[Zoun99]

Hi all,


Having seen some activity in this forum regarding EX soudtracks decoding led me to the following question:


The rear center channel of an DD EX/DTS ES soundtrack can be decoded with a Pro-Logic decoder.


For people who have independent preamp/amp or people who have preamp output on their AV receiver, this sounds easy to achieve, BUT!


A prologic decoder (either analog or digital) is designed to work on the signal before volume adjustment (line level). What we get out of our preamps/receivers is volume adjusted (before going to the amplifiers).


Thus, according to me, the solution of adding a prologic decoder to the surround line output won't work (or only when listening at high SPL!).


Did I get it right?


Didier.

 

[Alan Gouger]

A prologic decoder will work.When ever there is mono info coming out of the reas the prolodgic decoder will send that to the rear center instead of to the L/R rears. A device such as the Smart EX decoder is far superior and makes a big difference and is only $299.

 

[Zoun99]

Hi Alan,


Maybe I was not clear enouh, but this was not exactly my concern.


My concern is the electrical level of the signal. The prologic decoder is designed to work with a line level signal (say 1 or 2Volts). The output of a preamp sits after volume adjustment, hence, when listening at low levels, the signal can be as down as few mVolts.


If for instance the prologic decoder is digital (which represents the majority today), the input signal is first digitized then decoded. Digitizing a 2 volts signal or a few mvolts signal is very different. If you don't adapt the input range of the digitizer, you will get very poor result with the low level signal. And since the decoder is designed to work only with strong signals, I suspect we have a problem in using prologic decoders AFTER volume adjustment.


This was the essence of my question. Any thouhts?