THX Explained
Feb 09 '00
THX is perhaps the most complicated aspect of home theater to explain. Like Dolby Digital and DTS, THX helps to deliver a clearer, crisper, and more enjoyable movie soundtrack. Although THX is a “form” of movie sound delivery, it does not compete with Dolby Digital and DTS.
Instead of competing with Dolby Digital and DTS, THX actually works with these sound processes. To describe, in simple terms, why and how these system processes can work together we must divide the theater sound into two parts. Generally referred to as the “A” and “B” sections (or chains), each part is covered by a different process.
The “A” process is the reading of the media, determining what goes to each speaker and how much louder each speaker is in relation to the others. Some common “A” chain processes are Dolby Digital and DTS (see Dolby Digital Explained and DTS Explained for further clarification). Thus a theater or home may play a movie in either DTS or Dolby Digital, but never both. Once the sound is decoded, it goes to the “B” chain. This is the THX section. The sound is then amplified and sent through the speakers from which we can hear things like “Luke, I am your father.” (From Empire Strikes Back) Thus, a theater can have DTS and THX simultaneously.
Confused? Patience it takes a while to sink in. The best analogy I can think of is a baseball pitcher and a catcher. Imagine first the catcher signals to the pitcher what pitch to throw (curveball, knuckleball, slider, etc.) this is the DVD with the movie on it. Next, the pitcher’s eyes read what the catcher has signaled (the DVD player) and sends the message to the pitcher’s brain (the decoder). The brain processes it and determines that the thumb and the index finger mean a curveball. The brain sends the corresponding message to the arm. The shoulder, the biceps, and the elbow are the receiver or amplifier for the ball. They put the power into the ball and make it move. When the arm moves to the correct location in space, the wrist and fingers (the speakers) release the ball.
Like any stereo, if just one of the links in the chain break, the ball will not do what the catcher requested.
THX is from the shoulders to the fingertips. It generally deals with the output of the sound from the time it was processed. Take note that this is just the tip of THX, I could get into some real technical jargon that sounds like English translated to Japanese, translated back to English, but I will not.
To get THX in your home you need THX Controller, THX Loudspeakers, THX Amplifiers, THX Room Equalizer, THX Acoustically Transparent Projection Screen, THX Disc Player, and THX Interconnect Cables. Got all that? All of these components are certified by THX to adhere to George Lucas’ strict sound specifications. In fact, THX requirements are so high that many old theaters, due to their acoustic attributes, do qualify for THX certification.
Getting back to English, THX was started in the 1980’s to primarily raise the audio qualities of theatres. Tomlinson Holman developed the criteria and engineering for which Lucas partially named it after him (Tomlinson Holman’s eXperiment.) and partly after his 1971 film THX 1138.
For those looking to purchase a THX home system plan on spending some serious dollars. My guess is upwards of $7,000. Make sure to get matching speakers, and measure the size of your planned home cinema. If is greater than 3,000 cubic feet get the THX Ultra equipment, if is less than 2,000 cubic feet get the THX Select equipment. If it is between those two sizes then all the writing I can do will not help you enough.
In addition, some stereo super-freaks (for lack of a better term) have attested that THX speakers lack the range and clarity of other speakers. They say that the sound, although certified, is often not as good as many non-THX certified speakers. I can not say that every THX speaker is better or worse than non-THX comparable speakers, but I can say that my uncle's home theater which has a lot of THX stuff, sounds amazing compared to my DTS stereo.
Last thing, even if you purchase the correct components, if they are not set-up correctly you will not get THX sound.
Happy listening
--SirMontego, look for me on Battle.net
P.S. its like 4 am right now and I am tired, if I have any technical errors please e-mail the corrections to me. thanks
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