• The SP-EBS73-LR monitor and SP-EC73 center-channel speaker use the same 5.25-inch woofer.

Pioneer Elite SP-EBS73-LR Speaker System

TEST REPORT

By Mark Fleischmann

describe a mono subwoofer channel with two outputs, which does not allow independent adjustment of each sub’s crossover points or levels within the surround processor or receiver.)

Anyway, when I tell you I’m excited about Dolby Atmos, it’s a big deal, the long-awaited rethink of a long-held position. Am I saying that 5.1 is dead? No, only that it has finally found an extension worth your time and money. The beauty of a “Dolby Atmos–enabled” system, like the one

Pioneer Elite’s latest speaker line is the third dreamed up by celebrity designer Andrew Jones, the first to support Atmos, and the first to feature a concentric driver array at a moderate price point. In the SP-EBS73-LR three-way monitor, a 1-inch silk-dome tweeter sits in the center of a 4-inch aluminum-cone midrange driver. This concentric array is repeated in the Atmos height drivers built into the top of the speaker. The monitor’s front baffle also includes a 5.25-inch aluminum-cone woofer, which is duplicated in the SP-EC73 center speaker (along with a 5.25-inch passive radiator) and triplicated in the floorstanding SP-EFS73 ($700/each), that last model not reviewed here.

Jones previously worked for KEF, a stronghold of concentric driver design. He refers to the tweeter-in-midrange array as a Coherent Source Transducer. “Unlike a coaxial driver,” says Pioneer’s Website, “the CST concentric design eliminates audible time domain errors that cannot be avoided when drivers are not aligned on the same axial or vertical plane.” Mediating between tweeter and midrange is a skinny waveguide, with the midrange itself serving as an extension of the waveguide. Both midrange and woofer boast “true pistonic action,” the goal of almost any transducer, for controlled response.

Jones was kind enough to set up the speakers in my home with a Pioneer Elite SC-89 receiver while I noted how the procedure differed from a 5.1 installation. The system under review included five speakers on stands, four sets of height drivers incorporated into four of those speakers, and one sub. Jones adjusted the receiver’s speaker system setting to 5.2.4 (which allows for up to two subs) and its speaker size setting to “Dolby SP.” MCACC, Pioneer’s auto setup program, chose higher levels for the elevation drivers than for their front-

reviewed here, is that it builds on a 5.1 footprint while providing real benefits to the listener—not in the form of faked height channels, but a height layer based on discretely encoded information, enabling a movie mixer to better tell a story.

Atmos EnabledIf you’ve read our previous coverage, you already know that Dolby Atmos is an object-oriented surround technology. Unlike channel-based encoding, Atmos allows mixing engineers to place objects vertically or horizontally, with height effects that expand the hitherto flat plane of surround sound into something more akin to a domed soundfield. The first generations of Atmos speakers and receivers are now arriving. They include Atmos-enabled speakers, like this Pioneer system, which incorporate top- firing elevation drivers that bounce sound off the ceiling—a welcome alternative for the homeowner (or renter) who doesn’t want to poke holes for ceiling speakers.

DOLBY ATMOS BIDS TO CHANGE the landscape of surround sound at home. One thing it has already changed is my mind.

I am that 5.1 guy. I’ve spent much of my tech-writing career promoting the standard 5.1-channel speaker configuration and defending it against all comers. This has pitted me against two-channel loyalists who mistakenly believe there is no such thing as a surround audiophile. But I’ve also opposed what I deem to be useless additions to 5.1.

When Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES made their debuts, I inveighed against surround back channels time and time again. Three speakers in front, four in back: What’s wrong with this picture? I quickly dismissed Audyssey DSX width channels because they made vocals sound processed in two-channel music. I wasn’t too enthusiastic about DSX and Dolby Pro Logic IIz height enhancement either (aside from one positive experience with a movie called The Midnight Meat Train). These faked width and height channels—with their added complications and dubious benefits—have only put potential home theater buffs off surround sound in general. The closest thing I’ve found to a worthy extension of 5.1 is 5.2—most rooms benefit from an extra sub. (Beware of marketing hype, however: the term “.2” is often used to

PRICE $2,500

The Last Skeptic, Part 1

■■ Just-average subwoofer performance

■■ Dolby Atmos–enabled monitors

■■ Laser-like focus from coaxial driver array

Plus

AT A GLANCE

Minus

Pioneer Elite SP-EBS73-LR Speaker SystemPerformanceBuild Quality Value

ELECTRONICALLY REPRINTED FROM FEBRUARY 2015

• Mark felt the SW-E10 subwoofer dovetailed well with the rest of the system.

