REVIEWS
HEAD
PACE MSS290 SATELLITE RECEIVER
INTRO
Surround sound from a stereo TV? It sounds
too good to be true, so have Pace finally come up with a way of creating three
dimensional sound without extra speakers and cables?
COPY
Consumer surveys have a knack of re-stating the
blindingly obvious. One carried out recently, for a major electronics manufacturer,
suggested that many people quite liked the idea of a home cinema system, but balked
at the expense, and didn’t fancy lots of boxes and wires all over the place.
JVC were the first to recognise this pent-up demand, and do something about it,
with their top-selling 3D Symphonix Pro Logic TV (HC XXX).
Sharp were next, with the CD-770 mini hi-fi,
featuring ‘Virtual Surround’. However, unlike 3D Symphonix it uses digital
processing, to create a pseudo surround effect from a stereo source; now Pace
have joined in with 3D Sound on their latest mid-range Astra satellite receiver,
the MSS290, selling for £230.
Pace’s system is similar to 3D Symphonix in
that it unravels rear-channel information on Dolby Surround soundtracks, and
adds it to the right and left stereo channels, for an enhanced spatial effect
from a stereo TV. The rear channel output can also be fed to a pair of
speakers, placed behind the viewing position. If that sounds a bit like a Dolby
3-Channel set-up you’re not far wrong, but there’s not a Dolby chip in sight. Instead
Pace have gone back to square one with a simple passive matrix system, without all
the bells and whistles of a Pro-Logic decoder.
3D sound is not confined to satellite
broadcasts, the MSS290 can be connected to a NICAM VCR -- using a SCART lead --
and process surround-sound movies and programmes on tape, or terrestrial TV
channels.
However, we mustn’t forget this is a satellite
receiver. Key features include a 250-channel tuner with eight categorised favourite
channel memories, an 8-event/28-day VCR timer, 4-mode tone (sound shape) control,
PIN operated parental lock and comprehensive on-screen display system. In fact
it’s quite similar to the MSS200, right down to the single viewing card slot
and LNB input, Wegner Panda 1 stereo sound, even the price.
Like its stablemate on-screen performance is
good, colours are accurate and well-defined, noise levels are well below
average. Weaker stations, like UK Gold, were almost sparkly-free on our test
dish. Regular stereo sound is clean and uncoloured. Spatial sound, heard
through a normal stereo TV is definitely different. Sounds from the rear
effects channel are clearly focused and dotted around the wide stereo
soundstage. It takes some getting used to, and it’s more effective on some
material than others, but at its best it adds an interesting new dimension to
surround-sound movies and programmes, far more dramatic than a conventional spatial sound or stereo wide
DSP mode.
The next step is to add a pair of rear
channel speakers for a full surround-sound effect, but its not quite as simple
as that. The rear channel output needs to be amplified before it can be heard,
using a pair of ‘active’ speakers (with built-in amplifiers), or a separate
stereo amp and speakers. It’s okay with simple, uncomplicated effects, and
there’s hardly any bleed-through from the front-centre dialogue channel, but it
has trouble coping with sounds containing a lot of out of phase information. Some
sci-fi effects cause problems and the distortion can get so bad the effect has
to be turned off.
Adding rear channel amps and speakers creates
an even more interesting effect but in doing so the system becomes as complicated
(if not more so), as a Dolby Pro-Logic or 3-Channel set-up, but without the precision
or performance. Worth a try if you’re on a really tight budget, or leash...
DATA STREAM
PACE MSS290
Price £230
Features 250
channels, 8 favourite category channel memories, VCR timer (8-event/28-day),
off/sleep timer, screen blanking for radio channels, PIN activated parental lock,
multi-mode-mode 3D sound system, sound
shape (4-mode tone control), 13 audio presets (J17, 75uS or 50uS de-emphasis
plus Panda noise reduction)
Sockets 3
x AV in/out (SCART), stereo audio and rear channel line-level outputs (phonos)
1 x LNB input (F-connector), RF/aerial loop-through (coaxial)
Pros: A step up from conventional TV spatial sound and an interesting
alternative to full-bloodied Dolby Pro Logic. Good AV performance, easy to use
and a very fair price
Cons: By the time you’ve added the extra
speakers and amplifiers 3D sound is no less complicated, and only slightly
cheaper than a Pro Logic set-up, but without the performance. The remote handset
is horrible too, titchy buttons and poor labelling
HC Rating 89%
Pace Micro Technology, telephone (01274)
532000
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Ó R. Maybury 1996 0403
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