THX-ultra 2?

[gargamel]

Hi there.
I recently upgraded my system to a 7.1 when I purchased the RDC-7 about 2 months ago.
I always use the THX-2 ultra setting, but when the signal is thx-ex or DTS 6.1 I have my doubts as to what setting would be best.
I hear that it sounds better when you stick to the original, that is, if you have a thx-EX signal set the RDC-7 to that mode and so on, but I would like to hear your opinions about that. What do you think?

[Burke Strickland]

dave -

Dolby Digital (DD) EX and THX EX were designed to work hand-in-hand so there is no problem using THX EX with Dolby Digital EX sources. I really can't hear a difference when I 've tried DD EX with or without THX. (There may be some DD EX soundtracks where there is a noticable difference, but I'm not going to try to find and audition every such DVD in my collection "with" and "without" to find them.) :>)

When I use the DTS track on discs that have one, I prefer not to have THX engaged if it is DTS ES Discrete. I can't say I've heard anything really "bad" with frequecy range, for example, by having THX mode on with DTS, but I get the subjective impression that THX somehow screws around slightly with the sense of space that the DTS ES Discrete soundtrack is trying to convey, so I don't mix the two. (Just tried it with Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings Extended Edition, which is has a DTS-ES Discrete track and that's the impression I got. THX may help on matrixed DTS ES tracks.)

Why not give it a shot with one or two of your own discs? (Be sure to pick movies you really like, ones that holds up well to repetition.) :>) Try them "with" and "without" -- you may perceive the resulting sound differently than I have. In any case, the soundtracks will sound glorious through yiur RDC-7. :>)

Enjoy!

Burke

[gargamel]

The thing is that THX-ultra II uses 7 speakers but DTS only 6. I wonder if the integra processes the signal into 7 speakers or not.

[Burke Strickland]

When playing a DTS ES 6.1 soundtrack, Discrete or Matrix, sound comes from all 7 speakers. Of course, the rear two may be playing the same signal, but both are driven.

Burke

[gargamel]

Ok then I guess I will stick to THX ULTRA II always except when I'm playing a DTS-ES disk. Thanks for the help.

I'm having trouble in deciding which mode to use when playing music DVD's that come in regular DTS. For CD's I use dts-neo and it sounds cool, but for dvd there is a problem. In the manual it is really not that clear whether the THX-music mode is a THX-ultra II mode or an old THX-mode. I've tried regular DTS, THX-ultra II and THX-music and I can't really tell which one sounds better. Which mode do you prefer?