Which receivers have adjustable PLII? (1 Viewer)

[Kyle_Y]

I've heard some people saying that the high end Denon's have adjustable PLII settings. Is this true of the 2802 also, if any owners of the 2802 could comment on that, thanks. Also, which Yamaha's have it, does the RXV-1200 or HTR-5490? Does the Onkyo 696 have this feature as well?

 

[Will]

I'm not positive, but I remember reading that, while Dolby

says it's fine not to have all the DPL 2 adjustments, that

all home receivers that have come out so far, including the

very inexpensive Kenwood, have all the DPL 2 adjustments.

I'm not sure that this is correct, but I believe that's

what I read somewhere. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[Chris PC]

I am sure the Onkyo 797 has adjustments for DPL II and I believe the 696 might also have adjustments. I know the Marantz SR x200 models do not have any adjustments for DPL II.

 

[Will]

I found the posting. It's at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&postid=715755
and if you search for the word "Kenwood" you'll find this
from Mr. Roger Dressler of Dolby Labs:

The license is the same for PLII in every case. The licensee decides how much of it to use. In some of the early products, the challenge was to replace PL with PLII. PL had one control: on/off. PLII has Movie, Music, Panorama, C-Width, and Dimension, the latter two having several settings. That takes a lot more control space, and it didn't drop into some architectures transparently. In other cases, they may have opted for simplicity over complexity. But in fact, the least expensive products, such as Kenwood's $300 507 receiver, has all the same controls as the MC-12's PLII section.

 

[Kyle_Y]

Thanks guys, I just found out that the Denon 2803, 3802, and I think the 1802 as well all haev the adjustments.

 

[Karl Erik Sylthe]

The following list shows "DPL II version"

on receviers:

"Full version":

- Denon, all models.

- Yamaha, RX-V1200(5490)/2200/3200/RX-Z1/AZ-1.

- Kenwood, all models.

- Onkyo, 797, 898

- Outlaw 950 (pre/pro)

- Any other pre/pro with DPL II (I guess)

"Light-version":

- H/K AVR120, 220, 320, 520.

- Marantz AVR4200/5200/6200/7200

- Onkyo 494/595/696

Dont know:

- Sony ES receivers with DPL II.

- Marantz SR 8200/9200

 

[John Morris]

Alright... what the heck is DPL2 setup options? Are folks talking about disabling options or the type of options available with yahoo DSP options? Isn't this like DD/DTS or Logic 7 where you either select it or not?

 

[Roger Dressler]

In the case of the Onkyo "light" products, the product offers PLII Movie and Music modes, as usual. But the Music mode does not offer the user any adjustment of the Center Width or Dimension controls, and Panorama mode is turned off. These settings used are where the other "full" decoders normally default, and are the settings we found to be most effective for most music material.

 

[Rick Radford]

Onkyo 989 also has the full version of DPL II.

 

[Pete Jennings]

As does the Marantz SR-8200...

 

[Bryan Acevedo]

John, the DPL II setup options are as follows: (Note, DPLII on most receivers is not just an on/off setting, just as DTS:Neo6 is not) Note: this is based on my Denon 3802 receiver.

DPL - lets you turn on the old DPL decoding.

DPLII Cinema - lets you turn on the "cinema" mode of DPLII. This decodes a lot like DPL, but the surrounds are in stereo and full frequency response. On my Denon, you can also turn on Cinema EQ this mode.

DPLII Music - lets you turn on the "music" mode of DPLII. This decodes a lot like DPLII Cinema (the logic steering is correct) but takes into account the adjustments you can make on the "full" implementations. These adjustments are center width, dimension and panorama.

Center Width - this is a setting that goes from like 0 to 6 (I can't remember) where you can adjust how wide you want the center channel to be. Basically what it does is this (found out through experimenting). Adjusting to 0 almost turns off the left and right speakers, leaving the center channel on full volume. Adjusting up to 1, 2 and 3 increases the left & right speakers, leaving the center channel at full volume. Adjusting to 4, 5, 6 leaves the left & right speakers at full volume, while cutting the center channel level down. So a setting of 3 (which is what I have it at) will have the left & right and center channel all at the same volume. As you can see, it gives you a lot of flexibility in choosing how wide you want your center channel sweet spot to be.

Dimension - this one is kind of weird, as I can hear the effect, but not sure exactly what it is for. It has settings from 0 - 7 (I think, can't remember off the top of my head) which seems to allow you to adjust the "cohesiveness" of the front and rear speakers. Setting to 0 (or maybe it is 7, can't remember) almost makes them seem disconnected, like there is a big hole between them. Setting them to 7 (or maybe 0) makes it sound like they are really close to each other. I have mine on 3, as it seems to make it sound more connected in my room. I think what this adjustment is for, is so you can adjust the front/rear interaction based on the size of your room.

Panorama - this one is a mystery to me. It has two settings - on or off. I have tried it on and off, and I can't hear the difference on the material I am listening to. Honestly, I haven't done a lot of tinkering with it, some day I will. But I just leave mine on.

As a side note, I do all of my listening (music, CD, satellite, VCR) in DPL II music mode. I can tweak the music mode to sound exactly like the cinema mode (which I don't like - everything still collapses to the center channel), or what I do is I have it tweaked so that I have a fuller front soundstage - instead of a weak center channel oriented sound stage. Also, the surrounds sound much more full in the music mode. One of the surround modes I liked on my 3801 was the Matrix mode, which basically left the left & r channels alone, and got the ambient sounds from the signal. It was nice to not have everything collapse to the center channel. With the DPLII music mode adjustments, I have even more control of this, plus stereo surrounds! I personally feel they should just have one version of DPLII, and make these setting standard. I think more and more people are using the music mode exclusively, and the adjustments mean you can set it up exactly how you like it.

Maybe someone from Dolby can help explain what the different settings are supposed to try and accomplish, not what I have observed.

Hope this helps.

Bryan

 

[Karl Erik Sylthe]

Now we only miss the Sony ES Receivers on the "status-list".

Anyone know if they have "full" DPL II?

 

[Joe Schwartz]

I'm also eager to know the DPL2 capabilities of the new Pioneer Elite VSX-47TX and 49TX. One owner has been unable to find any DPL2 parameters.

 

[Richard Burzynski]

Any update on the Pioneers and the DPL2 settings?

Rich B.