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Also, the SA-10 has not played nice with all processors (including the CP-65 and CP-55).

I hear they are working on that though.

As Gordon says, the Panastereo looks like the most thought out.

Steve

My first exposure to the format was at Showeast. I was disturbed by the fact that the rear channel played at too low a level. That room, however, was so wide, that the rear channel was audible. I believed at the time that in a normally proportioned theatre, the rear channel would not have been heard if operating at so low a level relative to the side channels.

During my tests, I setup the processor exactly according to the installation instructions. When I played EX encoded material the rear channel was inaudible. So I began to increase the level of the rear channel (in the EX format) until the balance normalized. The increase in the overall surround level in the EX format vs. non-EX turned out to be 2 1/2 dB. I reported these findings to Dolby.

I should also point out that if the level of the rear channel was as little as 1/2 dB high, the sides would disappear. If it was as little as 1/2 dB too low, the rear would be inaudible. So setting levels is very critical.

Once the balance was worked out, I spent the rest of the time evaluating the differences with and without the EX steering, and here is where it became interesting. In an HPS-4000® theatre with an Allen Surround Array™, there is no difference with or without EX processing. This actually does not surprise me as I have always been accustomed to hearing rear sources in my installations.

I then conducted A/B tests with several different people and no one could tell whether or not the EX processing was engaged. Everyone was able to listen to each configuration several times on a continuous basis. One listener did hear a difference, though he did not know which was which. The difference he described was a slight decrease in lateral spaciousness. This, it turned out, occurred when the EX processing was on as one might expect due to the slight "mono-ing" up of the stereo image such a matrix will cause.

So what value is there in surround EX? It will have the greatest benefit in the theatres with the worst surround coverage. If the surround system is one where one easily localizes to a single surround speaker, then stereo surrounds will at least give a separate second source from across the room. Steering information the rear speakers with EX processing will help even further in such a theatre. If the a theatre was originally equipped with only two rear surrounds, the installation of the recommended two additional surrounds will help as well.

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At least Dolby used the two additional channels more wisely than Sony IMHO.

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"And the monkey flips the switch."
- Major Don West, "Lost In Space"

I set up a theatre that has the Allen Surround Sound (though not HPS-4000) with Dolby's Surround EX. I had everything balanced out correctly, that is, when in EX mode, all three channels played at the same volume when only one channel is selected.

Unlike most installations, we used 1/3 Octave EQ (Rane Constand Q equalizers) on all FOUR channels so regardless of mode, the EQ didn't change and was proper for all four quadrants.

We evaluated it using Star Wars :EP 1 running both SDDS-8 and SR*D. In both cases the EX channel was easily decernable though not anything to make your hair stand up on end. Perhaps it was the mix. Toy Story 2 seemed like it had more EX type effects in it.

One thing to note about the Allen Surround Sound array, for those that haven't seen/heard one, is that the rear wall has many speakers/ft as compared to the side wall. This may be allowing the EXless rear channel in those theatres, just a guess.

I, by the way, think LC and RC are more important than EX. Star Wars certainly sounded better with them than without.

Surround really need 4-5 channels to make a significant improvement over 2-channels. Once directional motion can be added, you will have something, just having the back wall doesn't cut it.

Steve

I'm still a little annoyed that the EX unit does not 'know' when a film is encoded or not. It took distruibuters too damn long to simply mark on film cans if a film was stereo or not, so I expect markings for "EX" to appear just after most theaters are using electronic projectors.

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Fear not buckaroo...

There are plans in the works so the SA-10 will switch automatically by Dolby.

Steve