AfterDawn: Glossary

In a Surround Sound system with only a single Rear Channel, that Channel will be designated the Surround Channel. There can also be multiple Surround Channels with designations like Left Surround and Right Surround. If there are more than three Rear Channels they may also be given other descriptions, but will still generally have the word Surround in their name.

Sometimes you may also see other channels of a Surround Sound system designated as Surround Channels, but this is technically inaccurate and can lead to confusion, so it's best to only refer to Rear Channels as Surround Channels.

A single Surround Channel is sometimes just referred to as Surround, as in the Channels are Left, Right, Center, and Surround.

The image below shows the position of the Surround Channel in a Dolby Matrix Surround (Dolby Surround or Pro Logic) configuration. Notice that although there's only a single Channel, two speakers are used. Due to the limitations of a single Surround Channel, modern Surround Sound systems always include at least two distinct Surround Channels.