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Additional Information
2THX Ultra2™
Before any home theater component can be THX Ultra2
certified, it must incorporate all the features above and
also pass a rigorous series of quality and performance
tests. Only then can a product feature the THX Ultra2 logo,
which is your guarantee that the Home Theater products
you purchase will give you superb performance for many
years to come. THX Ultra2 requirements cover every
aspect of the product including power amplifier
performance, pre-amplifier performance and operation, as
well as hundreds of other parameters in both the digital
and analog domain.
In addition to improvements to the power amplifier with
respect to previous THX Ultra standards, three surround
modes have been added: the THX Ultra2 Cinema mode,
THX Music Mode and THX Games Mode.
2THX Ultra2 Cinema
THX Ultra2 Cinema mode plays 5.1 movies using all 8
speakers giving you the best possible movie watching
experience. In this mode, new THX processing blends the
side surround speakers and back surround speakers
providing the optimal mix of ambient and directional
surround sounds.
DTS-ES (Matrix and 6.1 Discrete) and Dolby Digital
Surround EX encoded soundtracks will be automatically
detected in Ultra2 Cinema mode if the appropriate flag has
been encoded.
Some Dolby Digital Surround EX soundtracks are missing
the digital flag that allows automatic switching. If you
know that the movie that you are watching is encoded in
Surround EX, you can manually select the THX Surround
EX playback mode, otherwise THX Ultra2 Cinema mode
will apply processing to provide optimum replay.
2THX Music Mode
For the replay of 5.1 multi-channel music the THX Music
Mode should be selected. In this mode new THX
processing is applied to the surround channels of all 5.1
encoded music sources such as DTS and Dolby Digital to
provide a wide stable rear soundstage.
2THX Games Mode
For the replay of stereo and multi-channel game audio the
THX 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, providing a full 360 degree
playback environment. THX Games Mode is unique as it
gives you a smooth transition of audio in all points of the
surround field.
2ASA (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 as shown in the
diagram 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-optimize the surround
sound-field.
ASA is used in three new modes; THX Ultra2 Cinema, THX
MusicMode and THX Games Mode.
2Boundary Gain Compensation
If your chosen listening room layout (for practical or aesthetic
reasons) results in the most of the listeners being close to
the rear wall, the resulting bass level can be sufficiently
reinforced by the boundary that the overall sound quality
becomes “boomy”. THX Ultra2 receivers and controllers
contain the BGC (Boundary Gain Compensation) feature to
provide an improved bass balance. BGC can be selected by
choosing “THX Ultra2 Subwoofer–Yes” from the “Boundary
Gain Compensation” section of the THX Audio setup menu.
“THX”, “Home THX”, “Re-Equalization”, “Timbre
Matching”, “Adaptive Decorrelation”, “Advanced Speaker
Array” and “THX Ultra” are trademarks of THX Ltd.
