Reference Guide

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Preferences dialog
• 8.0 (Music/Alternative)
• 8.1 (Film/Alternative)
• 8.1 (Music/Alternative)
• 8.1 (SMPTE/ITU)
5.1 (SMPTE/ITU) should be the default template.
Monitor with Bass Management
When enabled, a combo box lets you specify one of the following cutoff frequencies:
• 80 (Dolby consumer/DVD) (default)
•116 (DTS)
• 120 (Dolby pro/film)
• 180
Low-pass Cutoff
All signals below the cutoff frequency are directed from the main channels to the LFE channel
output.
Downmixing
• Center Level. Center channel content is distributed equally into left and right channels of a 2-
channel downmix with one of a choice of three levels. Each level is how much of center is mixed
into both left and right. The alternatives are:
• -3 dB. This is the right amount to distribute into two acoustic sources to reach the same
sound power level, thus keeping the far-field level (in the reverberant listening field, as is
typical at home) equal. This is the amount by which a standard sin-cos panner redistributes a
center panned image into left and right, for instance.
• -4.5 dB. Since -3 dB and -6 dB represent the extreme limits (of power addition on the one
hand, or of phase-dependent vector addition on the other), an intermediate, compromise
value was seen as valuable, since the correct answer has to be -4.5 dB +/- 1.5 dB.
• -6 dB. This covers the case where listening is dominated by direct sound. Thus, the two
source signals add up by 6dB rather than by 3 dB, because they add as vectors, as voltages
do, rather than as power does.
• Surround Level. Surround Downmix Level is the amount of Left Surround to mix into Left, and
Right Surround to Right, when mixing down from any surround-equipped format to 2 channel. The
available options are:
• -3 dB. The amount by which mono surround information, from many movie mixes before
discrete 5.1 was available, mixes down to maintain the same level as the original.
• -6 dB. An amount that makes the mixdown of surround content not so prominent, based on
the fact that most surround content is not as important as a lot of front content. This helps to
avoid competition with dialog box, for instance, by heavy surround tracks in a mixdown
situation.