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(Continued
from previous page) How you choose to use the 12 input selections is up to you and your dealer, who no doubt may have his own strong preferences. But you have at least two ways to proceed. It's possible to simply assign one source and one speaker configuration to each of the 12 "inputs." For example, you could setup a DVD player on input one, with a full surround set up including subwoofer. Input button 2 might be labeled "CD," and use the same DVD player, but be limited to a 2-channel speaker configuration, with full-range left and right channels and no subwoofer. Proceed down the line, putting a 2-channel tuner setup on button 3, perhaps a multichannel satellite on number 4, and so on. The manual explains how to copy speaker configurations from one input to another, so this is probably the easiest way to set things up. But in addition, each one of those 12 input buttons actually has six different levels, each of which can be individually selected and configured. In the above paragraph we have essentially ignored all but the top level of each button, and you can, too. But if you need more than 12 different inputs and input setups, or simply want to go wild, you can use this additional flexibility. For instance, you could label the first input DVD, and arrange for it to use a full 5.1 speaker configuration. Then, using the same input button but selecting, in turn, each of its five additional sub levels, you can add other sources you might want to use in a full 5.1-channel multichannel form. This would give you as many as six different setups on input button one alone, and still leave 11 additional buttons, each with six available levels. The mind boggles. We suspect that most users will never require this complex a setup, but the Casablanca can accommodate it, if needed. Aside from its ability to save 72 possible source configurations, the most remarkable aspect of the Casablanca II is its almost unlimited speaker-crossover options. Where the original Casablanca had only a single crossover type-albeit with a host of user-selectable crossover points, from Off to 120Hz--the II adds both Butterworth and Linkwitz-Riley crossovers. I experimented initially with crossover types, preferring either the Phase Perfect (similar to the crossover in the original Casablanca) or the Linkwitz-Riley, but in both cases I lowpassed all speakers to the subwoofer at appropriate frequencies. After a suggestion from Theta's Frank Culmone, I ran the front and rear MartinLogan Prodigys and ReQuests full-range while still sending a lowpass signal to the subwoofer (everything below 40Hz for the L/R front channels and below 63Hz for the surrounds). I'm sure I could drive myself batty playing with all the different options. If you're an audiophile regularly bitten by the biannual upgrade bug, the Theta is ready for your next speaker.
One interesting mode on the Casablanca II is called Analog Matrix. This sends the two main channels through without digitizing, but synthesizes the center, surround, and subwoofer channels in the digital domain. For the most part, though, 2-channel analog sounds best in Analog Direct, which does not use any digital processing. The remote control is functional, and I guess that's all you need. Within a few nights, I was navigating its unlit face in the dark with ease. Yes, its buttons are all identical, but they're feeler-friendly and logically grouped,
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explanation.
