14 DAY TRIAL // If you thought that 7.1 surround audio was pretty much the farthest this technology would go, you were a bit wrong. It's high time you welcomed the new standard from Dolby, called the Pro Logic IIz, a new though not revolutionary surround sound specification that introduces the 9.1 channel array in our everyday lives. And in case you still think that the Pro Logic IIz is still in the “we'd like to” stage, you should learn that Onkyo – otherwise a brand well-renowned for their high-tech excellence – have already prepared their first AVR supporting the new standard: the TX-SR607, which is now shipping for prices just under the $600 mark.
So, what's with the two new speakers, we're sure you're about to ask. These additional loudspeakers are to be placed on the sides and a few feet above the listening level. In the attached picture you can see that they've been placed more like some ”front surround“ units, yet we're not 100% sure about that.
What we can tell you for sure is that these two new speakers will receive audio signal coming from specialized processors that detect intricate and very subtle FX and time variations that usually occur when it comes to events with a high degree of randomness, such as wind and rain. The new Dolby Pro Logic IIz standard comprises such spatial cues for “amorphous” audio effects and aims at reproducing them as close to real life as possible, even if the cost for this is represented by new holes drilled in your walls and two more cable runs in your already crowded living room.
A very good piece of news you'll surely appreciate is that you'll not be forced to change your DVDs or Blu-ray discs with new ones encoded with the Dolby Pro Logic IIz standard. The decoding process works fine with your existing disc collection, and it will also work with standard stereo or other multi-channel media. It only remains for you to judge “whether more realistic rain drops is worth the price of a new pair of speakers,” as our fellow-editor Dave Kay from Audio Junkies has remarked.
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