User manual CLASSE AUDIO SSP-800

[. . . ] Owner's Manual SSP-800/CT-SSP Surround Sound Processor NOTICE All of us at Classé take extreme care to ensure that your purchase will remain a prized investment. We are proud to inform you that all Classé components have been officially approved for the European Community (CE) mark. This means that your Classé product was subjected to the most rigorous manufacturing and safety tests in the world. The CE mark certifies that your purchase meets or exceeds all European Community requirements for manufacturing consistency and consumer safety. [. . . ] Refer to the Menu System section found later in the manual for more information. The physical setup of the SSP and system components is complete. 30 Understanding Surround Sound Today'ssophisticatedsurroundsoundsystemshavespawnedabewildering arrayoftechnologiesandacronyms. Inthissection, we'llgiveyouabasic understandingofwhatallthatjargonmeans. Asaresult, you'llbebetter equipped to take advantage of the best that home entertainment has to offer. Today'shomeentertainmentsystemsreproducesoundtracksthatinclude anything from one to eight separate channels of information. Examples include: · Watchingmonomovies, suchasCasablanca or The Wizard of Oz, having only a single channel of audio information in the soundtrack. · ListeningtoamusicalCD, whichistypicallystereoor2-channel sound. · WatchingtheoriginalStar Wars in the original Dolby Surround Pro Logic format, which is four channels of information derived from two channels. · WatchingarecentmovieorT. V. showina5. 1-channelor 7. 1-channel surround format, which identifies that the source material has either five or seven full-range signals for the front, surround, and rear speakers plus the . 1 signal for the Low Frequency Effects (LFE), also referred to as the LFE channel, for the subwoofer. Your SSP-800 handles all of these tasks with ease, switching to an appropriate processing mode automatically upon sensing the nature of the incoming signal. However, you may still have to select from the available choices. For example, disc-based media often contains multiple soundtracks with varying numbers of channels and even different languages. Because you may have to choose the one you want to hear using the menu of the media itself, you should know what jargonyou'lllikelysee. When movie-makers first wanted to expand beyond simple stereo (left and right audio channels), they had a problem - the entire infrastructure on which they depended was stereo. Dolby Laboratories solved that problem with a system called Dolby Surround that embedded two extra channels of audio sound into the existing stereo pair so that specialized circuitry could retrieve the extra information with reasonable accuracy. This technique, whereby channels are mixed together with the intention of separating them later, is called matrix encoding and decoding. The disadvantage, as you might expect, is that it is difficult to completely and perfectly separate two channels that have been mixed together. By contrast, modern soundtracks use discrete channels of information. That is, each speaker has a distinct signal that is completely independent of every other channel. This approach is clearly more desirable, since it gives the movie-makers more creative control over the quality of your experience. Musicians also prefer discrete formats, since it allows them to place their instruments and voices with greater precision, to create the musical effects they desire. ® 31 Therearemanymulti-channelformatsavailable. Table1, below, identifies the most common multi-channel formats to help you sort out some of the possibilities. Table 1: Common multichannel modes Name analog stereo analog multichannel input Dolby Surround Pro Logic Dolby Pro Logic II Dolby Pro Logic IIx # Chs 2 6-8 4 Matrix/Discrete Discrete Discrete Matrix Comments Found on almost all sources, including tape decks, tuners, and CD players. A multi-channel analog input used mostly for SACD & DVD-Audio. The original matrix decoding system designed to squeeze four channels into two and then retrieve them. AnimprovementofDolby'soriginal Pro Logic matrix decoder, Dolby PLII is designed for 5. 1 surround systems. An improvement of Dolby PLII, this version uses the 2ch or 5. 1channel source audio to create as many as 7. 1 channels (depending on speaker setup) of surround sound. [. . . ] The circuit verifies that the power is within tolerable operating levels: P of ±10% of its AC line voltage setting. P between ± 11% and 15% of its AC line voltage setting. The following behavior of the SSP is the result of the Voltage Sensing Circuit: P If the external voltage is within the performance range, the product functions normally. P If the external voltage enters the range of the safe operating limit, the standby LED flashes every half-second but the product otherwise continues to function normally. [. . . ]