What is CinemaEQ on Kenwood VR-509? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Stewart]

My Kenwood VR-509 A/V receiver has a CinemaEQ mode. When I turn it on, the sound is noticeably different--for one thing, it is louder. But why? What does CinemaEQ do? What is its intended purpose? How does it work? The user's manual gives no appreciable information on this. Can anyone help?

 

[Marty Neudel]

Eric,

I'm not familiar with the Kenwood receiver; but, I suspect that their CinemaEQ is a variation on THX Cinema Re-equalization. This feature was included in the THX protocol because many soundtracks were being transferred to video with the exaggerated high end required to propogate those sounds throughout a large theater. Cinema Re-equalization basically cuts the treble and thus re-equalizes the sound to a normal curve for home audio.

However, I have no idea why the treated track should sound louder on your reciever. Perhaps someone specifially familiar with that model will step in and lend a hand.

Marty

 

[Albert M]

www.kenwoodusa.com
Cinema EQ: enhances bass response for films and smoothes the blend between front speakers and subwoofer.

 

[Eric Stewart]

Well, it looks from the Kenwood USA web site as if Cinema EQ is not actually responsible for cutting unnaturally bright treble, as Marty Neudel thought, in view of the fact that "many soundtracks were being transferred to video with the exaggerated high end required to propogate those sounds throughout a large theater." It is thus not "a variation on THX Cinema Re-equalization." Rather, Kenwood offered that function, calling it THX Front-Channel Re-Equalization, in the THX Select feature on its no-longer-made VR-510 receiver (see http://www.kenwoodusa.com/group_info...oductTypeId=55 for a description of THX Select). The THX Select feature is now on the Kenwood VR-5080 and VR-6070 receivers, and the more powerful THX Ultra certification is on the more expensive VR-5700.
The Cinema EQ feature is, as Albert M said, something that "enhances bass response for films and smoothes [sic] the blend between front speakers and subwoofer." This is confirmed by the glossary at http://www.kenwoodusa.com/support/glossary.jsp?ra=a.
Also, I found this at http://www.kenwoodusa.com/lounge/art...ssReleaseId=50: "Using a variety of equalization and filter techniques, Cinema EQ overcomes the low-frequency limitations that plague all small speakers and cause a mis-match between the speakers and subwoofer in the upper bass/lower midrange. Cinema EQ yields smoother, more accurate response, which will be particularly noticeable on male voices." It specificially describes Kenwood's model-year-2002 packaged home theater systems, not their receivers, but I assume Cinema EQ is the same for both.
In short, I gather that Kenwood's Cinema EQ is designed to ease problems with mismatched crossover frequencies between subwoofers and "small" front speakers with little or no bass capability.
It is too bad Kenwood chose this confusing name, Cinema EQ, which is exactly the name Denon uses for its generic equivalent to THX Re-Equalization, meant (as Marty Neudel implied) to reduce over-bright treble. Here is what Denon says about it in its PDF for the AVR-1403 receiver:

•Cinema Equalizer
The sound from movie sources recorded in Dolby Digital, DTS or other
formats emphasizes high-frequency range due to a theater’s front speakers
being placed behind the movie screen. If this sound is reproduced in
the home theater without correction, the high-frequency range is too
strong. The AVR-1403 features a Cinema Equalizer to correct these high-frequency
components so that the sound is clearer and easier to listen to.
(For Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, and DTS surround modes)

The full PDF can be found at http://www.usa.denon.com/catalog/pdfs/avr1403.pdf.

 

[Chuck Kent]

Eric: You've got it. The Kenwood circuit is essentially a bass boost. Nothing at all like everyone else's version of Cinema Eq...

 

[Greg Kolinski]

wouldnt it be nice if all these manufacturers spoke the same"language",I still can barely decifer the manual for the HK520 I purchased.