Additional information
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THX Cinema processing
THX is an exclusive set of standards and technologies established by
THX Ltd. THX grew from George Lucas’ personal desire to make your
experience of the film soundtrack, in both movie theatres and in your
home theatre, as faithful as possible to what the director intended.
Movie soundtracks are mixed in special movie theatres called
dubbing stages and are designed to be played back in movie theatres
with similar equipment and conditions. This same soundtrack is then
transferred directly onto Laserdisc, VHS tape, DVD, etc., and is not
changed for playback in a small home theatre environment. THX
engineers developed patented technologies to accurately translate
the sound from the movie theatre environment into the home,
correcting the tonal and spatial errors that occur. On this product,
when the THX indicator is on, THX features are automatically added
in Cinema modes (e.g. THX Cinema, THX Surround EX).
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Re-Equalization
The tonal balance of a film soundtrack will be excessively bright and
harsh when played back over audio equipment in the home because
film soundtracks were designed to be played back in large movie
theaters using very different professional equipment. Re-Equalization
restores the correct tonal balance for watching a movie soundtrack in
a small home environment.
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Timbre Matching
The human ear changes our perception of a sound depending on the
direction from which the sound is coming. In a movie theatre, there is
an array of surround speakers so that the surround information is all
around you. In a home theatre, you use only two speakers located to the
side of your head. The Timbre Matching feature filters the information
going to the surround speakers so that they more closely match the
tonal characteristics of the sound coming from the front speakers. This
ensures seamless panning between the front and surround speakers.
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Adaptive Decorrelation
In a movie theatre, a large number of surround speakers help create
an enveloping surround sound experience, but in a home theatre
there are usually only two speakers. This can make the surround
speakers sound like headphones that lack spaciousness and
envelopment. The surround sounds will also collapse into the closest
speaker as you move away from the middle seating position. Adaptive
Decorrelation slightly changes one surround channel’s time and
phase relationship with respect to the other surround channel. This
expands the listening position and creates—with only two speakers—
the same spacious surround experience as in a movie theatre.
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THX Ultra2 Plus
Before any home theatre component can be THX Ultra2 Plus certified,
it must incorporate all the features above and also pass a rigorous
series of quality and performance tests. Only then can a product
feature the THX Ultra2 Plus logo, which is your guarantee that the
Home Theatre products you purchase will give you superb
performance for many years to come. THX Ultra2 Plus requirements
cover every aspect of the product including pre-amplifier and power
amplifier performance and operation, and hundreds of other
parameters in both the digital and analog domain.
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THX Select2 Plus
Before any home theatre component can be THX Select2 Plus
certified, it must incorporate all the features above and also pass a
rigorous series of quality and performance tests. Only then can a
product feature the THX Select2 Plus logo, which is your guarantee
that the Home Theatre products you purchase will give you superb
performance for many years to come. THX Select2 Plus requirements
cover every aspect of the product including pre-amplifier and power
amplifier performance and operation, and hundreds of other
parameters in both the digital and analog domain.
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THX Surround EX
THX Surround EX - Dolby Digital Surround EX is a joint development
of Dolby Laboratories and the THX Ltd. In a movie theater, film
soundtracks that have been encoded with Dolby Digital Surround EX
technology are able to reproduce an extra channel which has been
added during the mixing of the program. This channel, called
Surround Back, places sounds behind the listener in addition to the
currently available front left, front center, front right, surround right,
surround left and subwoofer channels. This additional channel
provides the opportunity for more detailed imaging behind the
listener and brings more depth, spacious ambience and sound
localization than ever before. Movies that were created using the
Dolby Digital Surround EX technology, when released into the home
consumer market may exhibit wording to that effect on the
packaging. A list of movies created using this technology can be
found on the Dolby web site at www.dolby.com.
Only amplifier and controller products bearing the THX Surround EX
logo, when in the THX Surround EX mode, faithfully reproduce this
new technology in the home.
This product may also engage the “THX Surround EX” mode during
the playback of 5.1 channel material that is not Dolby Digital
Surround EX encoded. In such case the information delivered to the
Surround Back channel will be program dependent and may or may
not be very pleasing depending on the particular soundtrack and the
tastes of the individual listener.
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Advanced Speaker Array (ASA)
ASA is a proprietary THX technology which processes the sound fed
to 2 side and 2 back surround speakers to provide the optimal
surround sound experience. When you set up your home theater
system using all eight speaker outputs (Left, Center, Right, Surround
Right, Surround Back Right, Surround Back Left, Surround Left and
Subwoofer) placing the two Surround Back speakers close together
facing the front of the room will provide the largest sweet spot. If for
practical reasons you have to place the Surround Back speakers
apart, you will need to go THX Audio Set-up screen and choose the
setting that most closely corresponds to the speaker spacing, which
will re-optimize the surround sound-field.
ASA is used in three new modes; THX Ultra2/Select2 CINEMA, THX
Ultra2/Select2 MUSIC and THX Ultra2/Select2 GAMES.
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Boundary Gain Compensation™
Depending on the listener’s and the subwoofer’s position, the listener
may experience an excessive bass effect. This feature compensates
for excessive bass resulting from a boundary gain effect. This feature
is designed to operate when used with a subwoofer certified to THX
Ultra2/Select2™ specifications.
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THX Music
For the replay of multi-channel music the THX MusicMode should be
selected. In this mode THX ASA processing is applied to the surround
channels of all 5.1 encoded music sources such as DTS, Dolby Digital
and DVD-Audio to provide a wide stable rear soundstage.
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THX Games
For the replay of stereo and multi-channel game audio the THX
Games Mode should be selected. In this mode THX ASA processing
is applied to the surround channels of all 5.1 and 2.0 encoded game
sources such as analog, PCM, DTS and Dolby Digital. This accurately
places all game audio surround information, providing a full 360
degree playback environment. THX Games Mode is unique as it gives
you a smooth transition of audio in all points of the surround field.
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