Don't current 'THX' rated processors have a 'post processor' for 'THX'. At least that is what the THX folks say. How much added good that processor does you-----your guess is probably better than mine. I try to keep to tube equipment when I can! (I wonder if a vacuum tube processor could be designed and built without ANY transistors or ICs??? How much do you think that would cost???)

THX is post processing. It takes a processed signal (Pro-logic, PL II, DD or DTS) and applies post processing (re-equalization, timbre matching, decorrelation, etc) to it.

Jim Fosgate, inventor of Pro Logic II, designed the FAP-V1: a tube based PL II surround processor/pre-amp.

$7500

It was displayed at CES 2001; see photo here . I don't think it ever came out and Fosgate Audionics is now talking about a 2003 release, saying that the delay will translate to a better product. (Sound familiar?) To see the specs of the FAP-V1, check out the original press release here .

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Sanjay

THX Ultra 2 is both a certification scheme and an audio format. THX Ultra 2 is a "seven-channel" surround mode that derives sides and rears. This mode must be implemented in a processor to receive THX Ultra 2 certification (pace my colleague Philip Brandes over at SMR). Unfortunately THX updates its website so infrequently that there are no details available there yet.

But your concept is correct -- THX cert does not necessarily mean that the gear will sound any better than non-THX cert gear.

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Nigel Pond
SMR Home Theatre
SMR Forums
SMR Group
HighFidelityReview

[This message has been edited by ukexpat (edited February 19, 2002).]

Thanks for the info Sdurani!!! I look forward to its release (just as I look forward to the 950's release!!!)

Isn't THX designed to have the rear effect speakers on the side walls, parallel and in line with the listening position, where as the other formats (we are talking about 5.1 here guys!) are setup with the rear effects speakers behind the listening position?

For $7500 I personally wouldn't even consider the Fosgate processer (if it even ever comes out). It's a nice curiousity piece, but that's where it ends. The PL II decoding in the 950 will be just as good, for less than one-eighth the price.

Slick, if you're looking for that lush & warm tube sound, buy the 950 and hook it up to some inexpensive but nice tube amps.

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Sanjay

And 105 dB sensitivity speakers.

LothX speakers, perhaps! I hope that by its release I will be wealthy enough that 7000$ is like buying a candy bar! But until then I will just have to live like "poor white trailer trash" (no offence to anyone, it's just a saying!) and settle for the "best bang for the buck"! It would be nice, though, to just get the best regardless of price!

Hear hear. I'd love to buy that Lexicon but recognize that I am a man of limited means.

Of course, if this startup company I'm working for takes off... I may just have to say fare the well to all my Outlaw frieds... But then again the last startup I was working for went *POOF* very quickly...