Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Four-channel records arrived with three incompatible ways of decoding them. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a music fact?

Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Quadraphonic sound collapsed after a format war

Four-channel records arrived with three incompatible ways of decoding them Quadraphonic releases split the music across four speakers, front and rear, but the SQ, QS and CD-4 systems could not play each other's discs. Buyers could not tell which records would work with which decoder, and each system needed extra hardware. By the late 1970s the whole idea had folded. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Technology trivia

More facts like this

Surround sound adds channels behind the listenerFive point one means three front channels, two rear and a bass channel Dolby Digital brought 5.1 surround to cinemasBatman Returns carried the first six-channel digital film prints in 1992 Philips launched the compact cassette in 1963The tiny tape format was designed for dictation rather than for music RCA's seven-inch single spun at 45 rpmThe 1949 format had a wide centre hole so automatic changers could grip it Flat discs beat cylindersEmile Berliner's gramophone made records cheap to press and stack Early records turned at about 78 revolutions a minuteThe figure was never exact, and it varied between companies

Tags: surround, quadraphonic, formats

Quadraphonic sound collapsed after a format war: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Four-channel records arrived with three incompatible ways of decoding them. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a music fact?: Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.