Channel Bypass; Stereo Down-Mix - Bryston SP3 Owner's Manual

■ 2 CHANNEL BYPASS
Selects Left and right (or the front left and right)
inputs from whatever analog source is currently
selected. If the DIGITAL mode is active (i.e. if
the LED above the DIGITAL button is ON) then
this becomes a digital down-mix into a stereo
Left and Right output.
■ STEREO & STEREO DOWN-MIX MODE
If this button is selected and the supplied bit-
stream is more than 2 channels, the decoder will
automatically implement a stereo down-mix.
Otherwise, analog or digital two channel signals
are passed as conventional stereo.
NOTE: Down-mix is a software based auto-
matic mixing function available within the
SP3. This process exists because whenever the
number of active decoder outputs or loud-
speakers selected in setup is less than the
number of channels in the Dolby Digital pro-
gram, some channel combining will be neces-
sary to present the program on the available
number of channels/loudspeakers.
A s a part of any program's production, its pro-
ducers can set and adjust the type and ratios
allowed for down-mixing somewhat to ensure
optimum results without compromising the full
Multichannel balance. This is accomplished by
including specific data within the Dolby Digital
bitstream which represents different mixing
coefficients for the centre and surround chan-
nel signals.
T hese will be detected by the SP3 and used to
produce the down-mix if this mode is selected.
D: VOLUME CONTROL / ROTARY ENCODER
Continuous rotary optical encoder for determin-
ing volume level as well as an input for most vari-
able settings and other selections within both the
System and Source menus.
Note that when the volume level is being adjusted
the display changes to large numerals showing the
level in decibels