Lexicon DC-1 7.1 channel tips



Here are some Lexicon DC-1 7.1 channel tips I've discovered:
  1. Don't set the sides to "Dipoles", in certain modes the rear channels will be muted!

  2. In THX Cinema mode when you set the surround mode from DECORR to STEREO, you get stereo surrounds but there will be no steering between the sides and the rears.

  3. In all the THX modes (CINEMA, AC3, DTS) the sides and the rears are run in parallel. This is like an array of surround speakers like the Movie Theatre's have. IMO this defeats the main purpose of having 7 channels.

  4. The 7.1 channels, I mean sides and rears really shine with the "Logic 7" modes. If you're 7.1 then these are the modes to use. Am I correct here? The image is very wide. It is somewhat Panorma like. How can I shrink this down? Turning down the surrounds level doesn't really do it.

  5. I have dipoles for the sides and rears. I think dipoles are the way to go, even with music. My sides are the old Altec Lansing THX surrounds that I picked up cheap. Incredible speaker for the price. My old rear speakers are the Boston Acoustic THX dipoles. I definitely recommend getting surrounds with tweeters in them like the Altec Lansing THX dipoles. The extra high end is really nice in AC3 or DTS. It really adds a sparkle to the surrounds. My old Boston Acoustic THX dipoles were designed for Prologic and they roll off the high end.

  6. Don't have EQ's for my surrounds yet, but my feeling is that EQ'ing inexpensive surrounds will give you much more bang for the buck than having expensive surrounds with no EQ. I might be wrong here, but this is my gut feeling. The room does weird things to the surrounds, it is much more dramatic than what the room does to the front speakers.

  7. You don't need a big rectangular room to get the benefits of going to sides and rears. My sides are high on the wall directly on my sides and my rear surrounds are several feet up on the wall right behind and above my couch. Not the ideal setup I know, but it is the best I can do in my room. Let me just say, I don't have the perfect room but I am glad I went 7 channel. The effect is very impressive.

  8. Seven channel steering is nice, but what is nicer is the increased ambience. Now I am totally enveloped by the surrounds. It is much harder to pinpoint the location of the surrounds in seven channel. Since I am from the dipole school of thought I consider this a good thing!!! (:
Seven channels? Just do it. You'll be glad you did.

erik olson



: I'm expanding from 5 channels to 7, and trying to make plans for speakers and speaker placement.

: Help! Anyone with experience in a similar situation? Any thoughts from the lexicon pros?

I have dipole sides and dipole rears and I'm quite happy with the results. I am a strong believer of dipole surrounds for several reasons. The diffuse nature of dipoles is more forgiving in listener postion and odd room geometries, you get a wider sweet spot. I also don't like being able to pin point the position of the surroud speakers, I find this annoying. And last of all, the mythical 5 channel holophonic surround imaging is a joke, I haven't heard it, and they don't mix movies that way.

When you go 7 channel chances are you will need to buy another amp. I personally would take this opportunity to buy a bigger 2 channel amp with more wattage for that passive sub woofer or left and right speakers. I went from 100W to 600W for my two 12" passive sealed subs. What a difference did that make!

One more thing I'd like to say is that the Logic 7 algorithms are awesome, and if you have already spent this much money on a DC-1 then you have to go 7 channel. There is no excuse, its worth it.

erik


Check out my home theatre tips page.