• The SP-EBS72-LR uses a concentric driver array on its front baffle as well as for the elevation driver.

SPEAKER SYSTEMPIONEER ELITE SP-EBS73-LR SPEAKER SYSTEMPRICE: $2,500 (SP-EBS73-LR, $750 pr; SP-EC73, $400; SW-E10, $600)Pioneer Electronics USA • (800) 421-1404 • pioneerelectronics.com

probing the aesthetics of Atmos for some time to come.

My first impression of Dolby Atmos–enabled speakers was that they were subtle. The four sets of elevation drivers created a slightly taller and more dense soundfield than I’m used to, especially at the transition between the front and elevation drivers, and I liked the greater density as much as the height. Vertical effects made themselves known but didn’t do squat thrusts from floor to ceiling. Even the receiver’s own height-layer test tones didn’t stray far from the speaker; they extended above and around it. Any worries that height-layer effects might become intrusive vanished quickly. Beyond the obvious vertical panning effects, Atmos could also summon a more subtle sensation of height—let’s call it air. Height-layer effects were audible from a range of seating positions but never seemed stuck to any speaker, even the closer rear ones.

You may never get to see the Dolby Atmos Demonstration Disc, so the following examples might seem like a tease, but they did suggest several ways that Atmos might figure in the surround programming of the future—for instance, in music videos. In “Bailando” starring Enrique Iglesias, the lead vocal was pure front LCR, but the height layer carried backing vocals, from the mohawked assistant rapper spurring on Enrique to the massed “oh oh oh oh.” In “Silent,” an animated short subject

with a charming child conductor who personifies the mixer (arguably the central character in any surround-encoded content!), the concluding applause suggested a more organic use of height, more like real life.

Even so, the generation and placement of height-layer effects are mainly artificial. Not that artifice is a bad thing; surround

sound has always trafficked in it. In Dolby’s other animated shorts, synthesized effects trumped natural ones. In the “Leaf Trailer,”

the signature Atmos demo at trade shows, the leaf’s revolving downward trajectory was obviously synthetic. And the hand of the mixer was always evident in placement. Even elements as natural as rumbling thunder and pattering rain were artfully panned. In a couple of Red Bull Formula 1 shorts, height-layer effects seemed almost gratuitous, since cars don’t fly, though the vertical expansion of the soundfield did intensify the physical force of the ferocious engines.

Back to 5.1While Atmos titles are proliferating in cineplexes, most movies are still released in 5.1 for home use, and the Pioneer speakers were virtuosos in the old-school medium, driven now by my trusty VSX-53 reference receiver. The front coaxial drivers focused dialogue in the center speaker and conjured a convincing soundfield with the monitors anchoring all four corners.

Dom Hemingway stars Jude Law as a hot-tempered ex-con who’s practically a force of nature. His ribald opening soliloquy was all the more compelling for the natural but extremely focused way it was reproduced by the center

should redirect bass below that point to the front drivers, though Jones says some receivers improperly redirect bass to the sub, starving the front woofers. Also beware of receiver auto-setup programs that peg the system’s general crossover to the low-frequency limit of the elevation drivers. In this speaker system, the front drivers go much lower than 180 Hz and warrant a crossover no higher than 80 Hz, the setting used here.

On Jones’ recommendation, I left the grilles off (not my usual practice).

Associated equipment included the Pioneer Elite SC-89 Class D receiver for Atmos demos and the Pioneer Elite VSX-53 Class AB receiver—my old warhorse—for 5.1 and stereo demos. Signal sources included an Oppo BDP-83SE universal disc player, Meridian Director USB DAC, Lenovo Windows 7 laptop, Micro Seiki BL-21 turntable, Shure V15MxVR/N97XE cartridge, and the phono stage of a Denon PRA-S10 stereo preamp. All movie demos were on Blu-ray Disc.

