Surround Controls
Automatic Surround Modes
Decoding of digital sources connected to the digital inputs is generally automatic, with detection triggered by a “flag” embedded in the digital recording telling the RSX-1055 what decoding format is required. For example, when Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 channel surround is detected, the RSX-1055 activates the proper decoding, confirmed by a lighted indicator in the front-panel display.
The unit will also detect DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 or DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 discs and activate DTS-ES®Extended Surround decoding. Dolby Digital Surround EX recordings also trigger automatic decoding (although not all of the early Sur- round EX DVDs had the necessary flag and may require manually activating Surround EX decoding). Likewise, a digital input from an HDCD® encoded compact disc, a standard CD, or MP3 player will be auto-detected and prop- erly decoded to 2CH stereo operation.
Rotel XS processing is automatically active in all systems configured with center back speaker(s) and will ensure proper extended surround decoding of all multichannel digital signals, even those that might not otherwise trigger the proper extended surround mode.
In many cases, the RSX-1055 will also recog- nize a digital signal with Dolby Surround en- coding (such as the default soundtrack on many DVDs) and activate Dolby® Pro Logic II® de- coding. Additionally, you can configure a de- fault surround mode for each input using the ON-SCREEN DISPLAY menu system.
NOTE: A digital signal coming into the RSX-1055 will be recognized and properly decoded. However, on a DVD with multiple soundtracks, you must tell the DVD player which one to send to the RSX-1055. For ex- ample, you may need to use the DVD’s menu system to select the Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS
5.1soundtrack rather than the default Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby Surround soundtrack. If in doubt about what type of soundtrack is be- ing sent from the DVD, check the front panel indicator lights on the RSX-1055 to see which type of decoding is activated: Dolby Pro Logic (for Dolby Surround matrix soundtracks), Dolby Digital, or DTS.
17
Manually Selecting
Surround Modes
Four front panel MODE buttons and the SUR+ button on the remote provide manual selec- tion of surround sound settings when you wish to use a surround mode that is not automati- cally detected or, in some cases, when you wish to override an automatic setting.
Manual settings available from the front panel and/or the remote might be used when you want to play:
•standard 2-channel stereo (left/right speak- ers only) – press the 2CH button
•Dolby 3-channel stereo (left/right/center) or Pro Logic II processing of any source material, including material that is not Dolby Surround encoded -- press the Dolby PLII/ 3ST button to toggle to the desired mode.
•6.1, or 7.1-channel Dolby Digital Surround EX surround sound from Dolby Digital 5.1 channel digital sources or from Dolby Digital Surround EX discs that do not trigger au- tomatic decoding – press the Dolby PLII/ 3ST button to toggle to the desired setting while a digital disc is playing.
•Derived 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1-channel surround for music or cinema from 2-channel sources using DTS Neo:6 processing – press the DTS Neo:6 button.
•5-channel or 7-channel stereo from 2-chan- nel sources -- press the DSP button to toggle to the 5CH Stereo or 7CH Stereo setting.
•Four DSP ambience settings simulating concert halls - press the DSP button to toggle to the desired MUSIC effect.
The manual surround sound options are only available for certain source material and sur- round modes. Some discs may automatically activate one of the following surround modes with override options as follows:
•DTS, DTS-ES Matrix 6.1, DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, Dolby Digital, MP3, HDCD (96kHz), and PCM 2-channel (96kHz) digital sig- nals are auto-detected and cannot be over- ridden. However, you can choose to use Dolby Digital Surround EX decoding for any Dolby Digital 5.1 source material.
•HDCD (non 96kHZ) and PCM 2-channel (non 96kHZ) digital signals can be over- ridden to Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby 3-Ste- reo, DTS Neo:6, Music 1 – 4, 5CH Ste- reo, 7CH Stereo, and Stereo.
English
•Dolby Digital 2-channel Stereo can be over- ridden to Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby 3-Ste- reo, and Stereo.
The following topics describe the use of each of the surround mode buttons in greater detail.
2CH Button 
Press this button to activate conventional 2- speaker stereo mode with no surround sound or other processing. This is “pure” stereo, us- ing the front left and front right speakers (with or without subwoofer), with no surround chan- nels and no center channel.
When used with Dolby Digital or DTS source material, the 2CH button engages a downmix feature, combining all of the channels and sending them to the front speakers. The spatial effects of surround sound are lost, but all of the informa- tion on the original recording are preserved.
NOTE: 2CH mode allows you to hear 2-chan- nel stereo recordings in their original format using the analog inputs.
DOLBY PLII/3ST Button 
This button offers two settings for Dolby pro- cessing: Dolby Pro Logic II and Dolby 3-Ste- reo. Press the button once to activate Dolby Pro Logic II (with the last used settings). Press again to toggle to the Dolby 3-Stereo setting. A front-panel display indicator shows the se- lected mode.
Use Dolby 3-Stereo for playback on front and center speakers, but no rear surround. With stereo recordings, it derives a center channel signal. With 5.1 channel recordings, the sur- round channels are mixed into the front speak- ers for a larger, more ambient sound than con- ventional stereo.
Dolby Pro Logic II decodes surround sound from any matrix encoded Dolby Surround 2-chan- nel recording. It also can be used to create ambience in 2-channel musical source mate- rial that is not Dolby Surround encoded.
There are three optional modes for Dolby Pro Logic II decoding:
MUSIC: optimized for music.
CINEMA: optimized for movie soundtracks.
EMULATION: emulates the older Dolby Pro Logic decoder with mono frequency-limited surround channels.
