Dolby Digital Mono (1 Viewer)

[jacob w k]

I was just watching my first dolby digital mono movie with my receiver and I noticed that I could listen to it either from the center speaker, the normal setting, or mono through my front speakers when it was in a downmix mode. What exactly is the downmix mode and is it taking away from the quality of the sound?

 

[Kevin P]

Downmix mode simply sends whatever channels are in the soundtrack to the left and right front speakers. It's intended for people who don't have surround speakers, or for listening to surround soundtracks through headphones (unless you have Dolby Headphone in your receiver or processor). Like you discovered, it can also be used to send DD 1.0 (mono) soundtracks to your main speakers, which can be useful if your mains are superior to your center speaker.

KJP

 

[jacob w k]

Thanks for responding. Is there any loss of quality when the mono is downmixed?