JP3788081B2 - Sound equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an audio device having a multi-channel input, and more particularly to an audio device having a subwoofer input.
[0002]
[Prior art]
An acoustic system having a larger number of CHs than a two-channel (hereinafter referred to as CH) stereo is generally called a multi-CH system. This multi-CH method has been adopted early in theatrical movies and the like because sound reproduction with excellent presence and expressive power is possible.
[0003]
There are two recording methods for recording the multi-CH sound on the package medium, that is, composite multi-CH and independent multi-CH.
[0004]
The composite multi-CH is a system in which multi-CH is once encoded and recorded in 2CH on package media that can record only 2CH such as broadcast media and video. In order to take out multiple CHs by signal processing such as sum and difference of 2CH signals during reproduction, each CH lacks independence. However, since it is completely compatible with 2CH stereo, it has become popular in the consumer field from an early stage. One of the standards for this composite multi-CH recording system is Dolby Pro Logic. According to the Dolby Pro Logic standard, 5CH of front 2CH, center 1CH, and surround 2CH are encoded and recorded as 2CH, and are decoded into 5CH during reproduction.
[0005]
On the other hand, the independent multi-CH method is a method of recording completely independently without interrelation between acoustic CHs. This independent multi-CH method has already been adopted for DVDs, and is expected to be generalized as an acoustic method for new package media, digital TV broadcasting, and digital communication networks. One of the standards for this independent multi-CH recording system is Dolby Digital. The Dolby Digital standard adopts a 6CH system, which is obtained by adding a subwoofer 1CH dedicated to low sound to 5CH of front 2CH, center 1CH and surround 2CH.
[0006]
FIG. 7 shows a block configuration of a composite multi-CH sound apparatus according to the prior art. In FIG. 7, 12 is a surround processing unit, 13 is an external input terminal, 14 is a 5CH amplifier circuit, 15 is an output terminal, 16 is a reproduction means, 17 is a control means, 18 is a speaker, 18L is front left, 18R is Front right, 18C is a center, 18LS surround left, 18RS is each speaker of surround right, 19 is a volume, and 20 is an input switching means.
[0007]
First, the reproduction means 16 outputs a 2CH reproduction signal. The surround processing unit 12 at the next stage develops the 2CH acoustic signal into 5CH. The 5CH signal passes through the volume 19 and is amplified by the 5CH amplifier circuit 14. This is reproduced by a total of five speakers: two fronts, one center, and two surrounds. The input switching means 20 is configured to select a plurality of reproducing means (not shown) and inputs from the external input terminal 13.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Such an acoustic device is a composite multi-CH playback system, but with the widespread use of independent multi-CH playback devices, it has been required to have an input terminal that supports independent multi-CH. As described above, the independent multi-CH is a 6-CH system. Of these, the front 2CH, the center 1CH, and the surround 2CH 5CH have the same configuration as the composite multi-CH. In addition to this, the independent multi-CH has a 6CH system including a subwoofer 1CH dedicated to bass.
[0009]
As a method for adding an independent multi-CH input terminal to a composite multi-CH playback system, a configuration in which an amplifier circuit is provided in the subwoofer CH is conceivable. However, in this configuration, if the user does not connect an independent multi-CH device, the subwoofer CH amplification circuit is not used and is overequipped. Secondly, the subwoofer CH may be output to the subwoofer output terminal without passing through an amplifier circuit, and an optional amplifier built-in subwoofer (hereinafter referred to as an active subwoofer) is connected to the outside. In this configuration, even if an independent multi-CH device is not connected, it is not over-equipped. However, there is a problem that it is not possible to support independent multi-CH without adding the selection equipment.
