I think the scheme that Secrets has developed for evaluating surround processors and receivers has a lot of potential - they look at some really useful traits and features - but I think the actual follow-through is still a bit rough. For example, the 1070 (and every other unit I recall being tested with this method) fails the Dolby Digital 640 kb/s AC-3 item with the comment "Not specified" - does that mean it may support 640k AC-3 but doesn't mention it in the manual? Wouldn't it make more sense to have a 640k AC-3 source and test it with each unit to see what they do? Same for DTS, with the comment "Does not indicate decoding up to 1509.7 kb/s" - again, I'd rather see an approach like their DVD player benchmarks where they test the unit with an actual DTS 1500k source. (Or, in both cases, ask the manufacturer for confirmation regarding the feature.) As for the bass management, I think there's actually an error in the table - the comment in the cell about bass management seems to indicate a pass (with the qualification that crossover adjustment is in 20Hz increments rather than the 10Hz that is preferred), but the cell's color is red. It would also be good to have some room for "bonus" items such as rare features (such as the option for analog bass management in the 7.1 analog input). I'd also like to see Secrets go back to the review and fix the items in their benchmark chart (such as the power-on volume setting and couple other items noted by Outlaw).
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gonk
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