Stereo decoder

Stereo decoder board with four transistors ( Telefunken , 1971)

As a stereo decoder is the part of a radio receiver, of that of a stereophonic transmitter broadcast audio signal decoded and as left and right channel to the audio amplifier provides.

Since there are different methods of stereo sound transmission, different stereo decoders are used accordingly:

Analogous procedures

• Pilot tone multiplex method for VHF radio .
• C-QUAM and ISB on medium wave ( AM stereo method) (in USA, Russia, South Africa and Australia, only a few in Europe).

Digital broadcasting

With the advent of digital audio broadcasting ( DAB ), signal compression made it possible to transmit not only two stereo signals but also a surround sound signal (four or five channels) with a reduced bandwidth . The corresponding digital coding methods are designed to be downward compatible, so that a merely stereophonic DAB decoder is able to generate both stereo channels even with a surround sound signal.