Theta Digital Casablanca III Owner'S Manual Download

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Speaker Delays

Like the Levels sub menu(s), the Delays submenu(s) are interactive. Depending on what DAC channels are installed
in the Casablanca III determines what speaker channels are shown in the Delays sub menu, and whether or not there
are one or two Delays sub menus. Unlike the Levels sub menus, if there are two Delays sub menus, navigating
between them is accomplished via the

A-D

button.

The Delays sub menu allows the user to set a time delay for each speaker to reflect the audio system configuration,
room characteristics, or the listener’s preference. Another way to look at it is that the sound from all speakers should
reach the listening position at the same time and this sub menu provides a means for achieving just that. The
allowable range for the front left/right, center and sub speaker(s) is

milliseconds (mS) and

mS for the

side and surround speakers. Since discrete sources are often recorded with surround delays, it is recommended that
the surround delay setting for 5.1 sources be 15 mS less than non 5.1 sources.

Figure 36 - Front Panel Display of the SETUP

INP

DELAYS 1 Sub Menu

Press

SETUP

, input (

INP

) then delays (

DLYS

) to access the speaker delays setup sub menu shown in figure 36. The

current delay settings will be displayed on the top row of the VFD. Additionally, the sub menu title “

DELAYS

” will be

displayed in the upper right corner. All delay settings apply to all

MODES

, however, they can be further manipulated

when the current

MODE

is either Dolby Digital, DTS or Circle Surround, via additional Setup submenus for these

MODES

. These additional Setup features and respective sub menus are discussed further in this section.

The first time a multi channel audio system is set up in a room, calibration of time delay [and speaker levels] is
required in order to have the sound from each individual speaker reach the listener at the correct time.

If more than six DAC channels are installed in the Casablanca III, there will be a right arrow above the

A-D

button,

indicating that by pressing this button, a second Delay page will be presented as shown in figure 37.

Figure 37 - Front Panel Display of the SETUP

INP

DELAYS 2 Sub Menu

Center speaker delay is required if the center speaker is closer to the listening position than the front left and right.
When this is the case, the center delay time should be 1mS for each foot closer.

The same rule applies for all other speakers that are a different distance from the listening position than the front
left/right speakers and the same rule of thumb applies: their delay time should be 1mS for each foot closer than the
front left/right speakers. This is assuming that the front left speaker is the same distance from the listening position
than the front right.

Begin by measuring the distance (in feet) from each speaker to the listening position. Write down all of these values.
Ideally, the front left/right and center speakers will all be the same distance to the listening position. In this case, set
the front left/right and center speaker delays to 0mS. If the center speaker is closer, then delay it. The delay value