The surround sound options

Introduction

6

The 541 Surround Controller provides a sophisticated range of audio and video control options, and even if you have no immediate plans for surround sound it is an ideal choice as a conventional two-channel preamplifier.

However, the 541 Surround Controller really comes into its own as the heart of a full surround system. It accepts a conventional two-channel source, such as music on compact disc, or a video soundtrack, and processes it to create between three and six separate output channels designed to be fed to an array of correctly-positioned loudspeakers.

The surround controller provides several signal processing options, called presets, designed to provide the best results with a range of different types of music and cinema material. This section gives information about each of the presets, and gives recommendations for the preset to choose for different types of material.

In addition to selecting built-in presets, the 541 Surround Controller allows you to create your own presets based on the standard ones. For example, you may want to add more delay to the rear loudspeakers to create a more spacious sound. You can store your modified preset with a name of your choice, and recall it for use at a later date.

For more information see Defining your own presets, page 24.

The 541 Surround Controller provides two categories of presets: cinema and music, and these are described in the following sections.