraphonic audio was the earliest consumer product in surround sound. Since it was introduced to the public in the early 1970s many thousands of quadraphonic recordings have been made.

Quadraphonic sound was a commercial failure when first introduced due to a variety of technical issues and format incompatibilities. Four channel audio formats can be more expensive to produce than standard two-channel stereo. Playback requires additional speakers and amplifier channels. It may also require specially designed decoding equipment.

The introduction of home cinema products in the 1990s were first intended for movie sound, but also brought multi-channel music reproduction into popularity again. By this time new digitally based formats had been created. Many four channel recordings from the 1970s have been reissued in modern surround sound systems such as Super Audio CD, DTS, Dolby Digital, DVD-Audio and Blu-ray. Multichannel home audio reproduction has experienced a revival since 2000 and new four channel recordings have also been released to the public since this time.

A quadraphonic system will reproduce left front, left rear, right front, and right rear audio signals in each of four separate speakers. Reproduction in the rear speakers should be of the same quality or almost the same quality as the front speakers. Ideally, it is preferred to use four identical speakers.

History

The first machines used for 4-channel sound recording were reel-to-reel tape recorders. These were developed in the 1950s in Germany by Telefunken and by Ampex in the United States. Machines appeared in some European electronic-music studios by 1954,[1] an early example was the tape part of Karlheinz Stockhausen's piece, Kontakte (1958–60). [2] However, while four channel technology was used for this recording in the studio, it was never released to the public in quadraphonic sound, only in stereo.

Early attempts to reproduce four channel sound for home playback began with audio laboratory engineers in the 1960s. These experiments all used analog recording technologies. A small number of quadraphonic recordings were introduced to the American consumer market by the Vanguard Recording Society in June 1969 on reel-to-real tape. The most popular medium used to market recordings to the public during the 1970s was the vinyl LP phonograph record.

In the 1970s specialized hardware systems were marketed by major electronic manufacturers to the public for decoding 4-channel recordings. Today, software can be used to take the place of hardware decoding. Modern software algorithms are capable of a higher level of decoding performance than the earlier hardware versions.

Many quadraphonic recordings in the 1970s used "matrix" technologies to encode and decode 4-channels of audio information in a 2-channel medium. Today, more sophisticated "discreet" systems have replaced matrix technologies, while providing a higher level of performance and full channel independence.

All of the systems in common use today and are digital recording systems. Digital multichannel audio has been available for the home starting with the introduction of surround sound movies using Dolby Digital and DTS in the 1990s. The most common digital media capable of reproducing surround sound music today are Super Audio CD, DVD, and Blu-ray. All of these are capable of playing high-resolution audio with multiple channels.

LP phonograph records

Quadraphonic audio reproduction on vinyl phonograph records was problematic. As technologies advanced rapidly during the 1970s several different solutions were proposed to reproduce 4 channel sound from LPs. Some of these systems were much more successful than others. The simplest systems were "derived" (2-2-4) formats. These were soon followed by much more sophisticated "matrix" (4-2-4) formats, and finally, by the most advanced "discrete" (4-4-4) formats.

Derived (2-2-4) formats

Derived (2-2-4) formats are simple and inexpensive electronic solutions that add or extract rear "ambience" or "reverberation" sound channels from stereo records. There is no precise placement of individual instruments in the rear channels.[3]

Matrix (4-2-4) formats

With matrix formats four channels are converted (encoded) down to two channels. These are then passed through a two-channel transmission medium (usually an LP record) before being decoded to four channels and presented to four speakers. To transmit four individual audio signals in a stereo-compatible manner, there must be four simultaneous linear equations to reproduce the original four audio signals at the output.

These systems used matrix decoding technology to recover four channels from the two channels recorded on the record. Matrix systems can have a significant level of channel independence but not full channel separation.

Matrix quadraphonic recordings can be played in two channels on conventional stereo record players. There are varying levels of stereo and mono compatibility in these systems. The term compatible indicates that:

  1. A single-channel (mono) system will reproduce all four audio signals in its one speaker.
  2. two-channel (stereo) system will reproduce the left front and left rear audio signals in the left speaker and the right front and right rear signals in the right speaker.

