SRS Labs' 6.1 Surround Sound Technology

SRS Labs, not to be confused with San Francisco's own Survival Research Laboratories (SRL) announced its new high-performance 6.1 channel matrix surround sound decoding system, called Circle Surround II (CS II) last week. Based on the company's original Circle Surround technology, CS II incorporates new features that include proprietary dialog clarity enhancement technology and "cinema-like" bass enrichment. The Circle Surround II surround decoder delivers up to 6.1 channels of full-bandwidth audio with rear surround separation from mono, stereo, Dolby Surround and Circle Surround encoded material. Circle Surround II also provides bass over the front channels and subwoofer by monitoring the original program for low frequency audio. It then reproduces it using the company's TruBass technology. CS II is also is backward compatible with Dolby ProLogic decoding and stereo playback. Circle Surround II semiconductors are available now through ADI on the 32-bit SHARC DSP-based Melody decoder models ADSST-2106x and ADSST-21161x platforms and through Cirrus Logic on the Genesis CS 49300 DSP platform. The company plans to license CS II technology to the home theater, pro-audio, Internet, computer, cinema and gaming product manufacturers.