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Hi ALL.I am currently designing a high end surround sound decoder to retail at arround $3000.
What features do you consider essential, usefull, nice gadget or waste of time.
The basic spec is; 8 stereo in + Tape, 7 digital in, 1 digital out, 7.1 decoder, 8 channel through for DVD-A. Zone 2 audio and video. 5 composite inputs and 2 outputs + VCR, 5 s video inputs one output + VCR, 3 component inputs, one component output. Headphone ouput. Optional MM,MC phono stage.
It decodes Dolby digital and DTS ES and descrete, has pro logic II, THX EX, DTS neo and some two channel effects (Music,Hall,Church,club,Sports stadium, Party)
There are two infared remote inputs one for zone one and one for zone 2. two trigger outputs one for zone one one for zone 2. One infared remote output.
Any comments greatfully received.
A.E
Follow Ups:
Thanks for your suggestions.We have already allowed 17mm between the RCA plugs instead of the usual 14mm. It may not sound like much but is makes it much easier to wire up.
The unit will use analogue volume controls to maintain the highest signal to noise ratio possible and has an analogue bypass mode. I have also specified an analogue bypass with extra subwoofer information and an analogue bypass with subwoofer and surround channel informaiton. (i.e the DSP just creates the extra information and the stereo is bypassed straight to the outputs)
Sorry to say that there is just not enough room for two sets of 5.1 inputs although I can see that it may soon become a nice feature.
Not Sure that I can have independant Xover frequencies for each speaker with the DSP I am using however it is good idea and I will look into it.
High bandwith component paths have already been included.
If you have any more suggestions or grips about things I shouldn't do I would be very interested to hear them.
P.S Athough I don't work for Meridian any more, I was involved in the design of the remote you are talking about, all I can say in my defense is I was just following orders. I didn't think it made any sense either. ( I know its pitifull but I was just a junior engineer back then and my lot was just to lay out the PCB.)
1) Variable crossovers for each set of speakers (front L+R, Center, Surrounds, Backs). This means that I could set say 50Hz on the mains, 60 Hz on the CC and 80Hz on the Surrounds + backs.2) Unlike John C, I don't like digital volume controls, it makes analog bypass very tricky to implement. Besides which, you have to extend out to > 24 bits to do the volume control without losing resolution. Which leads to....
3) Include stereo and 5.1 (or 7.1 or whatever) bypass (which you already have listed).
4) Two sets of 5.1 inputs for those of us crazy enough to have DVD-A and multi-channel SACD.
5) Personally, I don't like all the DSP surround modes, DPL-2 would be enough for me.
6) Balanced outputs would be a nice feature, but not a requirement.
7) If you're going to switch component video, you need really high bandwidth to properly handle HDTV, > 100MHz to carry the signal without degradation.
Not sure you can do it but could you have a "Direct" meaning true direct including analog volume control? This would open up its appeal to dyed in the wool analog fans.Personally I feel the best processors can upsample and downsample without corrupting the signal so volume control in the digital domain is fine. However you may never convince some audiophiles. But then again, it depends on the market you are aiming at and maybe the number of such purists might never touch a digital unit so attempting to cater to the very few who would is not worthwhile. Following this line of thought opens up the question as to whether to include a phono stage at all. Personally I would not bother but leave it as something which could be connected to one of you high level stages via an external phono amplifier component. Having a "stereo" option which mutes the surrounds might appeal to some wishing to use it for phono input.
Another suggestion I would make is to space out your RCA sockets. Nothing is more irritating than attemting to plug tighten (or the reverse) RCA leads with thick cables & thicker plugs when those rotten sockets are placed very close together. My personal feeling is you might have such a large number of inputs and outputs in your present plans that this problem is likely to arise.
As a corollary of the above para, a nice touch would be to have a little plate under each input socket upon which the user could write down or attach a small sticker about what they have connected . This would also force a little more distance between each pair of inputs. In the same vein avoid being too specific with labelling. Phono, CD, DVD are pretty standard but for the rest I suggest Video 1, video 2, HL 1 (high level 1), HL 2 would be better than "cable", "satellite", "tuner" etc which not all might use.
I presume you would use a remote control and the design of most of these is POOR with the Meridian 800 series taking the cake - needs a table and has rotten small buttons. With the sort of complex receiver you are planning, if used with the multitude of inputs allocated, a programmable remote such as the Philips PRONTO would be just about a necessity. However, as suiggested above, your remote could have nicities such as a "Stereo" button which muted the surround channels as well as the standard "mute", "Volume" etc controls. A "balance" control is something many audiophiles would appreciate also. Another hate I have with remotes is those that use rubber buttons which do not always respond on first press.
Full marks to you to ask for suggestions. I get the feeling that quite a few designers present us with what they think we would like without researching it. No offence is meant to those audiophiles who end up designing equipment as most of those DO have a reasonable grasp of what is required. Not so the guy(s) (I cannot believe any woman would be involved) who designed that ghastly Meridian remote!
Good luck
John
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