The quadraphonic system, widely used in the 70s and which no longer exists today, consisted of four microphones each coupled to its respective amplifier and loudspeaker in the shape of a geometric figure (square). The way the speakers were distributed was as follows: left-front, right-front, left-rear and right-rear. Similarly, the speakers had a direct signal and the rear ones with an envelope.
Today, although there is no quadraphonic system, the 4.0 surround system is very similar. This now defunct system was a commercial failure, as it presented technical problems, both in its implementation and in its incompatibility of formats. This happened because reproducing a quadraphonic system in a stereo one was much more expensive.
It was in the mid-60s that stereo technology began on what already existed at that time, which was monophony. Like any product, if it is not renewed, it disappears, in the 70s mono players stopped coming out and users began to look for something different, being quadraphonic reproduction the new system that set the trend.
For a quadraphonic system to work, it is necessary that the two rear speakers have the same size or quality, the same happens with the frequency range of the front speakers. Perhaps the biggest problem was portability from the studio to the end consumer. Since, while magnetic tapes could increase the capacity of the recording tracks to several channels very easily, in the case of vinyl this became a little more complicated, given that the number of channels had to be doubled inside. of the furrow.
La grabación de cuatro canales en una cinta magnética tenía además la limitación de poder ser reproducida en una sola dirección. Debido a estos problemas, se insistió en sistemas cuadrafónicos, ya sea creando sistemas matriciales o derivados.
