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dolby pro logic Some two-channel program material does not conform to film industry standards,
although it may still be Dolby Surround encoded so it can decode to four chan-
nels. Music videos on MTV, for instance, are often Dolby Surround encoded, but
have soundtracks which are produced in non-film studios. In fact, hundreds of
music CDs are mastered with surround sound. These sources and others which
have surround encoding but which are unlikely to have been mixed or remixed
in industry-standard production facilities should use the
pro logic mode to avoid
compensation where none is indicated.
dolby pro logic II Recently, Dolby Laboratories introduced a newly-designed process for playing
back both encoded and non-encoded material. Called Dolby Pro Logic II, it deliv-
ers a level of performance from encoded materials that is much closer to the
sound we have become accustomed to from discrete multichannel soundtracks
like Dolby Digital and DTS, even from older, “legacy” films in which those more
advanced soundtracks were not an option.
There are two basic versions of Dolby Pro Logic II, one optimized for Dolby Sur-
round-encoded movies, and the other optimized for non-encoded music material
(your entire CD collection, for example).
Dolby Pro Logic II Movie is available either with or without the THX post-pro-
cessing described above. Compared to the original Pro Logic, you can enjoy im-
proved separate between channels for improved localization and spaciousness.
Dolby Pro Logic II Music is not available with THX post-processing (since THX
was designed to correct film-specific problems), but offers surprisingly convincing
surround sound performance from normal stereo recordings.
stereo surround The stereo surround mode has been carefully designed to extract real ambience
from your recordings rather than synthesizing something artificial that might be
quite alien to the music itself. The ambient cues found in the program material
are then used to provide appropriate information for the center and rear speakers.
The front Left and Right speakers are left unaffected by this mode, allowing you
to hear unadulterated stereo imaging with the addition of a genuine sense of hall
ambience. In general, it tends to be somewhat more subtle than Dolby Pro Logic II
Music
—which you prefer is a matter of taste, and may vary from one recording
to the next.
Since this mode is based on the recordings themselves, it is normal to hear some
variation in the degree of the effect. Extremely “dry” recordings which lack any
significant ambience may not sound significantly different than when in surround
off
mode (e.g., two-channel stereo). You may find that increasing the level of the
rear speakers is necessary in order to bring what little ambience is in a “dry” re-
cording up to a more enjoyable level.
mono surround The mono surround mode can provide a sense of spaciousness and size to
monophonic program material such as some historical recordings and movie clas-
sics such as Casablanca or The Wizard of Oz.
The mono surround mode makes no effort to “electronically reprocess to simulate
stereo” (a process which almost always causes more harm than good). Instead, it
uses sophisticated steering techniques to create a sense of space in what would
otherwise be a largely dimensionless soundfield. It is particularly helpful when