For the last few years, my (admittedly low-end) home theater system has been running through a Dolby Pro Logic receiver. Not any more, baby! Last night I bought an Aiwa receiver with built-in Dolby Digital decoding. Real, honest-to-Pete digital sound from my DVD player, finally. I would have loved to get a receiver with both a Dolby decoder and a DTS decoder, but I’m not ready to plunk down that kind of money, and Dolby is sufficient for my needs.
(If you aren’t familiar with the format, Dolby Pro Logic provides Surround Sound, but sends a single summed left/right signal to the rear speakers and doesn’t provide the same information to the subwoofer. Dolby Digital provides discrete rear left-rear right signals for true Surround, and sends information called LFE [Low Frequency Effect] to the subwoofer. Not to mention the clarity.)
So now my system consists of (how’s this for a Frankenstein-like assemblage):
–Sony 32" Trinitron TV (no, not a WEGA–I wish!)
–Aiwa 75w/ch. Dolby Digital receiver
–Toshiba CD player
–RCA hi-fi VCR
–KLH 12" 3-way front speakers
–Sony center and surround speakers
–RCA 60w powered subwoofer
I watched just a few minutes of some of my DVD’s using the digital sound last night, including “Terminator 2: Judgement Day,” “Saving Private Ryan,” and “The Abyss,” just to get a feel for the difference, and as Cartman would say, “Sweeeeeeeeeeet!”
Anyone else made the transition to digital sound? Planning to? What do you think?
So much for my credit card balances. I’ve been sorely tempted to make the jump so it’s time to play the hand-me-down game again. Mom and dad get the pro logic reciever I have now and baby brother gets the standard Dolby surround sound reciever they have now. I shouldn’t spend the money but anything endorsed by Cartman…
Heat, during the bank robbery scene, is a terrific surround sound demo, far better than (&^%##@ Top Gun. Always is good too for the aircraft sounds. I’m still looking for a DVD that has the THX “the audience is listening” trailer for when I get a digital reciever. I’m debating if I should get another Sony or pony up the major bucks for a high current Harman Kardon
I’ve recently come to realise I’m weird on this issue (what else is new???)
Sound quality doesn’t mean much to me. It never has, sound, music, all that, has a certain small fascination, but I’ve never really cared about it outside of clarity and being able to hear what’s going on. All these 9 speaker surround dolby pro logic digital THX DVD 5000 multi whatever thingumajigglers mean nothing to me. I’m happy listening to my DVD-Rom with my tinny headphones.