This 4:2:4 process could not be accomplished without some information loss. That is to say, the four channels produced at the final stage were not truly identical to those with which the process had begun. In order for the effect to work as intended a recording engineer needed to be specially trained for working in each of these formats. Special mixing rules for matrix recording minimize the technological limitations inherent in matrix formats and mask or eliminate undesired side effects.

EV-4/Stereo-4 and Dynaquad (DY)

The first of these were basic systems with poor performance developed by Electro-Voice (EV-4/Stereo-4) and Dynaco (Dynaquad (DY)). A so-called matrix format, it utilized four sound channels which were "encoded" into two stereo album tracks. These were then "decoded" into the original four sound channels, but with poor decode performance which failed to match the discrete formats.

The original systems (DY and EV-4) were basic and suffered from low front left-right separation (around 12 dB) and a poor rear left-right separation of 2 dB. The decoders were designed more to give an effect rather than accurate decoding, which was mainly due to limitations in both systems. Since both systems were very closely related mathematically, users only needed one decoder of either system to playback albums of both systems.

The relatively poor decode performance of these early matrix formats was the main reason for their disappearance once improved matrix systems arrived. The new systems were based on work by Peter Scheiber. His basic formula utilized 90° phase-shift circuitry to enable enhanced 4-2-4 matrix systems to be developed, of which the two main leaders were Columbia's SQ and Sansui's QS Systems. With Scheiber and Martin Willcocks, Jim Fosgate developed the Tate II 101 SQ decoder, which produced a very accurate sound field by using gain riding and the Haas effect to mask decoding artifacts. It used custom, hand-assembled and ‑calibrated circuitry with components sorted to 1%, for exact performance. Sansui's QSD-series decoders and QRX-series receivers were very good, even synthesizing left-right stereo into a ⋂ horseshoe topology. However, all these came too late in the game and were too expensive or difficult to procure for public purchase, to rescue matrix quad.

The differences between the early and late matrix systems were so vast, it made decoding DY/EV-4 with either SQ or QS decoders with any accuracy, impossible; the results often being a "smeared" or poorly defined sound stage, which could be vastly different from what was intended by the recording engineer.[4][5]

QS Regular Matrix and SQ Quadraphonic
Sansui QS sound decoder

Improved systems based on Peter Scheiber's work on utilizing 90-degree phase-shift circuitry came later, namely the QS and SQ systems.

The first of these, known as QS, was developed by Sansui Electric. A so-called matrix format, it utilized 4 sound channels, which were "encoded" into two stereo album tracks. These were then "decoded" into the original four sound channels. The QS system debuted in the United States in March 1971 and was improved by their Vario-Matrix system in 1973.

The second, SQ, was developed and marketed by Columbia Records and Sony and entered the US market in April 1971. The SQ format was also used by companies such as EMI in Great Britain, who pressed several SQ album releases. The sound separation of the SQ system was greatly improved by the introduction of SQ Full Logic decoding in 1975 using the Motorola chips MC1312, MC1314 & MC1315.

Both SQ and QS had significant support from major record companies and hardware manufacturers during the 1970s. They also achieved notable sales and market penetration. Unfortunately, due to the similarities in name and technology these could easily be confused by the public.

Discrete (4-4-4) formats

Discrete reproduction describes a quadraphonic system in which all four channels are fully independent of each other. 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.

Discrete phonograph systems use a specialized demodulator to decode four fully independent sound channels. This allowed for full channel separation. Such systems were initially prone to reduced record life. However, more durable vinyl formulations were quickly developed to work around this problem and nearly all discreet LPs use special vinyl. Discreet quadraphonic LP recordings can be played in two channels on conventional stereo record players.

CD-4 or Quadradisc
An RCA Quadradisc record

The third major format for four-channel vinyl LPs, known as CD-4 or Quadradisc, was devised by the Japanese JVC Corporation along with its US counterpart RCA Records.

This quadraphonic format was first marketed in the United States in May 1972. A fully discrete system, it eschewed the previous matrix systems in favor of a more complex method of four-channel reproduction. It encoded surround information in ultrasonic sound above 20 kHz, requiring a special cartridge with a Shibata stylus, then used its own demodulator to retrieve the original 4-channel sound field.

UD-4 / UMX / BMX

UD-4/UMX was developed by Nippon/Columbia (Denon). This is a hybrid discrete/matrix system. Only 35 to 40 items are encoded in this format and it was marketed only in the UK, Europe, and Japan.

