Circle Surround
Circle Surround provides realistic surround environments from
two-channel music recordings. Accurate surround sound signals
based on the stereo information in the recording provide a musical
experience with sonic integrity, which allows you to believe in
what you’re hearing. Circle Surround also creates a believable
front soundstage, apportioning the stereo signal more comfortably
across your three front channel speakers. This makes your Home
cinema system music-friendly in a way that it otherwise cannot
be. Circle Surround is clearly the preferred mode for music listening.
Casablanca is able to offer the fullest realization of Circle
Surround’s potential. Most other implementations of Circle
Surround will be done in the analog domain. Casablanca’s
implementation is fully digital, and is incorporated into the
digital signal processing, which keeps errors and noise from creeping
in.
Circle Surround Modes
There are three Circle Surround modes in Casablanca: Encoded,
Non-Encoded, and Cinema. Encoded is for use with material encoded
with the Circle Surround 5.2.5 process.
CPR explained
Think about how movies are mixed, with all the dialogue and most
of the important stuff steered toward the center speakers. Sure,
that makes lots of sense in a theater, because most people are
sitting well off center axis. It is usually it doesn’t make
a qualitative difference in the sound because theater PA systems
are designed for exactly this kind of mix.
Now visualize the home theater system
with some rinky-dink center channel, perhaps hidden away behind
the screen or lurking in some cradenza. That’s the dialogue
speaker. It is delivering all this dialogue, intermingled with
anything else that the movie’s sound-mixer thought should
image front and center. The poorest sounding speaker in a home
system is given the most critical tasks! What CPR does is get
the stereo speakers involved. This makes all kinds of sense from
the perspective of power distribution (think of the power handling
capability of those poor little center chanels), so it opens up
the dynamic range, and can greatly enhance the overall sound quality.
Computer Assisted Setup -Theta Logic Enabled
(CASTLE)
This user-friendly software comes on a CD ROM (or on floppy discs),
which you use on your PC. Casa Nova’s optional RS232 port
connects to your computer; you use the software to choose your
system setup, and it relays instructions to your Casa Nova.
You may want to save personalized "default" settings
in your computer, as a backup. With your programming instructions
safely stored away, you don’t have to worry about experimenting
with new settings. You can save and then reinstall any number
of complete setups.
CASTLE makes it fast and simple for you to experiment with different
setups, to make your Casa Nova easier for you and your whole family
to use. You can also experiment with different crossover settings
to improve the sound of your whole system. You can do all this
knowing that it is easy to get back to your original settings
whenever you want to.
Your dealer may offer to store your default system setup in his
computer. This can be valuable if the need arises to diagnose
your system’s behavior, or to restore your original (installation)
settings. This could turn a potential house-call into a phone
call!
CASTLE software is very easy to use. All changes are in real time,
so you can monitor the programming as it takes place. For instance,
there is a layout of all speaker crossover choices, which makes
the choosing process intuitively logical.
You can enter audio and video jack names and input select button
names for both LCD and On Screen Display by simply typing them
in.
Casablanca II capabilities
STANDARD
One key "feature" of the Casablanca II is BETTER SOUND.
Sonic excellence results from a myriad of interrelated factors;
improvements in sound result from overall improvements of many
different kinds.
1. Digital Input Cards: 6 coax RCA, 3 TosLink, 1 AES/EBU, 1 coax
BNC; 2 digital coax RCA digital tape outputs.
2. Analog input board (6 stereo analog inputs, 2 stereo analog
tape outputs).2 RF inputs for Dolby Digital laser disc.
3. 96kHz/24bit capability in all twelve channels (depending upon
DAC choices). Circle Surround, Dolby Pro Logic, Matrix, Special
Matrix, Stereo, Mono modes all capable of 96kHz/24bit.
4. RS232 control
5. Ability to download new software: DSP software and control
system software can be downloaded as a file from the Theta Digital
web site to a PC (not available for Macintosh computers), then
sent to the Casablanca II.
6. Twelve channel capability (1. front left / 2. front center
/ 3. front right / 4. surround left / 5. surround right / 6. side
left / 7. side right / 8. front left sub / 9. front right sub
/ 10. surround left sub / 11. surround right sub / 12. front center
sub or center rear surround )
7. Surround Center capable.
8. Full speaker configuration for each input (can help optimize
the system for two-channel playback on one input, home theater
on another).
1. 3 different types of crossovers selectable for each speaker
set (speaker set = left/right, center, surround, Theta Center
Surround™ Types of crossovers = phase perfect, Butterworth,
Linkwitz-Riley.
10. 6 crossover frequencies and four slope options available for
each speaker set.
11. Capable of 5 subwoofers (left/right/center/left surround/right
surround).
12. Two options for a two-subwoofer setup: left/right or front/rear.
13. Hi frequency equalization in all channels.
14. Jitter Jail, digitally stores audio samples in a buffer, then
clocks them to the DACs using a high-quality crystal oscillator
section. (You can spend near $2,000 for a similar circuit in a
standalone box!)
15. Side channels, with separately adjustable levels and delays.
16. Can optimize level and delay settings for Dolby Digital; DTS;
and Circle Surround – each process has separate controls
for speaker levels and delays.
17. Dolby Digital ®
18. DTS ®
19. Ability to apply matrix, special matrix, Circle Surround (optional)
to stereo (two channel) Dolby Digital sources.