[0010]
In the reproduction of multi-CH input having a subwoofer signal, the present invention can output the subwoofer signal by mixing it with any signal other than the subwoofer when the active subwoofer is not connected, and when the active subwoofer is connected. The object of the present invention is to provide an audio device that can be switched so that the independence of each CH signal and subwoofer signal can be maintained.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve this problem, an audio apparatus according to the present invention includes a surround processing unit that processes a reproduction signal of a reproduction unit that reproduces a two-channel signal and outputs a plurality of channel signals including at least two left and right front signals. an acoustic apparatus having an amplifier circuit for amplifying the output for each channel, in order to enter the multi-channel signals other than the reproduction signal by the reproducing means, an input terminal for inputting a front signals of at least two left and right channels wherein A multi-channel input unit having an input terminal for inputting a subwoofer signal without an output signal from the surround processing unit, and a left and right two-channel bass enhancement variable for amplifying a front signal of two left and right channels from the surround processing unit and the multi-channel input unit Amplifying circuit and sub -channel of the multi-channel input section A subwoofer output terminal that outputs the subwoofer signal from the subwoofer signal input terminal without amplifying, and a subwoofer signal input from the subwoofer signal input terminal of the multi-channel input unit to the preceding stage of the amplifier circuit with the bass enhancement variable. And a bass enhancement control means for controlling ON / OFF switching of the mixing switch.
[0012]
Thus, it is possible to output the enhanced bass by mixing the front signal of two channels the subwoofer signal by ON mixing switch by the bass enhancement control means, is enhanced bass by bass enhancement variable with amplifier circuit necessary In addition, since it is only necessary to select and equip an active subwoofer only when a subwoofer is required, there is no need for a subwoofer amplifier when only complex multi-channel reproduction is required.
[0013]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surround processing unit for processing a reproduction signal of reproduction means for reproducing a two-channel signal and outputting a plurality of channel signals including at least two left and right front signals, and an output thereof An input circuit for inputting front signals of at least two left and right channels to input a multi-channel signal other than a reproduction signal by the reproduction means, and the surround processing. A multi-channel input unit having an input terminal for inputting a subwoofer signal without an output signal from the unit, and an amplification with a bass enhancement variable of two left and right channels for amplifying a front signal of two left and right channels from the surround processing unit and the multi-channel input unit Circuit and subwoofer signal input of the multi-channel input section A subwoofer output terminal that outputs the subwoofer signal from the terminal without amplifying, and a mixing switch connected to input the subwoofer signal from the subwoofer signal input terminal of the multi-channel input section to the preceding stage of the amplifier circuit with variable bass enhancement; And a bass enhancement control means for controlling ON / OFF switching of the mixing switch, and when the mixing switch is turned on by the bass enhancement control means, a subwoofer signal is sent to the front signals of the left and right two channels. The effect is that the bass can be enhanced by mixing.
[0014]
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the bass enhancement control means is configured to have an ON / OFF switching function of a mixing switch together with a plurality of enhancement level variable functions. The device has a function of sharing the control of the ON / OFF switching function of the mixing switch together with a plurality of enhancement level variable functions having a common effect in that the bass of the front signal is enhanced.
[0015]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the bass enhancement control means includes a control unit and an operation unit, and is configured to be switched from normal enhancement level variable control to mixing control when the operation unit is pressed for a predetermined time or more. The acoustic device according to claim 2 is characterized in that the operation unit is shared to prevent the operation unit from becoming complicated.
[0016]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the mixing control is configured to alternately switch the mixing switch from ON to OFF or from OFF to ON each time the mixing control is pressed. This is an acoustic device, and has the effect of shifting the ON / OFF state of the mixing switch with a simple operation of a single operation unit.
[0017]
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the bass enhancement control means has subwoofer connection detection means at a subwoofer output terminal, and the mixing control outputs ON when a predetermined connection terminal is not connected to the subwoofer output terminal. The acoustic apparatus according to claim 3, which is configured as described above, has an effect that a mixing switch can be switched according to a connection state of the subwoofer.
