Surround sound - explanatory notes
General information
The following section is not concerned directly wit | h the | |
operation of your K6, but is rather intended to explain | ||
some of the terms which arise in connection with su | r | |
roundsystems.Itisintendedtohelpyouunderstan | dand | |
exploitthefacilitiesandcapabilitiesofyour | K6tothefull. | |
Asweallknow,anormalstereorecordinghastwoc han
nels leftandright.Whenstereomaterialisrepr oduced inyourlisteningroom,theentiresoundeventtake splace onanimaginarystagewhichcoversthespacebetwee n thetwoloudspeakers.
Thelistenerisabletolocatespecificsoundevent |
| sover | |
thewidthofthestage;withgoodrecordingsthere |
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a slight impression of depth, i.e. behind the speak |
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Nevertheless, normal stereophonic reproduction alwa | ys | ||
leavesthelistenerisolatedfromtheevent. |
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Asaresultitisimpossibletorecreatetheexcite | mentofa | ||
live atmosphere, as in a real concert hall, since t |
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acoustics of the concert hall are crucially influen |
| ced by | |
soundreflectionsfromthesideandbackwalls,the |
| floor, | |
theceiling,andfromobjectsinsidethehall. |
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The reflected sound comes from any number of direc |
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tions not just from the front. If a sound event i |
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reproduced with real fidelity, it therefore follows |
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proportionofthesoundmustemanatefromalldirec |
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in the room, that the 'reflections' must be timed a |
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rately, and that they must be generated at a realis |
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level. |
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Reproducing television sound via a conventional ste | reo | ||
systemisproblematic,becauseitisoftenimpossib |
| leto | |
locatedialogueonthescreenitself. |
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Afurtherpointisthatexoticsoundeffectshaveb |
| eenin | |
useinthecinema since the 1950's, using proper mu |
| lti | |
channelsound systems. These effects are often cruc | ial | ||
totheoverallimpactofafilm,buttheycannotbe |
| repro | |
ducedathomewithaconventionalstereosoundsyst |
| em. | |
Overthelastfewyearssurroundtechnologieshave |
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developedwhichmakeitpossibletoexperienceall |
| these | |
effectswithinthelistener'sownfourwalls,with | theresult | ||
that a far greater simulation of reality is possibl |
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withconventionalstereo. |
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Foraneffectivesurroundsystemwealwaysrecommen | d | ||
theinstallationofacenterloudspeaker,whichis | installed | ||
below or directly above the TV set. This loudspeake | r | ||
helps greatly in locating particular sound events ( |
| espe | |
ciallydialogue)ontheTVscreenitself. |
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Types of reproduction
The K6 makes available a range of different types of reproduction:
The surround receiver 'remembers' the setting for e | ach |
input, and reverts to the mode of operation which w | as |
lastusedwhenyouswitchfromoneinputtoanother | . |
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Multi-channel mode (surround)
Mode of operation for the reproduction of multicha | nnel |
programmes (e.g. DOLBYPro Logic, DOLBYDIGITAL, dts,etc.).
Adigitalmultichannelsignalisdetectedbyitsencoding method,andthe K6automaticallysetsthecorrectloud
speaker assignment. The current reproduction mode i | s | ||
displayedonthefrontpanelscreen. |
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For analogueinputsignals thecorrectmodeofopera |
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tioncannotbedetectedautomaticallybythedecode | r. |
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In this case the decoder always reverts to Dolby Pr |
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Logicdecoding.Ifthesignalisactuallyinadiff | erentform | ||
(stereo,mono seebelow),thenthemodemustbes |
| et | |
manuallyinsteadofsurroundmode. |
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Dolby Pro Logic II Surround
Inthisprocessseveralindependentsignalchannels | are | |
recorded using two channels and a special encoding | ||
process.Sincethisprocessonlyrequirestworecord | ing | |
channels, it is compatible with many picture / soun | d | |
systems which are already widely in use (CD, video |
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recorder,TVetc.). |
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Theinformationisdecodedatplaybacktimeandrep | ro | |
ducedinthelisteningroomviafour(left,right, | 2xsur | |
round) loudspeakers, although five speakers (with a | n | |
additional front center speaker) are preferable. Do | lby | |
Surroundencodedmaterialiscurrentlyavailablemai | nly | |
inthefilmandvideoarena,recordedonvideocass |
| ettes |
and DVDs, but many television programmes are now | ||
beingproducedandtransmittedusingDolbySurround | . | |
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Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is a digital |
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multichannel | surround |
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system | which | was |
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developed specifically for |
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spatialsoundreproduction |
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in connection with cinema |
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films. The process utilises |
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five | separate |
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channels: | three | front |
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channels | (left, |
| center, |
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right) | and | two | surround |
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channels. | A |
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independent bass | effect |
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channel is also present, |
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catering for low frequency effects ( | LFE). That is why | ||||||
suchsystemsaresaidtooffer | 5.1channels. |
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In comparison with Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital pr | o | ||||||
videstwoindependentsurroundchannelswhichprovi | de | ||||||
genuinespatialstereosound,offeringthesamerea | listic | ||||||
stereoreproductionasprovidedbythefrontchanne | ls. | ||||||
TheintegralDolbyDigitaldecoderprovidesthemea | nsof | ||||||
obtainingagenuinedigitalDolbystereocinemapre | sen | ||||||
tation in your own living room. The discrete digita | l re | ||||||
cordingprocessandthefiveplaybackchannelsguar | an | ||||||
tee a very wide dynamic range and accurate spatial | |||||||
orientation. |
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Thedynamicrangeisthedifferenceinvolumebetwe | en | ||||||
the quietest and loudest passages of a recording. T | he | ||||||
original soundtrack of a film generally features an | ex | ||||||
tremelywidedynamicrangewhichthe | K6canreproduce | ||||||
infull. |
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9 | Operation |
