Filter
Top Products
Using the Listening Modes
En-18
¼ THX
Founded by George Lucas, THX develops stringent
standards that ensure movies are reproduced in movie
theaters and home theaters just as the director intended.
THX Modes carefully optimize the tonal and spatial
characteristics of the soundtrack for reproduction in
the home-theater environment. They can be used with
2-channel matrixed and multichannel sources. Back
speaker output depends on the source material and the
selected listening mode.
● The THX mode can finely adjust the acoustic and
spatial characteristics of the soundtrack for the best
reproduction of home theater sound. It will work on 2 ch
source and multichannel source. Back speaker sound
will differ depending on the source and selected listening
mode.
– THX Cinema: THX Cinema mode corrects theatrical
soundtracks for playback in a home theater
environment. In this mode, THX Loudness Plus is
configured for cinema levels and Re-EQ, Timbre
Matching, and Adaptive Decorrelation are active.
– THX Games: THX Games mode is meant for spatially
accurate playback of game audio, which is often mixed
similarly to movies but in a smaller environment. THX
Loudness Plus is configured for game audio levels, with
Timbre Matching active.
– THX Music: THX Music mode is tailored for listening to
music, which is typically mastered at significantly higher
levels than movies. In this mode, THX Loudness Plus is
configured for music playback and only Timbre Matching
is active.
– THX S2 Cinema (THX Select2 Cinema): THX Select2
Cinema mode plays 5.1 movie using 7.1 ch giving you
the best possible movie watching experience. In this
mode, THX ASA processing blends the side surround
speakers and back surround speakers providing the
optimal mix of ambient and directional surround sounds.
– THX S2 Games (THX Select2 Games): For the replay
of stereo and multichannel game audio, the THX Select2
Games mode should be selected. In this mode, THX
ASA processing is applied to the surround channels of
all 5.1 and 2.0 encoded game sources such as analog,
PCM, DTS, and Dolby Digital. This accurately places
all game audio surround information creating a full 360
degree playback environment. THX Select2 Games is
unique as it gives you a smooth transition of audio in all
points of the surround field.
– THX S2 Music (THX Select2 Music) : For the replay of
multichannel music, the THX Select2 Music should be
selected. In this mode, THX ASA processing is applied
to the surround channels of all 5.1 encoded music
sources such as DTS, Dolby Digital, DVD-Audio, etc. to
provide a wide and stable rear soundstage.
– THX Surr EX (THX Surround EX) : This mode expands
5.1-channel sources for 7.1- channel playback. It’s
especially suited to Dolby Digital EX sources. THX
Surround EX, also known as Dolby Digital Surround EX,
is a joint development between Dolby Laboratories and
THX Ltd.
¼ TV Logic
Suitable for TV shows produced in a TV studio. This mode
enhances the surround effects to the entire sound to give
clarity to voices and create a realistic acoustic image.
¼ Unplugged
Suitable for acoustic instruments, vocals and jazz. This
mode emphasizes the front stereo image, giving the
impression of being right in front of the stage.
¼ Reference
Dialogue Normalization
Dialogue Normalization (DialogNorm) is a feature of
Dolby Digital, which is used to keep the programs at
the same average listening level so the user does not
have to change the volume control between Dolby
Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD programs.
When playing back software which has been encoded
in Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD,
sometimes you may see a brief message in the front
panel display which will read "DialogNorm: X dB" (X
being a numeric value). The display is showing how the
program level relates with THX calibration level. If you
want to play the program at calibrated theatrical levels,
you may wish to adjust the volume. For example, if you
see the following message: "DialogNorm: + 4 dB" in
the front panel display, to keep the overall output level
at THX calibrated loudness, just turn down the volume
control by 4dB. However, unlike a movie theater where
the playback loudness is preset, you can choose your
preferred volume setting for best enjoyment.
THX Cinema Processing
THX is an exclusive set of standards and technologies
established by the world-renowned film production
company Lucasfilm Ltd. THX grew from George Lucas’
personal desire to make your experience of the film
soundtrack in both movie theaters and in your home
theater as faithful as possible to what the director
intended. Movie soundtracks are mixed in special
environments called dubbing stages and are designed to
be played back in movie theaters with similar equipment
and conditions. Most of those soundtracks are remixed
using flat response loudspeakers similar to those used
in the small home theater environment before being
transferred onto Blu-ray Discs, DVD, etc. THX engineers
developed patented technologies to accurately translate
the sound from the movie theater environment into the
home, correcting the tonal and spatial errors that occur.
On this product, when the THX indicator is on, THX
features are automatically added in Cinema modes (e.g.
THX Cinema, THX Surround EX).
Timbre Matching
The human ear changes our perception of a sound
depending on the direction from which the sound is
coming. In a movie theater, there is an array of surround
speakers so that the surround information is all around
you. In a home theater, you may only have two speakers
located to the side of your head. In this case, the Timbre
Matching feature filters the information going to the
surround speakers so that they more closely match the
tonal characteristics of the sound coming from the front
speakers. This ensures seamless panning between the
front and surround speakers.
Adaptive Decorrelation
In a movie theater, a large number of surround speakers
help create an enveloping surround sound experience.
If a home theater only has two sidewall surround
speakers, the surround speakers may sound similar to
headphones lacking spaciousness and envelopment.
Surround sounds will also collapse toward the closet
speaker as you move away from the middle seating
position. Adaptive Decorrelation slightly changes one
surround channel’s time and phase relationship with
respect to the other surround experience as in a movie
theater using only two speakers.
ASA (Advanced Speaker Array)
ASA is a proprietary THX technology which processes
the audio on the two side and two back surround
speakers for the optional surround sound experience.
When you set up your home theater system using eight
speaker outputs (Left, Center, Right, Surround Right,
Back Right, Back Left, Surround Left, and Subwoofer),
be sure to go to the THX Audio Setup screen and