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Today, I sort of felt a little rough, and stayed home. I took the opportunity to disect my MC-1 and perform the long awaited EX upgrade, which I have had for a couple of months. Well, the second upgrade, that is. My first intallation way back in the summer I guess, or was it spring, failed miserably. It might have been my fault, bending a pronge accidentally on the chip. But my vendor made good on it, and replaced it, via Lexicon's expense.
Today, I made sure I got the pronges bent into position just right, laying the chip on a flat surface and rolling downward until they were perfectly perpindicular. The chip was still a little agrevating to get into place, so that it slid right in, but finally, after about 5 tries, it seated properly.
I need to spend more time with the upgrade before giving my opinion of the sound format. But initial response is good. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is both a DD and DTS EX mode on this chip! I really thought it was only DD EX, that DTS was coming down the road. Who knows, maybe my second upgrade allowed me to get an upgraded chip with the DTS sound. But it appears from Lexicon's writeup below, that it was there all along. I can't confirm or deny that.
here is what Lexicon has to say about EX on the MC-1:
My upgrade went without a hitch today. Unconnecting and reconnecting everything is a bit of a pain. but my work last time on cabling paid off some today. It's impossible to keep that mess straight back there. but today went well.
I briefly tested the new DTS/DD EX version of Terminator 2, and all modes seem to be working. Now, it's time to recalibrate everything, and enjoy it!
Lex
Today, I made sure I got the pronges bent into position just right, laying the chip on a flat surface and rolling downward until they were perfectly perpindicular. The chip was still a little agrevating to get into place, so that it slid right in, but finally, after about 5 tries, it seated properly.
I need to spend more time with the upgrade before giving my opinion of the sound format. But initial response is good. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is both a DD and DTS EX mode on this chip! I really thought it was only DD EX, that DTS was coming down the road. Who knows, maybe my second upgrade allowed me to get an upgraded chip with the DTS sound. But it appears from Lexicon's writeup below, that it was there all along. I can't confirm or deny that.
here is what Lexicon has to say about EX on the MC-1:
Now with THX SURROUND EX, a backwards compatible enhancement to 5.1 channel decoding that utilizes a matrix (similar to Dolby Pro Logic) to derive 3 surround channels (Left, Right, and Rear a.k.a. Back) from 2 surround channels. The 3 surrounds channels are reproduced through 4 surround speakers (2 side AND 2 rear). Users are advised to place the 2 REAR speakers (which are in mono) behind the listening position, and the 2 SIDE speakers to the left and right sides of the listening position. As most of you are aware, this is also the recommended 8-channel setup for Lexicon processors since '88.
* THX SURROUND EX is NOT a discrete 6.1 channel playback format since it utilizes a matrix to derive the additional surround channel.
* THX SURROUND EX encoding and decoding can be utilized with any 5.1 channel format (Dolby Digital, dts, etc...).
* THX SURROUND EX is only being offered in THX Ultra certified products - initially.
* THX SURROUND EX is NOT a discrete 6.1 channel playback format since it utilizes a matrix to derive the additional surround channel.
* THX SURROUND EX encoding and decoding can be utilized with any 5.1 channel format (Dolby Digital, dts, etc...).
* THX SURROUND EX is only being offered in THX Ultra certified products - initially.
I briefly tested the new DTS/DD EX version of Terminator 2, and all modes seem to be working. Now, it's time to recalibrate everything, and enjoy it!
Lex