Fresco Speaker Manuel D’Utilisation

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H
OME
 T
HEATER
Home Theater     13
Figure 26. Fresco i loudspeakers as front, center and surround (effects) 
channels. Abyss subwoofers as 0.1 (effects) channel.
It had long been the practice of stereo buffs to connect their 
television to a stereo system. The advantage was the use 
of the larger speakers and more powerful amplifier of the 
stereo system. Even though the sound was greatly improved, 
it was still mono and limited by the broadcast signal.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s two new home 
movie formats became widely available to the public: 
VCR and laser disc. 
By 1985, both formats had developed into very high quality 
audio/video sources. In fact, the sonic performance of some 
video formats exceeded audio-only formats. Now, with 
theater-quality sound available at home, the only element 
missing was the "surround sound" presentation found in 
movie houses.
Fortunately almost all films are Dolby and DTS encoded  
and have the same surround sound information encoded 
on home releases as the theatrical release. All that is 
required to retrieve this information is a decoder and 
additional speakers and amps.
Home theater is a complex purchase and we recommend 
that you consult your local MartinLogan dealer, as they 
are well versed in this subject.
Each piece of a surround system can be purchased 
separately. Take your time and buy quality. No one 
has ever complained that the movie was too real. The 
following list and descriptions will give you only a brief 
outline of the responsibilities and demands placed on 
each speaker. 
Front Left and Front Right
If these speakers will be the same two used for your 
stereo playback, they should be of very high quality and 
able to play loudly (over 102 dB) and reproduce bass 
below 80 Hz. 
Center Channel
This is the most important speaker in a home theater
system, as almost all of the dialogue and a large portion 
of the front speaker information is reproduced by the 
center channel. It is important that the center speaker 
be extremely accurate and mate well the front speakers, 
and that it is recommended for use as a center speaker. 
This is not the place to cut corners.
Surround Speakers
We recommend (along with the film industry) that the 
surround speakers play down to at least 80 Hz. Surround 
speakers contain the information that makes it appear 
that planes are flying over your head. In the past some 
people suggested that this is the place to save money and 
purchase a small, inexpensive speaker. Now with the 
proliferation of discrete multi-channel digital encoding 
the demands on surround speakers have increased.
Subwoofer
With any good surround system you will need one or 
more high-quality subwoofers (the .1 in a 5.1 channel 
surround system). Most movie soundtracks contain large 
amounts of bass information as part of the special effects. 
Good subwoofers will provide a foundation for the rest of 
the system.