INTRODUCTION
Thank you for purchasing the Marantz SR-14EX THX/ DTS/Dolby Digital Surround receiver. This remarkable component has been engineered to provide you with many years of home theater enjoyment. Please take a few minutes to read this manual thoroughly before you connect and operate the SR-14EX. As there are a number of connection and configuration options, you are encouraged to discuss your own particular home theater setup with your Marantz A/ V specialist dealer.
DESCRIPTION
THX® is an exclusive set of standards and technologies established by the world-renowned film production company, Lucasfilm Ltd. THX resulted from George Lucas’ desire to reproduce the movie soundtrack as faithfully as possible both in the movie theater and in the home theater.
THX engineers developed patented technologies to accurately translate the sound from a movie theater environment into the home, correcting the tonal and spatial errors that occur.
When the THX mode of the SR-14EX is on, three distinct THX technologies are automatically added:
Re-Equalization-restores the correct tonal balance for watching a movie in a home environment.
These sounds are otherwise mixed to be brighter for a large movie theater. Re-EQ compensates for this and prevents the soundtracks from being overly bright and harsh when played in a home theater.
Timbre Matching-filters the information going to the surround speakers so 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.
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 surround speakers the same spacious surround experience as in a movie theater with multiple surround speakers.
The Marantz SR-14EX was required to pass a rigorous series of quality and performance tests, in addition to incorporating the technologies explained above, in order to be THX Ultra certified by Lucasfilm Ltd.
THX Ultra requirements cover every aspect of performance including pre-amplifier and power amplifier performance and operation, and hundreds of other parameters in both the digital and analog domain. Movies which have been encoded in Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic, stereo and Mono will all benefit from the THX mode when being viewed.
The THX mode should only be activated when watching movies which were originally produced for a movie theater environment.
THX need not be activated for music, movies made especially for TV, or shows such as sports programming, talk shows, etc.
This is because they were originally mixed for a small room environment.
“Lucasfilm®” and “THX®” are registered trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd.
THX Surround EX - Dolby Digital Surround EX is a joint development of Dolby Laboratories and the THX division of Lucasfilm 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 a Dolby Digital Surround EX logo on the packaging.
A list of movies created using this technology can be found on the Dolby web site at
http ://www.dolby.com.
“SURROUND EX ™” is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories. Used under authorization.
Dolby Digital lets you enjoy Digital TV, Digital Satellite as well as DVD, LD software in digital surround, which is the next step above Dolby Pro Logic.
In comparison with Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital can provide separate left surround and right surround channels, for more precise localization of sounds and a more convincing, realistic ambience.
And, with Dolby Digital, all five main channels can be full ranged and a subwoofer can be added to each channel , if desired.
By providing up to 5.1channels of digital audio independently, Dolby Digital lets you enjoy better sound quality and more powerful presence than conventional Dolby Surround.
“Dolby”, “AC-3”, “Pro Logic” and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories.
DTS was introduced in 1994 to provide 5.1 channels of discrete digital audio into home theater systems.
DTS brings you premium quality discrete multi-channel digital sound to both movies and music.
DTS is a multi-channel sound system designed to create full range digital sound reproduction.
The no compromise DTS digital process sets the standard of quality for cinema sound by delivering an exact copy
of the studio master recordings to neighborhood and home theaters. Now, every moviegoer can hear the sound exactly as the moviemaker intended.
DTS can be enjoyed in the home for either movies or music on of DVD’s, LD’s, and CD’s.
“DTS” and “DTS Digital Surround” are trademarks of Digital Theater Systems, Inc.