Into AtmosOf the two Atmos Blu-rays available for this review, the one I concentrated on was the Dolby Atmos Demonstra-tion Disc. I also watched the first movie available to us, Transformers: Age of Extinction (see the Pioneer SC-89 receiver review for more details on that). Please note that my comments are on an Atmos-enabled speaker configuration, with a particular set of elevation module-equipped speakers, as opposed to an installation with physical speakers mounted to the ceiling. This is not the last word on object-based surround in general. Our reviewers will be

THE VERDICTAndrew Jones’ excellent Atmos-enabled speakers are equally at home in a 5.1-channel footprint as they are transforming surround sound as we know it.

firing brethren, and Jones recom-mends pushing them still higher.

Why? The sound from the elevation drivers has further to travel and loses some energy bouncing off of the ceiling, so they require more power to achieve the same levels as the front-firing drivers. Jones also prefers to factor in a slight additional boost for height-layer effects. So we ended up with elevation speaker settings between 1.5 and 3 decibels over the basic speaker settings. MCACC measured speaker distance for the elevation modules from drivers to ceiling to seating—in other words, including the bounce off my hard plaster ceiling—and correctly arrived at settings roughly twice the actual physical-speaker-to-seat distance. For more information, see the Atmos speaker setup guide on the Pioneer site (pioneerelectronics.com/ephox/StaticFiles/PUSA/Files/Home/Dolby- Atmos-Home-Theater-Installation-Guidelines.pdf).

Per Dolby spec, the top-mount drivers in Atmos-enabled speakers are subject to a 180-hertz low-frequency cutoff. The Atmos receiver

• The top-firing elevation modules simulate ceiling speakers by bouncing sound off the ceiling.

• The sealed SW-E10 sub houses a 10-inch woofer.

Pioneer Elite SW-E10 SubwooferPerformanceFeaturesBuild QualityValue

TEST REPORT

C

SPECS SP-EBS73-LR: 5.25 in aluminum-cone woofer, 4 in aluminum-cone midrange (2), 1 in silk-dome tweeter (2); 7.4 x 15.7 x 9.7 in (WxHxD); 15.7 lb • SP-EC73: 5.25 in aluminum-cone woofer, 5.25 in aluminum-cone passive radiator, 4 in aluminum-cone midrange, 1 in silk-dome tweeter; 19.5 x 7.4 x 9.7 in (WxHxD); 17.6 lb • SW-E10: 10 in polypropylene woofer; 300 watts RMS, 600 peak; sealed enclosure; line-level stereo, LFE in; 13.2 x 15.4 x 13.4 in (WxHxD); 35 lb

SP-EBS73-LR (purple) +1.99/–3.60 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; –3 dB @ 59 Hz, –6 dB @ 49 Hz; impedance minimum 4.72 ohms @ 609 Hz, phase angle +44.69º @ 4.2 kHz; sensitivity 84.5 dB, 500 Hz to 2 kHz.

SP-EC73 (green) +1.75/–3.33 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; –3 dB @ 66 Hz, –6 dB @ 58 Hz; impedance minimum 4.76 ohms @ 640 Hz, phase angle +44.92º @ 4.2 kHz; sensitivity 84 dB, 500 Hz to 2 kHz.

ELEVATION DRIVER (red) +1.36/–4.25 dB, 200 Hz to 10 kHz; –3 dB @ 141 Hz, –6 dB @ 120 Hz; impedance minimum 5.59 ohms @ 338 Hz, phase angle +39.24º @ 3.7 kHz; sensitivity 84.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz.

SW-E10 (blue) Close-miked response, normalized to level @ 80 Hz: lower –3 dB @ 32 Hz, –6 dB @ 30 Hz, upper –3 dB @ 124 Hz with Lowpass control set to maximum.—MJP

Test BenchPioneer SP-EBS73-LR Speaker System

unique multilayered experience. “5.1 still pushes my buttons,” my notebook reminded me.

Back to StereoBy now I had a good idea of how the speakers sounded, but how did they feel? The long-awaited high-resolu-tion audio release of Led Zeppelin IV (or Zoso, if you like) offered answers. One: To my surprise, the monitors felt better running full-range than with the sub. Those 5.25-inch woofers could deliver a tight (though not pile-driving) punch in tracks like “Black Dog.” Two: A play-it-loud track like “When the Levee Breaks” lived up to its potential, with no fatigue-inducing stop signs to mar its shimmering tremolo beauty. Three: Acoustic guitar and mandolin in “Going to California” leaped out of the concentric drivers with pristine nakedness. Here, the drivers combined with the 96/24 FLAC from HDtracks and the Meridian Director USB DAC to mesmerize with never-heard-this-before realism.

