This is the ideal 7.1 setup, but very few home theaters really look like this.
(Credit: Dolby)An industry insider recently admitted to me that only 30 percent of AV receiver buyers ever bother to hook up all seven channels to their receivers. That guesstimate seems a little high to me; the standard 5.1 channel setup: Left, center, right speakers upfront, and a pair of surround speakers to the sides of the main listening position can supply a truly immersive sound experience.
Seven-channel home theater adds two more speakers, placed behind the main listening position. That's tough to accomplish in rooms where the couch or chairs are up against the rear wall. There's no "rear" there, so some folks mount the rear speakers up high, or bounce the sound off the ceiling.
Still, the rear surrounds typically contribute little, so it's pretty hard to justify the added expense and hassle of running the extra wires for a marginal sonic improvement. The one exception might apply to very large rooms where the side and rear surround speakers are further apart from each other. The extra coverage may produce a more complete sense of surround envelopment.
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The CNET New York listening room, set up for the Dolby Pro Logic IIz.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)Recently, Steve Guttenberg, our resident audio guru, took a listen to the first AV receiver to offer Dolby Pro Logic IIz. And he wasn't impressed.
Pro Logic IIz is the latest surround format from Dolby Labs. This one utilizes "height speakers" placed above the left and right front-channel speakers. The configuration Guttenberg tested utilized a 7.1 configuration (a standard 5.1 setup, plus 2 height speakers), but Pro Logic IIz is designed to support 9.1 as well (7.1 plus 2). That will presumably be supported in future
According to Dolby's Web site, the advantages of Pro Logic IIz are as follows:
With Dolby Pro Logic IIz, rain in a movie now seems to be actually falling on the listener's roof, concert videos bring a more intense sense of being at the performance, and orchestral works deliver more palpable depth, power, and connection.
In games, the added dimension increases the realism and immerses players more deeply than ever in the action.
Because it processes only nondirectional sounds for the height channels, Dolby Pro Logic IIz maintains the integrity of the source mix and the effects are always appropriate to the material. The added dimension complements the sound from the rear-surround speakers, adding spaciousness while honoring the original intent of the content creator.
Alas, Guttenberg could barely hear a difference when Dolby Pro Logic IIz was engaged: "The height speakers didn't make a discernible difference. I couldn't hear them at all, so I increased the height speaker volume by 3 decibels. Still no difference."
Needless to say, Dolby and Onkyo (the maker of the TX-SR607, which is the first IIz-compatible hardware) weren't too happy with that evaluation. So, we told them we'd give it a second chance, with more ears in the room.
For Round Two, Steve Guttenberg (again), Executive Editor David Carnoy, Senior Associate Editor Matthew Moskovciak, and I crowded into the CNET audio room. ... Read more
Atlantic Technology's new 1400 SR-z speaker was designed with Dolby's Pro Logic IIz "height" surround processor in mind
The new speaker's compact size and shallow profile allow it to be unobtrusively mounted high on the wall above the system's front left and right main speakers. The 1400 SR-z sells for $425/pair MSRP.
(Credit:
Atlantic Technology)
The company claims that the 1400 SR-z's "voicing" and timbre will match all of Atlantic Technology's speaker systems.
Each 1400 SR-z uses a pair of 3.5-inch full-range polymer-treated cone drivers. The wedge-shaped speaker disperses sound laterally and allows the user to select dipole or bipole operation to deliver an enveloping surround soundfield. The speaker measures 12.25 x 8 x 5.375 inches, weighs 7 pounds, and comes in an attractive satin black finish.
The 1400 SR-z will be available in May 2009.
With Pro Logic IIz some receivers will produce 9.1 channel surround.
(Credit: Dolby)The Dolby Web site is bubbling with excitement about its new processing trick, "With Dolby Pro Logic IIz, rain in a movie now seems to be actually falling on the listener's roof, concert videos bring a more intense sense of being at the performance, and orchestral works deliver more palpable depth, power, and connection." The "z" in Pro Logic IIz signifies the Z axis, otherwise known as height.
Sounds interesting, but when I setup and listened to the first receiver (an Onkyo TX-SR607) with Pro Logic IIz, the height speakers didn't lift my spirits.
Pro Logic IIz can, depending on the receiver's capabilities, either augment a 5.1 or 7.1 channel speaker system with two height channels. In other words, in a 5.1 channel system with Pro Logic IIz you'll have five speakers in the front of the room--left, center, right, left height, and right height--plus a surround speaker to both sides of the main listening position.
The 7.1 system with Pro Logic IIz uses the same speaker array--plus two rear surround speakers.
Once you have a receiver equipped with Pro Logic IIz, and wall mount the height speakers three feet or higher over the main left/right speakers, you're all set. You won't have to buy specially encoded movies or music.
