Owners Manual

ManualsBrandsRotel ManualsAudio EquipmentSurround Receiver

RSX-03 Surround Sound Receiver

taken it one step further and developed the

capability to record this extended surround

information as a discrete channel in a system

called DTS-ES

6.1 Discrete.

All of these systems are extensions of the ex

isting Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 digital

surround sound formats. Users with one cen-

ter back speaker (a 6.1 conﬁguration) or two

center back speakers (a 7.1 conﬁguration)

can take advantage of this extended surround

information. On traditional 5.1 channel sys

tems, Dolby Digital Surround EX or DTS-ES 6.1

discs sound exactly the same as 5.1 channel

discs in each respective format.

If you have conﬁgured your system with one

or two center back speakers, decoding of

DTS-ES discs is automatic, just as it is with

standard DTS soundtracks. Likewise, decod

ing of Dolby Digital Surround EX discs is au

tomatic with one exception. Some Surround

EX titles do not have the detection “ﬂag”

encoded on the disc. To activate the Dolby

Digital Surround EX features for these discs

(or for standard 5.1 channel Dolby Digital

discs), you must manually activate Dolby Sur

round EX processing.

NOTE: 6.1 and 7.1 channel systems require

the use of an additional stereo ampliﬁer with

the RSX-03.

Dolby Pro Logic IIx

6.1 and 7.1 Channel Surround

The latest technology from Dolby uses ad-

vanced matrix decoding for the surround

channels in a 6.1 channel or 7.1 channel

system. Working with any 2.0 channel or

5.1 channel recording, Dolby Pro Logic IIx

processing distributes the surround channel

information among three or four surround

channels, with a Music mode optimized for

musical recordings, a Cinema mode optimized

for ﬁlm soundtracks, and a Game mode op

timized for video games.

NOTE: 6.1 and 7.1 channel systems require

the use of an additional stereo ampliﬁer with

the RSX-03.

Rotel XS

6.1 and 7.1 Channel Surround

The RSX-03 also features Rotel XS (eXtra

Surround) processing provides extended sur

round performance on 6.1 and 7.1 channel

systems. The key beneﬁt of Rotel XS is that it

works at all times with multichannel digital

signals, that might not otherwise activate

Dolby Digital EX or DTS-ES surround decod

ing for the center back channel(s). Rotel XS

decodes the surround channels and distributes

the extended surround channels to the center

back speaker(s) in a way that tends to cre

ate a diffuse surround effect. Rotel XS works

with matrix-encoded surround signals (such

Dolby Surround EX discs) as well as digital

source material that is not Dolby Surround EX

encoded (such as MPEG5.1, Dolby Digital

5.1, and even Dolby Pro Logic II decoded

Dolby Digital 2.0 recordings).

NOTE: 6.1 and 7.1 channel systems require

the use of an additional stereo ampliﬁer with

the RSX-03.

DSP Music Modes

Unlike all of the formats mentioned above,

the RSX-03 offers four surround modes that

are not part of a speciﬁc recording/playback

system. These modes (MUSIC 1–4) use digital

signal processing that adds special acoustic

effects to any signal. DSP processing can be

used with Dolby Surround recordings, Dolby

Digital recordings, CDs, radio broadcasts,

or any other source material; however, typi

cally DSP settings would be used with source

material for which there is no speciﬁc sur-

round decoder.

The four MUSIC MODES in the RSX-03 use

digital delay and reverberation effects to

simulate progressively larger acoustic en

vironments with MUSIC 1 being the small

est type of venue (such as a jazz club) and

MUSIC 4 being a large venue (such as a

stadium). Typically used to add ambience

and a sense of space when listening to music

sources or other sources that lack surround

sound encoding.

2Ch/5Ch/7Ch Stereo Formats

The RSX-03 also provides four modes that

disable all surround processing and deliver

stereo signals to ampliﬁers and speakers.

There are three options:

2CH Stereo: Turns off the center channel

and all surround channels in the system and

delivers a conventional 2-channel signal to

the front speakers. If the system is conﬁgured

to route bass signals from the front speakers

to the subwoofer, this capability remains in

effect.

Analog Bypass: For 2-channel analog in

puts, there is a special stereo mode that by

passes ALL of the RSX-03’s digital processing.

The two front speakers receive pure analog

stereo full-range signals with no subwoofer

crossover, no delay, no level adjustments,

and no tone adjustment.

5CH Stereo: Distributes a stereo signal to

5.1 channel systems. The left channel signal

is sent, unchanged, to the front left and sur-

round left speakers. The right channel is sent

to the front right and surround right speakers.

A mono sum of the two channels is sent to

the center channel speaker.

7CH Stereo: This mode is the same as

5CH Stereo described above except that it

also distributes stereo signals to center back

speaker(s) installed in the system.

Other Digital Formats

Several other digital formats are not surround

sound formats at all, but rather systems for

digital 2-channel recordings.

PCM 2-channel: This is an uncompressed

2-channel digital signal such as that used for

standard CD recordings and some DVD re

cordings, particularly of older ﬁlms.

HDCD

: This system uses higher bit rates

and a variety of enhancements to improve

the sonic performance compared to standard

audio CDs. These discs, labeled HDCD, can

be played on standard CD players. However,

when the digital signal is decoded using an

HDCD decoder like that in the RSX-03, they will

provide exceptional musical reproduction.