About Amplifier Power
• For Dolby Surround-encoded
program material, Dolby Labora-
tories recommends the
combined
amplifier power for both sur-
round speakers need be only
one-half that provided for
one
main front channel (there’s no
harm in having more).
• Dolby Digital (AC-3) systems can
justify more power to the rear
left and rear right channels.
• The power needed varies signifi-
cantly with such factors as the
size of the listening room, its
acoustics and furnishings, the
type of music you listen to, and
how loud you like it to play.
•
The Surround 5.1
can be used
safely to play music with the
most powerful amplifiers and
receivers designed for home
listening. We suggest that
The
Surround II 5.1
speakers be
used with amplifiers rated at 50
watts per speaker or less. Most
Pro Logic amplifiers (not Dolby
Digital amplifiers) cite only the
combined power sent to
both
rear speakers. However, use
common sense to prevent strong
non-musical transients; keep
the volume down when connect-
ing or disconnecting compo-
nents, raising or lowering a
turntable’s tonearm, and so on.
This will help protect your ears
as well as the speaker units.
Surround Configuration Options
Surround sound processors may
provide configuration choices for the
user. Use the following guidelines to
set them.
Dolby Surround
with Pro Logic
There are no configuration
options for the surround outputs.
Dolby Digital (AC-3)
Your choices for the Left and Right
rear channels in a Dolby Digital
system are typically
LARGE
,
SMALL
, and
OFF
. Always set
The
Surround 5.1
and
The Surround II
5.1
to the “
SMALL
” setting. This
setting will prevent very low-
frequency bass sound from being
sent to the rear channels. This, in
turn, will allow your surround
speakers to sound their best at high
output levels. No useful low-
frequency output will be lost by
this choice.
Other surround
sound systems
(DTS, DSP devices)
Choose a setting that reduces low-
frequency content sent to the rear
speakers below 100 Hz. Wall-
mounted compact speakers (like
surround speakers) cannot pro-
duce enough output in this fre-
quency range to be audible com-
pared to larger front speakers.
Sending low-bass information to
these speakers results in higher
distortion with no benefit to
directivity or output.
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