About Dolby Digital Surround Ex - Film-Tech SA10 Installation Manual

Thank you for purchasing the Dolby Model SA10 Digital Surround EX Adapter. The
SA10 combines ease and flexibility of operation with the high performance and quality for
which all Dolby products are known around the world.

About Dolby Digital Surround EX

Dolby Digital Surround EX adds a third surround channel to digital film sound, a
concept first envisioned by sound designers at Lucasfilm's Skywalker Sound post-
production facility. Jointly developed by Dolby Laboratories and Lucasfilm THX, Dolby
Digital Surround EX gives sound mixers a new level of creative freedom.
Dolby Digital-Surround EX is fully compatible with all current 5.1 digital sound formats
and theatre systems. Prints that use it play normally with current systems, and provide the
extra surround channel when played over systems equipped with the Dolby SA10 adapter.
It has long been known that a center screen channel is necessary to ensure the precise
localization of front sounds for all viewers, including those seated off to the sides. Dolby
Digital Surround EX brings similar benefits to the surround sound field. With Surround
EX, a back surround channel is reproduced by the speaker array at the back of the theatre,
while left and right surround is reproduced by the side arrays (see illustration). This means
that sounds can now be positioned behind the audience, opening the door to exciting new
effects such as true 360° pans.
Cinema processor
with Dolby
Digital capability
LS RS
Dolby SA-10
adapter
The back surround channel also makes front-to-back and back-to-front transitions more
realistic. Flyovers really seem to pass overhead, rather than down the sides of the theatre.
Even ambient sound reproduction is improved, being less affected by the width of the
theatre. Equally important, the new back surround channel assures that even viewers
seated close to the left or right of the theatre experience the total surround ambiance
intended by the filmmaker.
SA10 installation requires wiring the surround speakers into left, back (split into two
groups as shown), and right groups; and providing two additional channels of surround
LFE
L
C
R
LS
BS
BSR
RS
Power
amps
INTRODUCTION
Left LFE (sub) Center
Back surround left
Right
Back surround right