the disc. To activate the Dolby Digital Surround EX features for these discs (or for standard 5.1 channel Dolby Digital discs), you must manu- ally activate Dolby Surround EX processing.
Dolby Pro Logic IIx
6.1 and 7.1 Channel Surround
The latest technology from Dolby uses advanced matrix decoding for the surround channels in a 6.1 channel or 7.1 channel system. Work- ing with any 2.0 channel or 5.1 channel re- cording, Dolby Pro Logic IIx processing dis- tributes the surround channel information among three or four surround channels, with a Music mode optimized for musical record- ings and a Cinema mode optimized for film soundtracks.
Rotel XS
6.1 and 7.1 Channel Surround
The RSX-1067 also features Rotel XS (eXtra Surround) processing provides extended sur- round performance on 6.1 and 7.1 channel systems. The key benefit of Rotel XS is that it works at all times with all multichannel digi- tal signals, even those that might not otherwise activate Dolby Digital EX or DTS-ES surround decoding for the center back channel(s). Al- ways available when center back speaker(s) are configured in the system setup, Rotel XS decodes the surround channels and distributes the extended surround channels to the center back speaker(s) in a way that tends to create a diffuse surround effect. Rotel XS works with matrix-encoded surround signals (such as non- flagged DTS-ES and Dolby Surround EX discs) as well as digital source material that is not Dolby Surround EX encoded (such as DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, and even Dolby Pro Logic II decoded Dolby Digital 2.0 recordings).
DSP Music Modes
Unlike all of the formats mentioned above, the RSX-1067 offers four surround modes that are not part of a specific recording/playback sys- tem. These modes (MUSIC 1–4) use digital sig- nal processing that adds special acoustic ef- fects to any signal. DSP processing can be used with Dolby Surround recordings, Dolby Digi- tal recordings, CDs, radio broadcasts, or any other source material; however, typically DSP settings would be used with source material for which there is no specific surround decoder.
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The four MUSIC MODES in the RSX-1067 use digital delay and reverberation effects to simu- late progressively larger acoustic environments with MUSIC 1 being the smallest type of venue (such as a jazz club) and MUSIC 4 being a large venue (such as a stadium). Typically used to add ambience and a sense of space when listening to music sources or other sources that lack surround sound encoding.
2Ch/5Ch/7Ch Stereo Formats
The RSX-1067 also provides four modes that disable all surround processing and deliver stereo signals to amplifiers and speakers. There are three options:
2CH Stereo: Turns off the center channel and all surround channels in the system and deliv- ers a conventional 2-channel signal to the front speakers. If the system is configured to route bass signals from the front speakers to the subwoofer, this capability remains in effect.
Analog Bypass: For 2-channel analog in- puts, there is a special stereo mode that by- passes ALL of the RSX-1067’s digital process- ing. The two front speakers receive pure analog stereo full-range signals with no subwoofer crossover, no delay, no level adjustments, and no contour adjustment.
5CH Stereo: Distributes a stereo signal to
5.1channel systems. The left channel signal is sent, unchanged, to the front left and sur- round left speakers. The right channel is sent to the front right and surround right speakers. A mono sum of the two channels is sent to the center channel speaker.
7CH Stereo: This mode is the same as 5CH Stereo described above except that it also distributes stereo signals to center back speaker(s) installed in the system.
Other Digital Formats
Several other digital formats are not surround sound formats at all, but rather systems for digital 2-channel recordings.
PCM 2-channel:This is an uncompressed 2-channel digital signal such as that used for standard CD recordings and some DVD re- cordings, particularly of older films.
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HDCD®: This system uses higher bit rates and a variety of enhancements to improve the sonic performance compared to standard audio CDs. These discs, labeled HDCD, can be played on standard CD players. However, when the digital signal is decoded using an HDCD decoder like that in the RSX-1067, they will provide exceptional musical reproduction.
DTS Music 5.1 Discs: These discs are a variation of audio CDs that include a DTS 5.1 channel recording. The RSX-1067 decodes these discs just like a DTS movie soundtrack when played on a CD player or DVD player with a digital output connection.
DVD-A music discs: Taking advantage of the increased storage capacity of the DVD disc, new high bit rate multichannel audio record- ings are available on DVD-A discs. DVD-A discs may include multiple versions of the record- ing including standard PCM stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, and 96kHz/24 bit (or higher) multichannel recordings using MLP compression. Several of these formats (stan- dard PCM, Dolby Digital, and DTS 5.1 can be decoded by the RSX-1067 when the DVD player is connected with a digital cable. How- ever, the existing optical and coax digital connection standard does not provide suffi- cient bandwidth for multichannel high sampling rate MLP recordings. Therefore, DVD-A discs with these high-resolution audio soundtracks must be decoded by a the DVD player and the resulting analog signals sent to the RSX-1067’s MULTI INPUT.
SACD®: This is a proprietary high-resolution audio standard for use on SACD compatible disc players. As with high-resolution DVD-A discs, the bandwidth is too high for today’s digital connection. Thus, these discs must be decoded by SACD compatible player, with the output sent to the RSX-1067’s MULTI INPUTS.
MP3: The RSX-1067 also features a decoder for the digital MP3 (MPEG1- Audio Layer 3) compression format. MP3 format recordings are available on the Internet and can be played on portable MP3 players or some disc play- ers that can read CD-ROM discs connected to the RSX-1067’s digital inputs.
MPEG Multichannel: The RSX-1067 can decode MPEG Multichannel digital recordings. Widely used in Europe, this format uses MPEG data compression to record up to 5.1 chan- nels of discrete digital audio, similar in func- tion to the Dolby Digital and DTS formats.
