Lexicon DC-1 - ADDENDUM Owner's Manual Addendum page 39

DC-1 Effects
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FRONT STEERING provides four basic settings which have been devel-
oped specifically to optimize center channel signal strength for film and
music. The MUSIC setting is designed for classical and popular music. It
preserves nearly the full width of the front image, even in complex material
with a high vocal level. At the same time, it reproduces film with plausible
separation between the center speaker and the front speakers during dialog.
The FILM setting has excellent frontal image stability through the whole
room during dialog and vocals, while preserving the full width of the front
image in the spaces between dialog, and for music without vocals. The front
image during vocals is noticeably narrower than with the MUSIC setting,
but highly satisfactory nonetheless.
1/2 is similar to the MUSIC setting under most conditions, but will repro-
duce sound in all three front speakers when a strongly centered, or mono
signal is present. This is an excellent choice for heavily centered pop music
such as metal and sounds more natural for broadcast material with a single
announcer. OFF sets the center channel level to 4.5dB less than the front left
and right speakers, and then leaves the level unchanged as the steering
varies. This setting is equivalent to conventional stereo with a slight center
fill.
SOUNDSTAGE controls the level of the surround speakers relative to the
front speakers in a dynamic way. The DC-1 attempts to detect whether or
not the sound source was originally encoded from a surround source by
looking for occasional bursts of rear-steered material, and by identifying the
directional orientation of the background sound between strong sounds.
Whenever there is an indication that the source was originally surround
encoded, the Soundstage control automattically reverts to the REAR setting
— which gives the rear speakers full level. The NEUTRAL position attenu-
ates the rear speakers 3dB. The FRONT position attenuates the rear speakers
6dB. The effect is to move the listening position forward in the listening
space.
REAR DELAY OFFSET is an additional delay added to the rear channels
when listening to LOGIC 7 and MUSIC SURROUND. This delay increases
the apparent size of the listening space by increasing the rear delay time.
Feel free to experiment to find the setting that works best.
SURROUND ROLLOFF allows the high frequencies of the rear channels to
be attenuated with the same detection circuitry as that described for the
Soundstage control. The attenuation is quite attractive on many music and
broadcast sources which were not mixed for surround. When a surround
source is detected, these filters are removed, so the rear speakers can
reproduce surround events with full bandwidth. This control should be set
high enough to give presence and airiness to the rear sound without placing
distracting instrumental overtones or other sounds behind you. The set-
tings also affect the side outputs.
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