I work only a few miles from Smart Devices' facility, and I was able to purchase one of their unit when it still had the "EX" logo on it. I had an extra speaker and an unused channel on my amplifier so the only cost was for the device itself. I will say up front that the center surround channel is not worth reworking your entire system at thousands of dollars of expense, but I you are like me and the costs are minimal go for it. With respect to the smart devices unit it has a disadvantage in that there is no way of remotely controling the unit and it will never be able to lock on a an "EX" encoded signal (via a digital flag soon to be encluded on the DVD of such movies). However I think that it is superior to the THX EX units in that it uses the circle surround method of deriving the center surround channel. The DPL method of matrix decoding is essentially center channel oriented. This means that if you present the processor with a Lt/Rt signal, it will collapse the signal to the center channel until a hard right or left signal is detected. Circle Surround works the opposite. It leaves the signal in the left and right channel until a hard center signal is detected. This makes the the Smart Devices unit a better choice for non-EX movies since it does not destroy the stereo seperation in the rear as THX EX decoding would. For this reason THX/Dolby recommends using EX only on movies specifically encoded as such. Smart Devices works well on many 5.1 movies. In fact, the lack of a remote is not an issue to me since I always listen to DD/DTS movies in 6.1. If you get the unit try "The Matrix". This movie really shines in 6.1
3 responses Add your response
HI, I dissagre a little with CLdavis. The EX is basicly Dolby Pro-Logic in the rear channels. THX EX is not a sound or surround DSP. Therefore THX EX doesn't collapse the EX speakers or those of the surrounds. You can here EX active FULL TIME on some new electronics. I happen to have one myself. I DO NOT need to have a EX encoded DVD to get the EX channel to work. Trust me it worked just great when I played Harrison Ford in :AirForce One" My EX channel was very much alive and kicking. It will help when more movies are recorded in 6.1. But I can still enjoy non-EX movies in THX EX. Now there's DTS ES to think about. And guess what you can't decode it with EX technology. There's a kick in the pants HUH! You should know that EX is not a discrete channel. It is a matrixed from the rears. I have two pairs of surrounds and 1 pair of EX rear speakers. Circle Surround is like BOSE-LOGIC it's not licenced by Dolby Labs, THX or DTS. It's thier own version of how it should sound. It seems to do a good job for those who own one. Personally if I were you, I would wait until DTS ES bears it's head and see where things go. Otherwise get EX gear wit an external 7 channel input and add the DTS ES later. I have a little more expendable income that some and have to have the latest and greatest. I have changed my system twice this year. If you want to talk more E-mail me. Good luck to you. Heath- [email protected] |