The short-lived system suffered from incompatibility with regular stereo playback due to phase differences between the left and right channels.[6] UD-4 was less critical in its setup than CD-4 because the carriers did not have to handle frequencies as high as those found in the CD-4 system.[7]

Tape formats

Quadraphonic systems based on tape were also introduced, based on new equipment capable of playing four discrete channels. These recordings are all discrete 4-4-4 recordings released in reel-to-reel and 8-track cartridge formats. Specially designed four channel machines were required to play these recordings. They are not compatible with stereo players.

Quadraphonic open reel tape (Q4)
A four-channel reel-to-reel tape unit from the 1970s, one of the few ways to achieve discreet four-channel sound at home

In these systems all four available tracks were used in one direction on the tape, running at twice the speed of the regular four-track reel-to-reel tapes.[8]

Quadraphonic 8-Track Tape (Quad-8 and Q8)

RCA Records followed, in April 1970, with its announcement of a four-channel version of the 8-track tape, named Quad-8 or Quadraphonic 8-Track Tape (later shortened to just Q8). These eventually appeared in Sept. 1970.[9] There were automobile players as well as home versions.

The format was almost identical in appearance to stereo 8-tracks, except for a small sensing notch in the upper left corner of the cartridge. This signaled a quadraphonic 8-track player to combine the odd tracks as audio channels for program 1, and the even tracks as channels for program 2. The format was not backward-compatible with stereo or mono players; although quadraphonic players would play stereo 8-tracks, playing quadraphonic tapes on stereo players resulted in hearing only one-half the channels at a time.

The last release in the quadraphonic 8-track format was in 1978, although most had stopped appearing by the end of 1976.

Radio broadcast formats

There were some experiments done with radio broadcasts (e.g., a Cliff Richard concert by the BBC,[10][11] whose earliest quadraphonic broadcast was in July 1974[12]), but they were short-lived.

One radio series, Double Exposure, was briefly syndicated throughout the United States to various FM stations; it was made up of jazz, rock and pop music which had been commercially released in one of the quadraphonic record or tape systems.

One of the longest-lived radio broadcasts was WQSR-FM "Quad 102½" in Sarasota, Florida.[13] Throughout most of the 1970s this station broadcast a signal which could be tuned as two separate stations with conventional stereo receivers.

San Francisco classical music station KKHI-FM broadcast the San Francisco Opera in "compatible" (that is, matrix-encoded) quadraphonic format during the 1970s,[14] as did Chicago station WFMT's live "Chicago Lyric Opera" broadcasts.

KRMH-FM ("Good Karma Radio")(San Marcos/Austin, Texas) broadcast in "Quad Stereo" in the early 1970s from its studios and transmitter near Buda, Texas.

KEXL-FM ("KEXL 104.5") (San Antonio, Texas) broadcast in "Quadraphonic" in the early to mid 1970s from its studios in a high-rise office building off Main Plaza.[15]

Sacramento station KWOD 106.5, named after the format, broadcast briefly beginning in 1977.

Regional station of Polskie Radio in Wroclaw had two experimental broadcasts a week at the end of the 1970.

Matrix H
Ambisonic mixing equipment

Matrix H was developed by BBC engineers in 1977 to carry quadraphonic sound via FM radio in a way which would be most compatible with existing mono and stereo receivers.[16]

Quadraphonic test programmes were made for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, including plays and The Proms.[17]

The existing matrix formats were tested first. The "H" has no meaning; they called the first matrix assessed Matrix A, and then worked through the alphabet.[18][19] Matrix H emerged as the best solution for mono compatibility and radio transmission,[20] yet there was no specific commercially available decoder for it.

The BBC later cooperated with the developers of Ambisonics to produce BBC/NRDC System HJ. This was based on tolerance zones designed to include modified versions of both Matrix H and the prototype two-channel encoding of Ambisonics, known as System 45J. Subsequently, the Nippon-Columbia UMX matrix was brought into the standard, leading to the final UHJ name now associated with Ambisonics.[21]

Universal SQ

In 1976, Ben Bauer integrated matrix and discrete systems into USQ, or Universal SQ (others had also done this with their quad systems).

