Marantz AV9000 AV9000 USER'S MANUAL - Page 10

ENGLISH INTRODUCTION Thank you for purchasing the Marantz AV9000 THX/ DTS/Dolby Digital Surround receiver. This remarkable component has been engineered to provide you with many years of home theater enjoyment. Please take a few minutes to read this manual thoroughly before you connect and operate the AV9000. As there are a number of connection and configuration options, you are encouraged to discuss your own particular home theater setup with your Marantz A/V specialist dealer. DESCRIPTION Adaptive Decorrelation-slightly changes one surround channel's time and phase relationship with respect to the other surround channel. This expands the listening position and creates with only two surround speakers the same spacious surround experience as in a movie theater with multiple surround speakers. The Marantz AV9000 was required to pass a rigorous series of quality and performance tests, in addition to incorporating the technologies explained above, in order to be THX Ultra certified by Lucasfilm Ltd. THX Ultra requirements cover every aspect of performance including pre-amplifier and power amplifier performance and operation, and hundreds of other parameters in both the digital and analog domain. Movies which have been encoded in Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic, stereo and Mono will all benefit from the THX mode when being viewed. The THX mode should only be activated when watching movies which were originally produced for a movie theater environment. THX need not be activated for music, movies made especially for TV, or shows such as sports programming, talk shows, etc. This is because they were originally mixed for a small room environment. DTS Technology was found in 1994 to commercialize 5.1 channels of discrete digital audio into home theater systems. The DTS brings you premiere quality and discrete multi-channel digital sound to movies. The DTS playback unit is a motion picture sound system designed to create full range digital sound reproduction using a theater's existing audio system. The no compromise DTS digital process sets the standard of quality for cinema sound by delivering an exact copy of the studio master recordings to neighborhood theaters. Now, every moviegoer can hear the sound exactly as the moviemaker intended. The Dolby Digital surround system lets you enjoy Digital TV, Digital Satellite Receiver as well as DVD, LD software in digital surround, which is the next step above Dolby Pro Logic. In comparison with Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital provides separate left surround and right surround channels, for more precise localization of sounds and a more convincing, realistic ambience. And, with Dolby Digital, all five main channels are full ranges and a subwoofer can be added to each channel ,if desired. By providing up to 5.1channels of digital audio independently, Dolby Digital lets you enjoy better sound quality and more powerful presence than conventional Dolby Surround. FEATURES High quality DTS/Dolby Digital (AC-3) DSP decoding chip. High quality THX DSP decoding chip. 5 Digital inputs, for connection to other sources, such as DVD, DSS, CD or LD. 2 Digital outputs for connection to CD-R or MD. Digital Dolby Pro Logic decoding provides wide dynamic range, low distortion, and high imaging accuracy. 96 kHz PCM Digital Audio reproduced by STEREO. Integral AM/FM tuner. On Screen Display with Composite and "S" video. Composite and "S" video switching. Component video switching. Separate dedicated Multi-Room stereo pre-amp outputs and composite provide for dual zone independent operation. Infrared remote control with learning capability. THX is an exclusive set of standards and technologies established by the world-renowned film production company, Lucasfilm Ltd. THX resulted from George Lucas' desire to reproduce the movie soundtrack as faithfully as possible both in the movie theater and in the home theater. THX engineers developed patented technologies to accurately translate the sound from a movie theater environment into the home, correcting the tonal and spatial errors that occur. When the THX mode of the AV9000 is on, three distinct THX technologies are automatically added: Re-Equalization-restores the correct tonal balance for watching a movie in a home environment. These sounds are otherwise mixed to be brighter for a large movie theater. Re-EQ compensates for this and prevents the soundtracks from being overly bright and harsh when played in a home theater. Timbre Matching-filters the information going to the surround speakers so they more closely match the the tonal characteristics of the sound coming from the front speakers. This ensures seamless panning between the front and surround speakers. 5