20. Discrete IR command to bring Casablanca in and out of standby.
21. Serial number will be programmed into the unit at the factory,
accessible when the unit boots up via the LCD.
22. Maximum Level Limiter: governor is set and released by owner
to protect system from being overdriven by zealous or experimenting
friends and loved ones.
23. Casablanca II owners can password-protect the unit’s
settings.
24. Highly readable blue vacuum fluorescent display.
25. Inputs can be given any name you choose.
26. Customizable Un-mute trigger. You select the response of the
Un-mute function: Does pressing the volume Un-mute the unit if
muted? Or only by pressing mute again?
27. Stand-by Release now offers customizable level. You select
the volume level at which the Casablanca comes out of standby.
Choose either a pre-defined level, which you program in, or set
it to resume at the same volume level at which it was put into
standby.
28. Overall delay (applies to all channels), by input, to match
video delay through a video processor (up to 110mSec.).
29. Party mode (send sum of all channels to all speakers, with
dominance of speaker’s main source).
30. Stereo front/rear mode
31. Complete cabling/setup freedom - any jack can be routed to
any and every input select button
.
32. Four 12v trigger jacks with variable timing; pulse or dc,
variable pulse length.
Casablanca II Options:
1.Your Casablanca II can have from 2 to 12 channels: choose among
these three 3 types of DAC’s for your configuration -- (a)
3 channel superior DAC (balanced and single ended), can handle
96KHz source. (b) 3 channel standard DAC (balanced and single
ended), will mute on 96KHz source. (c) 6 channel standard DAC
(single ended only), will mute on 96KHz source.
2.Broadcast quality video switching: 6 composite, 4 s-video inputs,
1 composite tape out, 1 composite main out, 1 s-video tape out,
1 s-video main out.
3.Broadcast quality video switching: 8 s-video inputs, 2 s-video
tape out, 2 s-video main out.
4.Rack mount.
5.Anodized aluminum cover (vibration resistant, heat dissipating,
and an aesthetic match for the brushed aluminum front panel).
6.Tape DAC, for recording or sending to a second zone one digital
source while listening to another.
7.PC control software, for saving the full CBII setup to your
PC and for fully controlling / setting up the unit from a PC (This
option is not available for use with Macintosh computers)
.
8. 6 or 12 channel digital output card, 96KHz capable, with or
without center channel superior DAC (also 96KHz capable). (Yes,
you could hook up 6 Generation V 96KHz’s and have all twelve
channels be 96KHz compatible.)
Xtreme DAC cards
EZ setup
guide
April 7, 1995
HDCD "Q&A"
Q: I've been reading about this new HDCD technology. Will it improve
the sound of all my CDs, as well as the HDCD encoded ones?
A: The Pacific Microsonics HDCD chip can be used to convert regular
CDs as well as HDCD encoded discs. In comparison with most other
ready- made, preprogrammed digital filter chips it is a definite
improvement. This is because most of the other available off-the-shelf
digital conversion programs are simply inadequate, by audiophile
standards, to do anything but a rudimentary, unsatisfactory job.
The HDCD chip actually encompases two filters, one for HDCD and
a normal conversion filter for all non-HDCD discs.
When comparing most CD converters' and players' digital filters
head-to-head with the normal filter in the HDCD chip, the Pacific
Microsonics chip will sound better, as a lot of care went into
its programming.
With that perspective in mind, we conducted extensive listening
tests to find out how the HDCD chip compared with Theta's digital
conversion section. Our listening staff includes Theta employees
and a number of "educated listeners" we have come to
trust for insightful, accurate feedback on sound quality.
On HDCD encoded discs, nearly all listeners preferred the sound
of the HDCD conversion chip. However, there was a general consensus
among listeners that Theta's digital filter is much better on
all other discs.
Theta's engineers have put years into the development of a very
complex digital decoding algorithm, which requires the powerful
computing section supplied in Theta's processors, to do much more
complete, detailed, correct digital decoding than ordinary CD
processors can. Perfect in phase, frequency and time, Theta offers
performance literally an order of magnitude beyond the power of
all but a tiny handful of extremely expensive processors.
The advantages Theta offers are in all areas of sound that affect
music reproduction: subtleties of tone, temporal nuances that
translate into superb depth and solidity of image, fine detail
resolution, exciting, full bodied bass, clarity, "air",
all the cues that add up to a sense of verisimilitude. Theta's
powerful digital decoding leaves no trace of the harshness induced
by inadequate converters. Listeners sense a graceful, inviting
effortlessness. Most CD reproduction seems stressful. Theta listeners
find themselves drawn into the music.
Theta is making Generation V and Basic III units available with
HDCD as an option. Also, we will be offering HDCD modules as a
retrofit for these models, as well as the Generation III, for
those who already have them. The HDCD module will available as
an option for those upgrading from a Basic II to Basic III.
In all Theta units, non-HDCD encoded discs will be played through
Theta's digital section.
(Here's what went in the dealer's newsletter:)
CONFIDENTIAL: DEALERS' EYES ONLY
The bottom line, in non-diplomatic terms, is that companies lacking
any real technology of their own are crowing about this "great
improvement in sound," because for them it is. There are
only two other companies besides Theta who do their own algorithms,
and they're both ignoring HDCD.
We're being a little more tactful than this in our public announcements
(like the consumer newsletter), but you should be aware of how
things really are. We expect you'll do your own comparisons, though,
when the HDCD modules come in: check it out!
