Yamaha X-V2600 Glossary, Audio information, ASA Advanced Speaker Array, Dolby Digital, DTS 96/24

GLOSSARY

Audio information

■ASA (Advanced Speaker Array)

ASA is a proprietary THX technology which processes the sound fed to 2 side and 2 back surround speakers to provide the optimal surround sound experience. When you set up your home theater system using all eight speaker outputs (Left, Center, Right, Surround Right, Surround Back Right, Surround Back Left, Surround Left and Subwoofer) placing the two Surround Back speakers close together facing the front of the room will provide the largest sweet spot. If for practical reasons you have to place the Surround Back speakers apart, you will need to go THX Audio Set-up screen and choose the setting that most closely corresponds to the speaker spacing, which will re-optimized the surround sound-field.

ASA is used in three new modes: THX Select2 Cinema, THX Music Mode and THX Games Mode.

■Dolby Digital

Dolby Digital is a digital surround sound system that gives you completely independent multi-channel audio. It provides 5 full-range audio channels; 3 front channels (left, center, and right), and 2 surround stereo channels. An additional channel especially for bass effects, called LFE (low frequency effect) is also provided giving the system a total of 5.1-channels (LFE is counted as a 0.1 channel). By using 2-channel stereo for the surround speakers, more accurate moving sound effects and surround sound environment are possible than with Dolby Surround. The wide dynamic range (maximum to minimum volume) reproduced by the 5 full-range channels and the precise sound orientation generated using digital sound processing provide listeners with a previously unheard of excitement and realism.

■Dolby Digital EX

Dolby Digital EX creates 6 full-bandwidth output channels from 5.1-channel sources. This is done by using a matrix decoder that derives 3 surround channels from the 2 in the original recording. For best results, Dolby Digital EX should be used with movie sound tracks recorded with Dolby Digital Surround EX. With this additional channel, you can experience more dynamic and realistic moving sound especially with scenes that have flyover and fly- around effects.

■Dolby Pro Logic x

Dolby Pro Logic x is a new technology enabling 6.1 or

7.1multi-channel playback from 2-channel or multi- channel sources. There is a Music mode for music, a Movie mode for movies and a Game mode for games.

■Dolby Surround

Dolby Surround uses a 4 channel analog recording system to reproduce realistic and dynamic sound effects: 2 front left and right channels (stereo), a center channel for dialog (monaural), and a surround channel for special sound effects (monaural). The surround channel reproduces sound within a narrow frequency range.

Dolby Surround is widely used with nearly all video tapes and laser discs, and in many TV and cable broadcasts as well. The Dolby Pro Logic decoder built into this unit employs a digital signal processing system that automatically stabilizes the volume on each channel to enhance moving sound effects and directionality.

■DTS 96/24

DTS 96/24 offers an unprecedented level of audio quality for multi-channel sound on DVD-Video, and is fully backward-compatible with all DTS decoders. 96 refers to a 96 kHz sampling rate (compared to the typical 48 kHz sampling rate). 24 refers to 24-bit word length.

DTS 96/24 offers sound quality transparent to the original 96/24 master, and 96/24 5.1-channel sound with full-quality full-motion video for music programs and motion picture soundtracks on DVD-video.

■DTS (Digital Theater Systems)

Digital Surround

DTS digital surround was developed to replace the analog soundtracks of movies with a 6-channel digital sound track, and is now rapidly gaining popularity in movie theaters around the world. Digital Theater Systems Inc. has developed a home theater system so that you can enjoy the depth of sound and natural spatial representation of DTS digital surround in your home. This system produces practically distortion-free 6-channel sound (technically, left, right and center channels, 2 surround channels, plus an LFE 0.1 channel as a subwoofer, for a total of 5.1- channels). This unit incorporates a DTS-ES decoder that enables 6.1- channel reproduction by adding a surround back channel to the existing 5.1-channel format.

■ITU-R

ITU-R is the radio communication sector of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union). ITU-R recommends a standard speaker placement which is used in many critical listening rooms, such as mastering studios.

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