Meridian Audio 561, 568, 861 User Manual

Meridian Surround
Controller Update

This Addendum describes the Surround Controller upgrade available for

all three of Meridian’s current Surround Controllers, the 861, 561, and 568.

This upgrade adds three important DSP processing modes to your

Surround Controller: Dolby Pro Logic II, THX Surround EX, and Meridian

EZ. In addition, it adds two new display options.

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Sales and service in the UK

Meridian Audio Ltd

Stonehill

Stukeley Meadows

Cambs

PE29 6EX

England

Tel [phone]

Fax [phone]

World Wide Web

http://www.meridian-audio.com

Part no: SCU

Sales and service in the USA

Meridian America Inc

3800 Camp Creek Parkway

Building 2400

Suite 122

Atlanta

GA 30331

Tel [phone]

Fax [phone]

Designed and

manufactured in the UK by

Meridian Audio Ltd

Stonehill

Stukeley Meadows

Cambs

PE29 6EX

England

Copyright © 2001 Digital Gramophone and Wireless Ltd.

Manufactured under license from Dolby Laboratories Licensing

Corporation (Canadian patent 1,037,877), Lucasfilm Ltd. (US patents

5,043,970; 5,189,703; 5,222,059), Trifield Productions Ltd, and Nimbus

Records Ltd.

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Dolby, Pro Logic, Pro Logic II, AC-3, and the double-D symbol are

trademarks of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. Lucasfilm, THX,

and THX Cinema are registered trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd. DTS is a

registered trademark of Digital Theatre Systems Inc. MPEG is a

registered trademark of the MPEG organisation. Ambisonic is a

registered trademark of Nimbus Records Ltd. Trifield is a trademark of

Trifield Productions Ltd. LaserDisc is a trademark of Pioneer Electric

Corp. Boothroyd|Stuart Meridian, Meridian, Meridian Digital Theatre,

MLP, EZ, and LipSync are registered trademarks of Meridian Audio Ltd.

This guide was produced by Human-Computer Interface Ltd, Cambridge,

England.

Pro Logic II

Dolby Pro Logic II is a new DSP processing mode designed for

two-channel sources, whether or not they are encoded for Dolby

Surround. It re-creates 5.1-channel movie surround from the

two-channel source, using improved decoding techniques that

preserve the directness of the sound field, resulting in enhanced

image stability compared with standard Pro Logic decoding.

Meridian’s implementation of Pro Logic II was the first in the

world to receive Dolby approval, and uses priorietary code

based on 48-bit precision to give outstanding clarity.

Pro Logic II is available for any two-channel PCM or analogue

input. It is not available for two-channel Dolby Digital inputs; if

you want to use Pro Logic II with a two-channel Dolby Digital

soundtrack from a DVD you should first switch your DVD player

to PCM (two-channel) output mode.

Pro Logic II preset parameters

The following preset parameters are available for all the Pro

Logic II presets:

Parameter Options What it changes

Steered All Steered Rear, Which of the four

Steered Side, surround channels

Steered All are generated by

steering.

R Delay 10ms to 25ms* The delay of the rears.

S Delay 10ms to 25ms* The delay of the sides.

Rear -30db to +10db The level of the rears.

Sides -30db to +10db The level of the sides.

* 0 to 15ms in the PLII Music preset.

Three new presets have been added for Pro Logic II: PLII

Music, PLII Movie, and PLII THX.

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PLII Music

PLII Movie and PLII THX

The PLII Music preset is designed to use the Pro Logic II DSP

processing mode to decode music sources. It provides three

additional menus to allow you adjust the sound field:

Parameter Options What it changes

Width 0 to 7 The centre spread, where

Dimension -3 to +3 The spatial sound field,

Panorama No, Yes Extends the front stereo

Surround Controller Update

0 is full centre and 7 is full

left and right.

where -3 puts the balance

to the rear of the room and

+3 puts it to the front.

image to include the

surround speakers,

providing a wrap-around

effect new to Pro Logic.

The PLII Movie preset is optimised for theatre listening, and is

the recommended choice when decoding Dolby Surround

movies. PlI THX is the same as PLII Movie but with the

enhancements of THX post-processing, including re-

equalisation and timbre matching. An additional Pro Logic

parameter is provided:

Parameter Options What it changes

Pro Logic Off, On On selects the original Pro

Logic decoding.

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THX Surround EX and Meridian EZ

THX Surround EX and Meridian EZ are DSP processing modes

that are designed to give improved surround imaging with four

surround speakers.

Both THX Surround EX and Meridian EZ can be used with THX

Surround EX encoded material. In addition, Meridian EZ can be

used to give improved surround imaging with DTS ES encoded

material.

Both THX Surround EX and Meridian EZ can also be used with

non-encoded material, and often give a good effect depending

on the soundtrack.

THX Surround EX

THX Surround EX allows 5.1-channel film soundtracks to be

encoded with an extra surround channel during the mixing

process. EX post-processing can be used with THX when

decoding a 5.1-channel Dolby Digital signal. The decoded

surround signals are matrixed to the four surround speakers

giving more detailed imaging behind the listener and bringing

more depth, ambience, and localisation than before.

The Digital THX preset now includes an additional preset

parameter to allow you to turn on or off the EX post-processing:

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Parameter Options What it changes

THX-EX On, Off, Auto Switches on or off the EX

post-processing. Auto

automatically detects

bitstreams marked as EX

encoded*.

Note that some EX-encoded discs may not be marked as EX

encoded, in which case select On rather than Auto.

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Meridian EZ

Meridian EZ Preset Parameter

Meridian have used their experience in developing algorithms for

multiple surround speakers to create a proprietary DSP

processing mode, called Meridian EZ. This is designed to give

an exciting spacious surround enhancement for non-THX

enhanced 5.1 sources, such as Dolby Digital and DTS.

An additional menu is available in the following presets to allow

EZ post-processing to be turned on or off: Digital, DTS, DTS

Music, MPEG, and MPEG Music.

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Parameter Options What it changes

EZ Off, On, Auto* Switches Meridian EZ

post-processing on or off.

* Auto is only available for Dolby Digital sources.

Additional display options

In addition to the three new DSP processing modes provided by

the upgrade, two new display features have been added.

Dialog normalisation display

Dolby Digital audio streams include Dialog Normalisation and

Mix levels, to specify the recommended listening level of the

soundtrack.

The Surround Controller uses the Dialog Normalisation level to

adjust the volume level so that the soundtrack is reproduced at

the correct absolute level, assuming the system is calibrated to

produce 75dB SPL at volume 87.

The Mix level is an alternative level which you can select by

setting the Compression parameter to Mix.

The Dialog Normalisation or Mix level is now shown in a

separate display option for Dolby Digital sources:

DialNorm -31

For example:

MHR indicator

MHR (Meridian High Resolution) is a proprietary encoding format

which can be applied to digital audio streams between Meridian

components. It has the very important benefit of lowering jitter

and improving sound quality.

If an input stream has been MHR encoded the stream display

will now show an additional MHR indicator.

CD MHR 96k

For example:

Sources that supply MHR encoded streams include the Meridian

800 and 596 DVD Players. This display can be used to ensure

that maximum quality has been preserved from the source to the

processor.

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Or:

MixLevel -27

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