[0018]
The invention according to claim 6 is an amplifier circuit in which the amplifier circuit divides and amplifies the signal into two or more frequency ranges, and the subwoofer signal input by the mixing switch is input only to the low frequency amplifier circuit. 2. The acoustic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the front high range maintains the independence of the CH even when the subwoofer signal is mixed with the front signal, and the front low range is variable to enhance the bass. It has the effect | action that it can be set as the structure which can take the range of large.
[0020]
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 shows a block configuration of an audio device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a reproducing means, and 2 is a surround processing unit. 3 is a multi-CH input unit, 3L is front left, 3R is front right, 3C is center, 3LS surround left, 3RS is surround right, and 3LFE is a signal input terminal for each channel of the subwoofer. Reference numeral 4 denotes an amplifier circuit, 4L denotes a front left, 4R denotes an amplifier circuit with variable bass enhancement for each CH on the front right, 4C denotes a center, 4LS surround left, and 4RS denotes an amplifier circuit for each surround right channel. 5L is a front left output terminal, 52 is a front R, 5C is a center, 5LS is a surround left, 5RS is a surround right, and 5LFE is a subwoofer output terminal. Reference numeral 6 denotes a mixing switch. 7 is a bass enhancement control means, 7A is a control unit, 7B is an operation unit, and 7C is a display unit.
[0021]
FIG. 2 shows a block configuration of an embodiment of a connection between the sound apparatus and an external device, 10 is a sound reproduction circuit in the first embodiment, 8L is a front left speaker, 8R is a front right, 8C is a center, 8LS. Surround left, 8RS constitutes surround right speakers, 9LFE constitutes an active subwoofer, and 11 constitutes an independent multi-CH playback device.
[0022]
The operation of the acoustic apparatus configured as described above will be described below.
First, the reproducing means 1 is a drive device that reproduces 2CH package media such as CD and MD, and a broadcast tuner such as FM and TV. The next-stage surround processing unit 2 is a surround processing unit that develops 2CH acoustic signals into 5CH. This development has two different functions: demodulating multiple sounds and applying sound field effects to pure 2CH. As described above, the reproduction means 1 has only 2CH output. However, when the recording medium or broadcast is recorded by a composite multi-CH system such as Dolby Surround, the reproduction is performed by the surround processing unit 2 to generate a 5CH audio signal. Can be obtained. On the other hand, when the package media or broadcast is recorded in pure 2CH, the surround processing unit 2 can obtain a 5CH acoustic signal by virtual sound field processing by performing reverberation processing or the like.
[0023]
When the composite multi-CH is reproduced, the acoustic signal reproduced by the reproducing means 1 and developed to 5CH by the surround processing unit 2 is amplified by the amplification circuits 4L, 4R, 4C, 4LS, and 4RS for each CH. In particular, the front L and front R amplifier circuits 4L and 4R are amplifier circuits with a bass enhancement variable. This is an amplifying circuit capable of increasing the low frequency band gain by increasing the low frequency band, and the strength of the low frequency enhancement can be varied by the control of the low frequency enhancement control means 7. The amplified acoustic signals are output from the output terminals 5L, 5R, 5C, 5LS, and 5RS of each CH, and the 5ch surround sound is generated by the five speakers of the front speakers 8L and 8R, the center speaker 8C, and the surround shakers 8LS and 8RS. Can be configured.
[0024]
The multi-channel input unit 3 is an external input terminal for connecting an independent 6-channel playback device such as a DVD player. When the independent multi-channel playback device 11 is connected to the multi-channel input unit 3 and used, 5 channels excluding the subwoofer signal among the six channels input to the multi-channel input unit 3 are amplified in the same manner as the complex multi-channel and each channel is amplified. An active subwoofer 9LFE is connected to the subwoofer output terminal 5LFE and the subwoofer signal is output from the output terminal, and this can be added to the five speakers to form a 6CH surround.