Fantasies & Verse Anthems from the English Renaissance composer John Ward arrived on a multichannel SACD from Linn Records. Despite the speakers’ strong imaging, they aren’t the kind of crude treble-boosters that would be merciless to choral vocals and period stringed instruments bouncing off hard surfaces in a chapel. The concentric drivers came through again, using their laser-like focus to present complex timbre, decay, and phase information as a coherent whole. It was more of a you-are-there feeling than I’m used to, even with my reference system.

The Köln Concert is the best of Keith Jarrett’s improvised piano albums, both musically and technically. I wondered if the revealing nature of the concentric driver array would divorce the acoustic character of the city’s opera house from the piano. It did the opposite, tightly linking them into a continuous whole (that word again), which was like a warm bath for the ears. I just melted into it.

If you’ve just invested heavily in a 5.1 or 7.1 system, don’t get bent out of shape. You’ll have the luxury of seeing what the future holds in Atmos

makes it an excellent investment right away. No matter how you spin it, these Elites live up to their name—and at a very non-elite price.

Audio editor Mark Fleischmann is also the author of the annually updated book Practical Home Theater (quietriverpress.com).

speaker advances. It will take years to find out where this new Andrew Jones line stands in the hierarchy of Atmos-enabled speakers.

However, it sure is a great way to get started. If you want Atmos and you want it now, this speaker system is a viable entry point. If you’re looking for a future Atmos upgrade path, the superb 5.1 and 2.0 performance of this speaker system

speaker. Low-frequency events, from ominous thunder to a joy ride that ends in an abrupt thunk, exercised both the monitors’ woofers and the sub, and they dovetailed well, though the sub was no more forceful than an average 10-incher.

In Under the Skin, Scarlett Johansson is a mysterious being who seduces her victims before murdering them. The score accompanies the steadfastly abstract seduction scenes with a churning, dissonant string orchestra. With these speakers, I could almost visualize the violinists and cellists sawing away, and the sound was as edgy and uncompromising as the visuals; these speakers don’t have the warm tilt of previous Jones/Pioneer models. Angry surf on a stony beach gave the four monitors another chance to focus a vivid natural landscape within the soundfield.

Blood Ties has two brothers (Clive Owen, Billy Crudup) exploring a criminal/cop dichotomy. Various moments are emotionally super-charged by classic pop music as mainstream as Gerry Rafferty or as avant-garde as the Velvet Under-ground. What riveted me was the way the concentric drivers focused not just the music, but the blend of music and ambient sound, producing a

This system is an excellent investment right away.

See soundandvisionmag.com for full lab results and technical definitions

ON THE WEB

Pioneer Elite SC-89 A/V Receiver

TEST REPORT

By Mark Fleischmann

that Pioneer developed in partner-ship with AIR Studios in London. While Class D isn’t a Pioneer exclusive, this is the first large-scale deployment of Class D topology in a major manufacturer’s A/V receiver line that has produced, to my ears, consistently high-fidelity perfor-mance. It’s not unproven; you can safely invest your home theater dollars in it. And it’s especially appropriate for the power needs of a 5.2.4 system—that is, one using five ear-level speakers, two powered subwoofers, and four height speakers for Atmos (either ceiling or Atmos-enabled models).

The SC-89 is a nearly 39-pound heavyweight with source-select and volume knobs at the sides of the front panel and the usual navigation, mode, and other controls behind a flip-down door. Connectivity includes eight HDMI 2.0 inputs, three HDMI outputs, and an HDBaseT output, which allows long video runs over cheap Cat-5 Ethernet cable with an optional converter box at the other end. Notably absent, as on many (but not all) new HDMI 2.0 AVRs, is HDCP 2.2 digital rights management. This could prevent the SC-89 from directly passing some protected content from upcoming 4K/UHD sources and services when it is used for switching; you’ll have to decide for yourself how critical a feature this is in light of the

The Atmos-enabled speaker settings include a low-frequency cutoff at 180 hertz. A system with Atmos-enabled speakers should redirect bass below 180 Hz to the front channels, then to the subwoofer as needed. A system using dedicated ceiling speakers, as opposed to elevation drivers, wouldn’t require the 180-Hz cutoff. When speaker designer Andrew Jones helped me install this system (by the way, thanks, Andrew!), he noted that MCACC, Pioneer’s auto setup program, chose a too-high overall sub crossover of 150 Hz, presumably due to the Dolby-imposed bass limits of the Atmos elevation drivers. He dropped the crossover to 80 Hz. That’s already my standard procedure, but readers setting up Atmos, please take note. Andrew also pushed the four height-channel levels a couple of decibels higher than the setting chosen by MCACC.