It was a hierarchical 4-4-4 discrete matrix which used the SQ matrix as the baseband for discrete quadraphonic FM broadcasts using additional difference signals called "T" and "Q". For a USQ FM broadcast, the additional "T" modulation was placed at 38 kHz in quadrature to the standard stereo difference signal and the "Q" modulation was placed on a carrier at 76 kHz.

For standard two-channel SQ Matrix broadcasts, CBS recommended that an optional pilot-tone be placed at 19 kHz in quadrature to the regular pilot-tone to indicate SQ encoded signals and activate the listener's logic decoder. CBS argued that the SQ system should be selected as the standard for quadraphonic FM because, in FCC listening tests of the various four-channel broadcast proposals, the 4:2:4 SQ system, decoded with a CBS Paramatrix decoder, outperformed 4:3:4 (without logic) as well as all other 4:2:4 (with logic) systems tested, approaching the performance of a discrete master tape within a very slight margin. At the same time, the SQ "fold" to stereo and mono was preferred to the stereo and mono "fold" of 4:4:4, 4:3:4 and all other 4:2:4 encoding systems.

Live concerts
Azimuth Co-ordinator used by Pink Floyd, made by Bernard Speight, 1969 (Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

In 1967 the rock group Pink Floyd performed the first-ever surround-sound rock concert at “Games for May”, a lavish affair at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, where the band debuted its custom-made quadraphonic speaker system.[22] The control device they had made, the Azimuth Co-ordinator, is now displayed at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, as part of their Theatre Collections gallery.[23]

Format comparisons

In 1976, Mike Thorne created the vinyl album Quadrafile, with the same music recorded on all four sides, but in four different quadraphonic formats (QS, SQ, CD-4, and UD-4).

See also

References
  1. Cross, Lowell, "Electronic Music, 1948–1953", Perspectives of New Music 7, no. 1 (Autumn–Winter, 1968): 32–65. Citation on 50–51.
  2. http://www.obsoletemedia.org/quadraphonic-open-reel-tape/
  3. Popular Science, p. 86, at Google Books
  4. Scheiber, Peter (December 1969). "Toward a More Accurate Spatial Environment". Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. AES. 17 (6): 690, 691.
  5. Scheiber, Peter (November 1971). "Analyzing Phase-Amplitude Matrices". Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. AES. 19 (10): 835–839.
  6. Cooper, Duane. "THE UD-4 SYSTEM". HI-FI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW - MARCH 1975. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  7. Cooper, Duane H.; Shiga, Takeo (June 1972). "Discrete-Matrix Multichannel Stereo" (PDF). Journal of the Audio Engineering Society. AES. 20 (5): 346–360. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  8. http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?1929-The-Official-Factory-Made-Reel-to-Reel-Tape-Thread&s=277907ddc0421c90b538c564d5d4f18f
  9. http://www.ladydairhean.0catch.com/Axl/Guides/MFG2.htm
  10. "Cliff Richard". BBC Genome at BBC Online. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  11. "Cliff Richard". BBC Genome at BBC Online. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  12. "BBC in quad". BBC Genome at BBC Online. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  13. Radio Years.com
  14. Dunn, Bernice (March 17, 1973). ""Opera Concertante" at Mondavi's". Napa Valley Register. p. 7D. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  15. "KEXL 104.5". Archived from the original on October 13, 2016.
  16. "Quadraphonic Sound". Archived from the original on 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2014-09-21.
  17. Ratcliff, P.A.; Meares, D.J. (May 1977). "BBC Matrix H: Compatible system for broadcasting". Wireless World: 41–45.
  18. Crompton, T.W.J. (November 1974). "The subjective performance of various quadraphonic matrix systems" (PDF). BBC Research Department Report 1974/29.
  19. Gaskell, P.S.; Ratliff, P.A. (February 1977). "Quadraphony: Developments in Matrix H decoding" (PDF). BBC Research Department Report 1977/2. 77: 22306. Bibcode:1977STIN...7722306G.
  20. Quadraphonic Systems
  21. N.R.D.C. Ambisonic Technology (22 November 1977). "Encoding Standards for NRDC Universal HJ Surround-Sound Encoding System: "System UHJ"" (NRDC/FCC 2). National Research Development Corporation. NRDC/FCC 2. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  22. Wired, May 12, 1967: Pink Floyd Astounds With ‘Sound in the Round’, May 12, 2009
  23. "pink floyd". Archived from the original on 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
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