AliceDenon has announced that it will bring three-dimensional audio format, Auro-3D to its recently introduced Premium AV receivers.
Expected to be available in December 2014, a firmware upgrade will further enhance the feature set of the AVR-X5200W and AVR-X4100W models.
Auro-3D has been optimised to create the sensation of actually ‘being there’. Due to a configuration of ‘height channels’, acoustic reflections are generated and heard naturally due to the fact that sounds originate from around as well as above the listener.
Depending on the size of the room, either one or two additional layers (height and top) with speakers are mounted above the existing surround layer at ear-level to produce Auro-3D’s ‘vertical stereo field’.
The height information, captured in recording or created during the mixing process, is mixed into a standard 5.1 PCM stream that comes with a regular Blu-ray or through online streaming.
A Denon AVR containing the Auro-Codec decoder is capable of decoding the original Auro-3D mix.
“We are proud that our customers will be able to upgrade their AV receivers to incorporate Auro-3D as an additional feature,” says Yoshinori Yamada, global business team leader audio and video at D+M Group. “It proves our constant ambition to offer brand new technologies to existing products, adding value for the owner as well.”
“We are delighted to join forces with Denon, bringing Auro-3D within the reach of a broad customer base,” agrees Wilfried Van Baelen, founder and CEO of Galaxy Studios and Auro Technologies.
“Upgrading your Denon receiver and adding the Auro-3D Height speakers will create an unrivalled natural-sounding immersive experience, with high resolution audio in each channel. Thanks to our Auro-Matic algorithm, even regular stereo sources will be upmixed into an incredible surround sound experience making use of the full Auro speaker setup.”
A fee will be charged for the firmware update.