What is the difference between Mono, 2 Channel, 4 Channel and 5.1 Digital Sound?
In Mono, the original sound is picked up by one ( or more ) microphone(s). Only one signal is recorded, regardless the number of microphones that have been used, i.e. only one signal is involved in the playback stage. Disc phonographs, television, motion picture and radio all use monophonic system. 2 Channel encodes a left and right signal (this is refered to as stereo sound). 4 Channel sound is refered to as Dolby Surround. Dolby Surround encodes four sound channels (left, center, right, surround) onto the two tracks of any conventional stereo program source. Dolby Digital provides five full bandwidth channels, front left, front right, center, surround left, and surround right, for true surround sound quality. A low frequency effect (LFE) channel is included that provides the sound needed for special effects and action sequences in movies. The LFE channel is one-tenth of the bandwidth of the other channels and is sometimes erroneously called the subwoofer channel. This multichannel sc
