DTS-ES Discrete 6.1
Dear Gary: Love the magazine and Web site! I have a question for you in reference to the Denon AVR-5800. Since THX specs specify two pairs of speakers for the surround channels, and since DTS and THX are supposedly compatible, does the AVR-5800 have two sets of binding posts for the rear channel, so you can have 2 surround and 2 rear speakers? Or do you have to wire both rear speakers from a single set of binding posts? And did you use just one rear, center, channel for the review, or did you use two rear channels, as per THX?
Ben Asaro, Brooklyn, New York
Equipment Review Editor Shane Buettner Comments:
First, DTS® and THX® are not supposedly compatible, they are 100 percent compatible. DTS is, of course, a sound format while in the home theatre arena, THX refers to a certification of quality standards as well as a suite of post processing of the audio signal, after the signal has been decoded in DTS or Dolby Digital. So, make no mistake about that. As to the AVR-5800, it does have binding posts for each of the two back surround channels, although it can be configured to use only one back surround channel. This is in addition to the left and right surround channels, meaning that you can employ 2-4 surround channel speakers at any given time. But there’s more. The AVR-5800 can also be configured to run two pairs of left and right surround speakers, and there are thus two sets of speakers terminals for left and right surround channels. Denon has done this so the user can set up one pair of monopole speakers for multichannel music listening and another pair of dipole, diffusion speakers of the type THX recommends for movie soundtrack listening. You can then configure different listening modes to use whichever pair of speakers is most appropriate, although you can only be listening to one pair at a time. I have a strong preference toward monopoles or bipoles (not out-of-phase dipoles)identical to or as closely matched to the main speakers as possible for movies and multichannel music, and I’m happy that Denon acknowledges this point of view with the configuration options of their receivers.
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