Let’s note in passing that MCACC Pro is Atmos-compatible, unlike most existing auto-setup and room-correc-tion programs. For example, there isn’t yet an Atmos-compatible version of Audyssey. MCACC Pro features other refinements, including room correction for dual independent subs, finer analysis of phase and group delay, phase correction between channels, and 1-millimeter increments in setting speaker distance.

A Different Dolby Surround The other source of wonder and confusion in the onset of the Atmos era is the reintroduction of the term “Dolby Surround.” This was the

unit’s other strengths. A noteworthy plus is the computer-friendly USB Type B jack for the Pioneer’s ESS SABRE 192-kilohertz/32-bit DAC, still a rare feature but a valuable one.

From here, I’ll skip over the legacy connectivity and go straight to the nine sets of amp channels and the 11 sets of speaker terminals that serve them. That includes everything you need for a 5.2.4 Atmos system (with four height channels) or a 5.2.2 Atmos system (with two height channels). From left to right, the binding post pairs on the rear panel include front right and left, center, and additional pairs labeled top middle, front wide, surround, and surround back. If you’re setting up the nine-channel Atmos configuration of 5.2.4, you’ll use the “surround back” terminals for Atmos’ front height channels and the “front wide” terminals for Atmos height rear. Confused? The flow chart on page 28 of the manual shows what goes where. At press time, Pioneer was working on an installation guide, which might clarify matters.

In the speaker setting menu, you’ll have to set the two pair of Atmos height speakers—identified as TFw and TBw, or top front and top back—as “Dolby Sp,” to apply Dolby’s Atmos-enabled speaker settings to those speakers. In a system with only two Atmos speakers, or 5.2.2, the designation is TMd, or top middle.

YOU PROBABLY KNOW BY NOW that Dolby Atmos is the next generation of surround sound in both theaters and home theaters. This object-oriented technology lets movie mixers place any sound, almost anywhere they want, in an immersive dome-like soundfield, with height effects that transcend the flat horizontal plane of 5.1- or 7.1-channel surround. With the first generation of Atmos gear now arriving, the technology has been covered in print evaluations of Denon and Definitive Technology products (by ace reviewer Daniel Kumin), on the Web (by editor-in-chief Rob Sabin, video editor Tom Norton, and columnists Ken Pohlmann and John Sciacca), and in my own Test Report in this issue on the Pioneer Elite SP-EBS73-LR Atmos-enabled speaker system.

So in this review of the Pioneer Elite SC-89 A/V receiver, I’m taking my second shot at Atmos. Of course, I evaluated the SC-89 with the Pioneer Atmos speakers and a limited stock of Atmos demo material. But I also gave a close listen to the new—let me emphasize, the new —Dolby Surround mode, which adapts non-Atmos material to a height-enhanced Atmos speaker configuration. And I used my day-to-day Paradigm monitors to interrogate the receiver with 5.1- and two-channel material.

Have It Your Way The SC-89 ($3,000) is one of five new receivers in the Elite line. Like the SC-87 ($2,000) and SC-85 ($1,600), it has nine amp channels and is either Atmos-upgradable or Atmos-capable, depending on which firmware version you get; my review sample was Atmos-capable out of the box. The line also includes the 7.2-channel SC-82 ($1,300) and SC-81 ($1,000), which can’t be upgraded for Atmos.

All five use D3 amplification, the version of Class D amplifier topology

PRICE $3,000

The Last Skeptic, Part 2

■ Confusing back-panel nomenclature

■ No HDCP 2.2 digital rights management

■ Dolby Atmos-capable ■ New Dolby Surround

upmixer ■ D3 amplification

Plus

AT A GLANCE

Minus

• The SC-89 sports 11 sets of speaker terminals.

A/V RECEIVER THE VERDICT This Class D receiver is just the kind of nine-channel powerhouse needed for Dolby Atmos 5.2.4—and the built-in USB DAC is a cool bonus.