According to Dolby, "Pro Logic IIz identifies and decodes spatial cues that occur naturally in all content--stereo and 5.1 broadcast, music CDs, DVDs, 5.1 and 7.1 Blu-ray discs, and video games. Dolby Pro Logic IIz processes low-level, uncorrelated information--such as ambience and some amorphous effects like rain or wind--and directs it to the front height speakers."
Nice idea, did it actually work?
... Read moreDolby has a new surround format: Pro Logic IIz.
Here we go again. Another new format with more speakers, but this time, the "surround" speakers are in the front of the room, three or four feet above the left-and right-main speakers. These height channels are designed to provide a greater sense of envelopment than previous generations of Dolby or DTS surround.
With Pro Logic IIz, some receivers will produce 9.1 channel surround.
(Credit: Dolby)Pro Logic IIz incorporates all of the features and capabilities of Pro Logic IIx.
"Expanding on established Dolby Pro Logic II matrix-decoding innovations, Dolby Pro Logic IIz identifies and decodes spatial cues that occur naturally in all content--stereo and 5.1 broadcast, music CDs, DVDs, 5.1 and 7.1 Blu-ray Discs, and video games," the Dolby site further explains. "Dolby Pro Logic IIz processes low-level, uncorrelated information--such as ambiance and some amorphous effects like rain or wind--and directs it to the front height speakers."
(Credit:
Dolby)
You don't have to buy new, specially encoded discs to experience Pro Logic IIz, but do you really want to buy another pair of speakers, wall-mount them, and run a pair of speaker wires up your wall, to the sides of your TV?
Dolby doesn't require the height speakers to be identical to the main-left or -right speakers. Some Pro Logic IIz systems will use a total of nine speakers (five front, four rear), plus one or more subwoofers.
Onkyo's TX-SR607 ($599 MSRP) is the first receiver to feature Pro Logic IIz; the company will soon offer additional models equipped with the new Dolby processor, to be announced later this year.
Onkyo's TX-SR607, Pro Logic IIz equipped.
(Credit: Onkyo)Then again, Yamaha's higher-end receivers have had height, aka "Presence," channels for years. Those extra speakers supplement the sound from the front speakers with ambient effects produced by Yamaha's proprietary Cinema DSP, which provides various multichannel configurations up to 11 channels. Obviously, Dolby's Pro Logic IIz uses different technology, though the end result may be similar.
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The Onkyo TX-SR607 is the first AV receiver we've seen with a front panel HDMI input.
Sony and Yamaha have announced their midrange AV receiver lines, and today Onkyo announced three new AV receivers ranging in price from $300 to $600. The biggest news is that the new TX-SR607 ($600) will be the first receiver to feature Dolby ProLogic IIz sound processing, which can expand existing 7.1 soundtracks to 9.1, routing some of the audio to "front high speakers" which are positioned above your standard front speakers. Let's take a look at how all three models compare:
Key features of the Onkyo TX-SR307:
- 5.1 AV receiver with 65 watts per channel
- Three HDMI inputs
- Two component video inputs
- Four composite video inputs (no S-Video)
- Three digital audio inputs (two optical, one coaxial)
- Minijack input on front for connecting to an MP3 player
- Audyssey 2EQ automatic speaker calibration
- Audyssey Dynamic Volume and Audyssey Dynamic EQ
- Available in April, $300 list price
Key step-up features of the Onkyo TX-SR507:
- 5.1 AV receiver with 80 watts per channel
- Four HDMI inputs
- Onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio
- Four digital audio inputs (two optical, two coaxial)
- Second zone functionality
- Proprietary Onkyo "universal port" for connecting accessories, such as an HD Radio tuner or iPod dock
- Available in April, $400 list price
Key step-up features of the Onkyo TX-SR607:
- 7.2 AV receiver with 90 watts per channel
- Six HDMI inputs, including a front panel input
- Upconverts analog signals using Faroudja DCDi video processing
- First receiver with Dolby Pro-Logic IIz sound processing
- Sirius-ready
- Available in April, $600 list price
Dolby ProLogic IIz puts an extra pair of speakers up high.
(Credit: Dolby)Dolby ProLogic IIz sound processing is the TX-SR607's most touted feature in the news release, but we're guessing this won't be a huge draw for most buyers who already feel like a 5.1 system involves too many speakers and wires. On the other hand, six HDMI inputs--more than any other receiver at this price range--seems much more important to us now that almost every video component uses the connection. Some users will certainly complain about one of the inputs being on the front panel, but it's not a bad idea now that so many camcorders use HDMI as well.
Like Sony's and Yamaha's receivers, you'll notice that the new Onkyos no longer feature S-Video inputs. More surprisingly, you'll also notice that none of the new receivers feature multichannel analog audio inputs, which seems to be the next connection type that manufacturers are dropping from receivers.
Is Dolby ProLogic IIz something you'd be interested in? Or is it just another way to get you to buy more speakers? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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