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Bass Management - Dolby Digital and DTS formats contain up to 5 full range chann els plus LF E. Onl y a system
with five full-range (large) speakers plus a subwoofer can directly repro duce these formats . However, almost all
commercially available center channel speakers are small and incapa ble of reproducing the lowest bass
frequencies without distortion or even damage to the speaker. Many people als o us e sm all speakers in the rear of
their system, while others use small speakers all around. Us e of a subwoofer is almost mandatory when using five
small speakers, but people with at least two large speakers may or may not choose to use a subwoofer . Some
people may not use a center channel or surround speakers at all. In order to handle any possible c ombinati on of
large, small, or missing speakers, a home theater system must contain good bass m anagement, a conce pt often
missing from two-piece systems where the Dolby Digital or DTS dec oder is separate from the preamp. Your
processor contains a complete bass management system. You can use as few as two large f ront left and right
speakers or two small left and right speakers plus a subwoofer or as many as seven f ull range speakers plus a
subwoofer or any combination in between without missing any inf ormation. Wherever small speakers are used the
bass management system prevents low bass information from going to that speaker (“high pass”). This bass
information is rerouted to a speaker that can handle it, usually a subwoofer, but it can als o sen d center, s urro und,
or LFE bass to large front speakers if no subwoofer is available. W hen c enter or sur round speak ers are not used
at all, the missing channel is sent (“down mixed”) to the front speak ers.
Preamp - A preamp typically includes the capability to select fr om a number of s ources , adjust v olum e leve ls and
route the data to an amplifier. Your processor includes a high quality pream p.
Processor - A processor typically includes the capability to decode one or more surround form ats, and convert
between digital and analog as required. Your A/V system c ontroller includes a hi gh quality processor capable of
decoding the surround formats described above.
Zone - A zone is usually a room that has speakers installed in it. Your pr oc ess or i nclud es a f ul l pr eamp/processor
for Zone 1 (A) plus an additional analog stereo preamp for Zone 2 (B). This allows, for example, watching a Dolby
Digital movie in zone one while simultaneously using the built- in AM/FM tuner in another room.
Amplifier - An amplifier takes the output of a preamp/processor and incr eases it s level to that nec essar y to drive
a speaker.
Speakers - A surround sound system use to typically use 5 speak ers located left front, center front, right front,
right surround, and left surround plus a subwoofer located anywhere in the room. W ith the new deve lopments in
surround technology from companies such as Dolby Laboratories, DTS, an d Lucasfilm, it is now possible to
improve spatial expressions with an additional channel of i nform ation for use with a 6 th and/ or 7th sur round bac k
speaker. Although best results are achieved using seven large s peakers plus a subwoofer, this is not always
practical. Excellent results can be achieved using small and /or f ewer sp eak ers , as long as you go t hrou gh th e set
up procedures described later in the manual. Your processor includes the capab ility of reproducing up to 6.1
channels of surround information.
Component video vs. S-video vs. Composite video - Composite video is the oldest standard for color video. It
combines the luminance (brightness or black-and-white) and chrominance (color) infor mation onto a single
conductor. These signals must be separated again for display resulting in some degradat ion of the video qua lity.
S-video is a newer standard that uses separate conductors for the luminance (Y) and chrom inance (C)
information resulting in better video quality. Component video is the newest form of video introduced with DVD.
This video format uses separate conductors for luminance (Y), red - lum inance (R - Y), and b lue - lum inance ( B -
Y). Using these signals a component video capable monitor al lows for even better and higher resolution video
quality. Your processor is capable of switching composite and S-video with no support of component video
signals. Also, you unit cannot convert between video types.