Polk Audio RMDS-1 About Surround Sound, On the display Listening to Material is These sources

ABOUT SURROUND SOUND

The RMDS-1 system offers four modes of operation: Stereo, Dolby Pro Logic, 2 channel Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. You might wonder, “what is 2 channel Dolby Digital? Isn’t Dolby Digital always 5.1 surround?” The answer is no. Dolby Digital is a digital audio compression system that provides very high fidelity sound quality in either 2 or 6 channels. (The six channels are Left and Right front, Center, Left and Right rear and a Low Frequency Effects channel, or 5.1). The vast majority of Dolby Digital program materials are 5.1 multi-channel recordings. Most DVDs have both 2 channel and 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtracks. In most cases the default soundtrack is the 2 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack and you must manually select the 5.1 channel soundtrack via the DVD’s menu (see your DVD player’s manual for instructions). But some DVDs only have a 2 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack permitting only Dolby Pro Logic surround sound.

You can use the Pro Logic mode with stereo sources such as radio, CD, and tape to get very good surround sound, even though those sources are not Dolby Surround encoded. Dolby Surround encoding is compatible with stereo and mono playback, so conventional stereo programs sound similar to surround encoded program when played with the Pro Logic surround mode engaged. You may want to leave the RMDS-1 in the surround mode all the time.

The chart below shows which modes are possible with which inputs, and how to tell which mode you are in by looking at the front panel display.

When you see this				That means you are	And your program	That can be delivered by
on the display:				listening to:	material is:	these sources:
	DD	DD DIGITAL		Stereo	2 channel Dolby Digital	DVD, DSS satellite TV (only with
2/0						special Dolby Digital equipped
						satellite receivers), Digital TV
						broadcasts (future)
	DD	DD DIGITAL	PRO LOGIC	Pro Logic Surround	2 channel Dolby Digital	DVD, DSS satellite TV (only with
2/1						special Dolby Digital equipped
						satellite receivers), Digital TV
						broadcasts (future)
				Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround	5.1 channel Dolby Digital	Most DVDs, some 12" laserdiscs,
	DD	DD DIGITAL
3/2.1						Digital TV broadcasts (future)
				Stereo	2 channel Dolby Surround	Most Hi-Fi video tapes, some TV
	STEREO
					(Pro Logic) encoded	broadcasts
				Pro Logic Surround	2 channel Dolby Surround	Most Hi-Fi video tapes, some TV
	PRO LOGIC
					(Pro Logic) encoded	broadcasts
	STEREO			Stereo	2 channel stereo	FM radio stations, CDs, LP records,
						most TV broadcasts
	PRO LOGIC			Pro Logic Surround	2 channel stereo	FM radio stations, CDs, LP records,
						most TV broadcasts

The RMDS-1 is manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. “Dolby,” “AC-3,” and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation.

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