PIONEER ELITE SC-89 A/V RECEIVER PRICE: $3,000 Pioneer Electronics USA • (800) 421-1404 • pioneerelectronics.com

Pioneer Elite SC-89 A/V ReceiverAudio PerformanceVideo Performance FeaturesErgonomicsValue

just a smidgen from the .4. The bottom of the bubble-shaped soundfield was more solid than the top, which made for good transitions in upward pans, as the front drivers handed off to the elevation drivers. I found my senses rebelling against the most audible height-layer effects; sound isn’t supposed to go there ! Getting used to them required a new kind of suspension of disbelief.

Transformers helpfully defaulted to its Atmos soundtrack. This is the kind of aggressively dynamic content that presumably will make the most of height-layer effects in the near future. Aside from the mini-drone and ’copter effects that Dan Kumin has already remarked on, the most notable vertical effect was the high whine of the electromagnets that caused cars and smaller metal objects to levitate vertiginously into the air. More often, upper effects were additive, as when a largely 5.1-based car chase got some whizzing height punctuation.

Sometimes, height was conspicuous by its absence. Of course, it had no role in many dialogue scenes. But sometimes, even when I expected it, I’d put my ear to the elevation drivers and hear nothing. Ultimately, creative decisions will be in the hands of the mixing engineers, but I was surprised, for example, to find that the voice of Optimus Prime, as he towers over the humans, did not come from directly above. And why not use the height channels for any high-ceilinged room depicted onscreen? [Editor’s note: For the record, our audio tech editor Mark Peterson noted that using Atmos height drivers for voice would likely result in a timbral mismatch with the front speakers that would be obvi-ous to viewers. For more on what Transformers mixer Greg P. Russell did include in his Atmos effects for this film, see our interview with him online at soundandvision.com.—RS]

Music in Dolby Surround Some newly minted Atmos fans might regard Dolby Surround as an unwelcome guest. Me, I loved it—from the very first bars of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5, with Rudolf Serkin as soloist, Eugene Ormandy leading the

Philadelphia Orchestra, and Leonard Bernstein leading the New York Philharmonic. With not a single synthesized effect or manmade pan in the recording, Dolby Surround steered just a tasty bit of concert-hall ambience toward the ceiling. Intrusive, it wasn’t; a natural-feeling enhancement, it was.

I played a variety of rock in Dolby Surround, including Steely Dan’s The Royal Scam , both of Syd Barrett’s solo albums, and Richard and Linda Thompson’s I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight . Dolby Surround routed lead vocals to the center speaker with a modest spread to the edges. What amazed me, though, was how it grabbed the backing vocals in the Thompsons track “The Calvary Cross” and sent them to the surrounds. Here again, the elevation drivers were discernible mainly in their absence; only when I reverted to 2.1 could I sense their abrupt departure. But when the elevation drivers were operating, it was hard to separate their output from front-driver output because the two were so well integrated. Instrumental imaging via the Pioneer speakers’ concentric driver arrays was superlative.

Does music need this? Stereo puritans often fail to recognize how much artifice is built into two-channel productions. Any classic rock mix depends on mono objects panned into a stereo soundstage. Even a 1960s orchestral project like the Serkin/Ormandy/Bernstein has the soloist and the different orchestral sections separately miked and mixed. If you’re already listening to artifice, why not enhance it? Whatever works. I’ve always liked Dolby Pro Logic II’s stereo-to-surround adaptation; I’ve tried all such modes, and until now, DPLII has been the only one that stays true to the feeling of the original stereo recordings. So to my ears, Dolby Surround is just more of a good thing.

5.1 Cinema Lives I switched from the Pioneer Atmos-enabled speakers to my usual Paradigms for the 5.1 and stereo demos to get a better fix on the receiver’s sound quality. With my reference speakers in place, I zeroed in on the receiver’s balanced approach to tone and timbre. It’s

name given to Dolby’s first crack at analog surround technology back in 1982. Now the name is repur-posed for something new: the upmix mode that tailors stereo, 5.1-, and 7.1-channel content to one of the Atmos-at-home speaker configurations.

Dolby Labs describes this new Dolby Surround as an upmixer that analyzes phase and gain relation-ships of elements in the signal and then steers them to the appropriate places in a channel-based system. One goal is to preserve the intent of the original mix, so an upmixed stereo CD should sound like the original, but with more spaciousness.

