I am doing a remodel of a theatre and one of the screens has a DTS ES. Thankfully there is no book on this anywhere in the theatre. I did not see one listed here or on the DTS tech page, although they have a button for it, the button is not hyperlinked.

At any rate, since the auditorium is now stadium with more surrounds, I thought it would be a good thing to reset the EQ and levels.

First you must make sure the surround outputs of your stereo processor are perfectly balanced at, I believe, 300mv. Do not adjust EQ or level on the surrounds in the stereo processor after this has been set.

As far as the normal stereo surrounds go, make sure that the ES unit is in normal mode (not ES) and adjust the output levels on the ES unit screen until you get the proper levels. I usually have the amps turned all the way up or around 3 o'clock. It may vary for you. Be sure to scroll down in the menu when you are done and save the parameters.

Switch the unit to ES mode from the menu and you will get a whole new set of levels to adjust and EQ. Set each side speaker to 83db and the back surrounds to 83 as well. You shouldn't need to adjust the back left and back right speakers seperately like you do with the Dolby SA10. Be sure to scroll down in the menu when you are done and save the parameters.

Of course, it has been so long and we don't even have a manual, and DTS has yet to write a decent one (to my knowledge), so I could be wrong here.

A little tidbit since you don't have a manual:

-There is a selection that says "AUTO" and "MANUAL". Make sure it is in MANUAL so you can switch back and forth between ES and Normal modes when doing the setup. AUTO is only if you have the ES unit connected to a DTS unit via the timecode cable, that enables it to auto-detect EX movies and trailers... something that Dolby cannot do with the SA10. You cannot use AUTO mode with Dolby Digital or SDDS, unless you get creative with your wiring and always have the DTS powered up and the reader threaded. The timecode on the film tells the ES unit to engage or not, not the actual discs themselves.

300mv is correct for each channel. Try and get them as exact as possible.

A properly wired up EX theater will have 4 channels of amplification, even though it will only be 2 or 3 actual "channels" of audio. The left and right side walls will be to one amplifier and the back wall speakers will be split into left back and right back. This allows the ES/EX unit to handle the proper routing as the EX is switched in and out.

Set one amp (generally the side walls amp) to an easily repeatable setting (say half or full gain) and make your level adjustments as Joe explained within the ES above. If you cannot get things set to an easily repeatable setting, the ES unit does have a "master volume" setting you can alter a couple of decibels to mate better with the amps. THEN turn that amp off and turn on the rear wall amp. You must then set those levels using the amplifier gain controls exclusively. This is very important and there is no other way to do it. I highly recommend you mark it somehow in case it gets altered.

There is an ES setup disc there. It was conveniently placed on the floor behind the rack, next to some discarded sheetrock that was about to be thrown out. I really wish these people would shut down the entire theatre to do a remodel correctly, instead of shutting down one screen at a time. What a pain in the ass.

Thanks for your help. I will give it a shot tomorrow morning after I align the projector, cut new plates, and finish the surround speaker wiring. Then hopefully the seat guys will be done so that I can EQ the auditorium, for the 12:45 show.

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It depends on the software version. Please tell me what you have and we'll take it from there. The version screen should appear after power-up. You may also scroll down to it using the down-arrow key.

Granted, the manual isn't much help. But, I am working on it's update and it should be ready for release (and posting on our web site) in a few weeks.

Please feel free to send me an email at khultgren@dtsonline.com

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