Most speakers are designed to sound their best when placed out well away from the walls. This placement usually offers the best imaging and overall performance.
However, this placement is often not practical in multi-purpose rooms that are used for home entertainment. Speakers end up pushed back close to the walls so as to make more room for the people who live in the house. Unfortunately, this change in placement reinforces frequencies from the mid-bass down to the deepest bass. While few people would object to having a little extra deep bass, the boosted mid-bass makes male vocals sound “chesty,” “congested” or “boomy.”
The LCD touchscreen on the front panel of your new component supports an extremely flexible and versatile graphical user interface (GUI) while maintaining a clean, uncluttered appearance. The SSP-600 provides a range of controls that might otherwise require dozens of buttons and knobs on the front panel. Despite this power and flexibility, it remains simple to operate in day-to-day use.
In fact, in some ways it is even simpler to operate than a more conventional design might be. For example, if you are not using one or more of the inputs on your SSP-600, you can delete the unnecessary buttons from the operational menu. Doing so prevents anyone from trying to select a nonexistent source component, with the resulting confusion stemming from the lack of any sound. (Of course, you can easily restore the button if you subsequently add another source component and need that input.)
The volume control on your new Classé surround processor is controlled by sophisticated software that allows you to fine-tune its response to suit your preferences.
Ideally, a volume control would allow you to reach the volume you desire quickly, and would also provide extremely fine control once you are close to the “perfect” volume. Of course, these characteristics are in conflict with each other: one requires the volume to change by quite a lot for a given amount of turning of the knob, while the other requires small, incremental changes for the same turn of the knob.
The volume control system on your SSP-600 solves this problem by responding differently based on the specific circumstances (e.g. how quickly you are turning the knob and where in the volume range you are). After extensive testing, we feel we have created factory default settings that most people will find intuitive and a real pleasure to use. However, if you feel you would like to fine-tune its performance further in order to suit your particular preference, you may easily do so.