Why the old/new name? Dolby is aiming to make consumer surround technology simpler, more direct, and more understandable, with a single product name that covers every speaker configuration—in lieu of the old tangle of names, abbreviations, and roman numerals.

Dolby Surround is billed as a total replacement for the Dolby Pro Logic II/IIx/IIz Music, Movie, and other modes that have been standard equipment in receivers for so many years. Pioneer treats it as a replacement, though Onkyo and Yamaha use it to augment, not replace, Pro Logic. While this receiver omits Pro Logic, it does include another upmix mode, DTS Neo:X, which tailors stereo and surround content to 9.1.

A quick summary of the receiver’s feature set includes Apple AirPlay wireless connectivity, HTC Connect for smartphones, Spotify Connect and Pandora audio streaming, Windows 8 and DLNA certification for

media access from a computer, Roku readiness, and compatibility with AMX, Control4, and Crestron automation standards. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi require adapters. The onscreen interface and the remote control are mostly unchanged in their look and feel; the iControlAV5 Android/iOS app is now in its fifth generation, still allowing front/back and side/side channel adjustments with a tilt of the mobile device. The receiver is rated at 140 watts with two channels driven, though that’s with a 1-kHz test tone. (See our measurements.)

Associated equipment included two speaker systems. For Atmos demos, I used Pioneer Elite models designed by Andrew Jones: the Atmos-enabled SP-EBS73-LR monitor along with the SP-EC73 center and SW-E10 subwoofer (see review on page 58). That system’s four monitors reproduce height-layer information by using top-firing drivers to bounce sound off the ceiling. For 5.1 and stereo demos, I returned to my usual speakers, the Paradigm Reference Studio 20 v.4 and Seismic 110 sub. Signal sources included an Oppo BDP-83SE universal disc player, Meridian Director USB DAC, and Lenovo Win 7 laptop. All movie demos were Blu-ray Discs with either Dolby Atmos or DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks.

Transformers: Age of Atmos Dolby Atmos has been used to mix 80 movie releases in two years (some of it obviously Bollywood fare), and the first one available to us on Blu-ray was Transformers: Age of Extinction . Along with the Dolby Atmos Demonstration Disc issued in August in time for CEDIA demos, it was one of two discs available for this review. Please note that the following comments are based on the receiver operating with Pioneer’s Atmos-enabled speakers, with their top-firing ele-vation drivers. The receiver might well have sounded different with a ceiling-speaker installation.

One of the first things I learned about this implementation of Atmos is how dependent it is on its front drivers. In my single-sub 5.1.4 installation, 95 percent of the information came from the 5.1, and

The Last Skeptic, Part 2

• Pioneer hasn’t updated its remote for the new SC-89.

TEST REPORT

SPECS Power Output: 9 x 140 wa� s (8 ohms, 1 kHz, 2 channels driven) • Auto Setup/Room EQ: MCACC Pro • Video Processing: Marvell Qdeo, 4K scaling/passthrough • Dimensions (WxHxD, Inches): 17.13 x 7.31 x 17.38 • Weight (Pounds): 38.81 • Video Inputs: HDMI 2.0 (7), MHL-enabled HDMI (1), component video (2), composite video (2) • Audio Inputs: Coaxial digital (2), optical digital (2), stereo analog (3), phono (1) • Additional: USB (1), Ethernet (1), adapter port (1), IR remote (2 in, 1 out), AM (1), FM (1) • Video Outputs: HDMI 2.0 (3), HDBaseT (1), component video (1), composite video (2) • Audio Outputs: Optical digital (1), stereo analog (3), 9.2 channel pre-out (11.2 channel terminals) (1), ¼-inch headphone (1) • Additional: RS-232 (1), 12-volt trigger (2)

AUDIO This graph shows the SC-89’s le� channel, from CD input to speaker output with two channels driving 8-ohm loads. Measurements for THD+Noise, crosstalk, signal-to noise ratio, and analog/digital frequency response were all within expected performance parameters. Full details available at soundandvision.com/TestBench .—MJP

