Introduction to the DC-1
DC-1 Digital Controller
The DC-1 also has the ability to create an acoustic environment which is not present on the original recording. Using the Nightclub, Concert Hall, Church and Cathedral effects, you can select the acoustics the digital processor will simulate. Each of these effects has many adjustments to allow you to generate just the right sound for a particular piece of music in your room. In addition, the DC-1 includes the Panorama effect, which cancels the crosstalk between the listener’s ears, and spreads the sound from just two loudspeakers into a wide arc. A listener in the right spot is completely enveloped by the original sound field of the recording.
The Dolby Digital version of the DC-1 opens a whole new world of lateral sound. With AC-3 encoded source material the DC-1 plays 5 discrete channels plus a low frequency effects (LFE) channel as the original sound producer intended – from speakers all around the listener. When 7 speakers are available, the 5.1 Logic 7 effect uses Lexicon matrix technology and delay to differentiate between the side speakers and the rear speakers. The improvement in envelopment over standard 5.1 channel decoding is not subtle. Like Logic 7 for two channel matrix encoded film, we find the 5.1 Logic 7 effect gives the highest standard of 5.1 channel reproduction currently available. Enhancements to Dolby Digital AC-3 are available in the THX 5.1 effect, and some of these are included as parameters in 5.1 Logic
7.The Dolby Digital version of the DC-1 also includes effects for optimally reproducing 5.1 channel encoded music, as well as the original Dolby Digital 5.1 channel effect. The 5.1 Two Channel effect allows material encoded in AC-3 with 5.1 channels to be downmixed to two channels while preserving the encoded surround information. This version can then be played back through a surround effect such as Pro Logic or Logic 7. The DC-1 also provides effects for expanding monaural sources (Mono Logic), general TV viewing (TV Matrix), background music (Party) and, of course, Two Channel stereo playback.
Designed with an eye toward the future, the DC-1’s open architecture allows upgrades via simple modifications which can be performed by any Lexicon dealer. With its blend of performance and flexibility, the DC-1 will deliver the full potential of music and movies for years to come.
About Dolby Digital AC-3 encoding
Because multichannel recordings are made up of so much information, new ways of storing and transmitting it have had to be created. To this end, Dolby Laboratories developed AC-3, a digital audio coding technique on which the Dolby Digital surround format is based.
On a typical compact disc, 16-bit samples are taken 44,100 times per second for each channel, which allows as much as 74 minutes of 2 channel audio on a single CD. However, if a digital recording consists of 6 channels up to two hours in length, storage or transmission becomes impractical due to the immense amount of data. Because of this, new forms of digital audio coding (sometimes referred to as “perceptual coding") have been developed to allow the use of lower data rates with a minimum of perceived degradation of sound quality.
