THX Announces ‘Loudness Plus’
from a news blurb on Extreme Tech
THX this week announced “THX Loudness Plus,” a new volume-control technology that negates the need to blow your ears out to listen to THX-approved audio.
THX Loudness Plus will be featured in THX Ultra2 Plus and THX Select2 Plus Certified pre-amps, integrated systems and receivers. Yamaha will be the first consumer electronics manufacturer to incorporate THX Loudness Plus and THX Ultra2 Plus certification with its flagship AVR RX-Z11, THX Ltd. said.
The Yamaha receiver, at least, will be marked with a “0-dB” level, which will indicate the THX reference point. That point indicates the reference volume level where engineers originally mixed the special effects.
At lower volumes, however, the Loudness Plus technology will kick in, using what THX calls Multi-channel Spectral Balancing and THX Dynamic Ambience Preservation to preserve the ambient richness of the sound at reduced volumes.
“Most consumers don’t have listening environments where they can consistently play movies and games at Reference Level, so they are often required to listen at lower volume levels,” said Warren Mansfield, director of consumer technology at THX, in a statement. “With THX Loudness Plus, home theater enthusiasts have the option of cranking the sound, or turning the volume down and still hearing the ambient detail in movies, video games or music soundtracks just like they were mixed in the studio.”
While this is to be applauded for the effort, it is less than revolutionary in its scope. It is merely allowing a change in the loudness compensation curve that many receivers feature.
I certainly hope that the curve will reflect some correlation with realistic sound, as I found previous attempts at ‘reference quality sound’ from THX rather lacking.
Leave a Reply