0.1% THD 1.0% THD

2 Channels Continuously Driven, 8-Ohm Loads 165.8 wa� s 191.6 wa� s

2 Channels Continuously Driven, 4-Ohm Loads 214.6 wa� s 268.1 wa� s

5 Channels Continuously Driven, 8-Ohm Loads 138.0 wa� s 158.2 wa� s

7 Channels Continuously Driven, 8-Ohm Loads 114.6 wa� s 129.9 wa� s

VIDEO The Pioneer passed all of our standard video tests with only one minor issue. The luma resolution appeared very slightly rolled off in the highest frequency burst, but not enough to compromise its passing grade.—TJN

Test Bench Pioneer Elite SC-89 A/V Receiver

Whereas other conductors storm through Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Sergiu Celibidache declaims every phrase as if lives hung in the balance. Maybe they do. The receiver delivered his 1995 live recording with the Munich Philharmonic with a surprisingly plush, unfatiguing string sound, which just made the stately tempo even more profound. (The performance appears on Celibidache’s 14-CD Symphonies box from EMI Classics, with other works

by Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Schumann.)

The Pioneer accepts DSD bitstreams from SACDs and other sources, so the SACD of Billie Holiday’s Lady in Satin lit up the display’s DSD indicator. I had been using the pure mode to switch its MCACC Pro room correction on and off, and while different content produced different results, this disc was a win for MCACC. Without room correction, the naturally ragged vocal was too raw for comfort and seemed to detach from the orchestra. With room correction, the vocal was sweeter, more natural, better imaged, better integrated with the orchestra, and more coherent off-axis.

The Pioneer Elite SC-89 is a great way to run nine channels of Dolby Atmos—and Dolby Surround. Yes, it’s expensive at three grand, though the step-down Pioneer SC-85 is roughly half the price, and we expect even more affordable Atmos models to surface soon. But this receiver has talents that transcend next-genera-tion surround technology. The integral USB DAC is a passport to high-resolution audio, the HDBaseT video connectivity may be just what your projector needs, and the D3 amp is both powerful and efficient. Once again, Pioneer gets it right.

See soundandvision.com/TestBench for full lab results and technical defi nitions.

ON THE WEB

more revealing than forgiving, with no particular warm tilt or sweetening, though not unduly fatiguing. It reproduced voices well with either set of speakers.

The Railway Man is irrefutable proof that the death of 5.1 is greatly exaggerated. The perpetually busy soundfield suggests a mixer who’s part 5.1 enthusiast, part trainspotter, filling the room with train-station ambience, the interior of a POW cattle car, war drums, and a rich orchestral score. For this nine-channel receiver, five-channel

surround was a walk in the park. When planes flew overhead, I missed Atmos, but for the most part, I locked into the story of Colin Firth as a former British prisoner of war who journeys into the past to right old wrongs.

Moving to the opposite extreme, I found The Machine to be 5.1 at its most rudimentary. The soundtrack of this cybernetic B-movie consists largely of dialogue in the center channel and synthesized music and effects in all four corners of the soundfield. Pretty basic stuff—yet

the receiver delivered the dialogue without any distracting colorations and made the synthesized mush almost vibrant.

The 2013 DTS Demo Disc is rich in aggressive movie soundtracks. Two that caught my attention this time, like bookends, were The Hunger Games and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 . Both feature a dynamically challenging whoosh of rampaging flames, a full-band effect that fills all speakers and reaches down into the sub’s territory. The receiver powered its way confidently through the bassy wildfire in Games . The Deathly Hallows fire dragon was edgier, as it should be, underscoring the intended tension—but not enough to induce discomfort.

A Tale of Two Houses I used both the SC-89’s built-in USB DAC and a Meridian Director to audition the high-resolution reissue of Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy in 96/24 FLAC, courtesy of HDtracks. Pioneer’s DAC was warmer and less edgy, with better separation of instruments and more space around them, especially in the intense jangling metal of “Dancing Days” and “The Song Remains the Same.” It was more than a difference in voicing. I’ve heard the Meridian sounding gorgeous—in its rigorously revealing way—in other systems. But to achieve bass management from its analog inputs, the receiver performs its own analog-to-digital conversion to the Meridian’s output before doing its own digital-to-analog conversion for playback. This is why an integral computer-friendly USB DAC should be standard equipment in any receiver, not just in pricey ones.

Posted with permission from the February 2015 issue of Sound & Vision ® www.soundandvision.com.Copyright 2015, TEN: The Enthusiast Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

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