[0025]
The mixing switch 6 is a switch that mixes the subwoofer signal to the front L and R CH. The mixing switch 6 can be switched ON / OFF by the bass enhancement control means 7. When the mixing switch 6 is turned on, the subwoofer signal is mixed with each of the front L and R channels and reproduced by the front speakers 8L and 8R as a front and subwoofer mixed signal. At this time, the center speaker 8C and the surround speakers 8LS, RS are reproduced while maintaining the independence of each channel regardless of whether the mixing switch 6 is ON or OFF.
[0026]
The acoustic device configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
[0027]
The bass enhancement SW in FIG. 3 is a switch included in the operation unit 7B of the bass enhancement control means 7 in FIG. 1, and the bass enhancement level in FIG. 3 controls the amplification circuits 4L and 4R with bass enhancement variable in FIG. Mixing switches ON and OFF in FIG. 3 indicate control of the mixing switch 6 in FIG. The bass enhancement level and the state of the mixing switch 6 are displayed on the display unit 7C in FIG.
[0028]
First, it is determined whether or not the switch of the operation unit 7B of the bass enhancement control means 7 is pressed in step S1, and if it is pressed, it is determined whether or not the pressing time is 2 seconds or more in the next step S2. Here, if it is less than 2 seconds, the process proceeds to step S3, where it is determined whether or not the bass enhancement level of the amplifier circuits 4L, 4R is the maximum. If not, the process proceeds to step S4 and proceeds to the amplifier circuit 4L. , 4R outputs a control command for raising the bass enhancement level by one level. If it is at the maximum level in step S3, the process proceeds to step S5 to output a control command for setting the bass enhancement level to the minimum. If the press in step S1 is 2 seconds or less in step S2 and the determination in step S3 is not the maximum level, the bass enhancement level is increased by 1 each time, and thereafter, the process is repeated until step S3 determines the maximum level. It becomes. Here, the bass enhancement level can be set at a plurality of levels from the minimum level to the maximum level, and there is no particular limitation on the number of levels.
[0029]
Next, when it is determined in step S2 that the pressing time is 2 seconds or more, the process proceeds to step S6, where it is determined whether or not the mixing switch 6 is in the ON state. 7A outputs a control command to turn on the mixing switch 6. If it is ON at step S6, the process proceeds to step S8, and the control unit 7A outputs a control command for turning off the mixing switch 6.
[0030]
That is, every time the switch of the operation unit 7B is pressed for 2 seconds or more, the mixing switch 6 is switched ON / OFF, and thereby the mixing of the subwoofer signal input to the input terminal 3LFE to the front signal is turned ON.・ Off control can be performed.
[0031]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the active subwoofer 9LFE is connected to the subwoofer output terminal 5LFE in the reproduction of the independent 6ch input from the multi-CH input unit 3, the 6ch surround is included with the six speakers including the active subwoofer 9LFE. When the active subwoofer 9LFE is not connected to the subwoofer output terminal 5LFE, 5ch surround is constituted by five speakers not including the subwoofer output terminal 5LFE, and the subwoofer signal is mixed with the front L and R signals and the front speaker. If the front speakers 8L and 8R are connected at least, the subwoofer signal can be mixed with the front signal to enhance the bass sound of the front signal.
[0032]
(Embodiment 2)
Next, FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an acoustic device according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Since the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is the same as that described above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.
[0033]
This embodiment differs from the first embodiment described above in that a subwoofer connection detection unit 51LFE is added to the subwoofer output terminal 5LFE. Although the symbol indicating the subwoofer output terminal 5LFE in FIG. 4 is different from that in FIG. 1, the output terminal is substantially the same.
[0034]
Whether the active subwoofer 9LFE (not shown) is connected or not connected to the subwoofer output terminal 5LFE is detected by the subwoofer connection detection means 51LFE and recognized by the controller 7A.
[0035]
The acoustic device configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Note that the flow illustrated in FIG. 3 is the same flow, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted.
[0036]
The flowchart of the present embodiment differs from the first embodiment described above in that it is determined by the input of the subwoofer connection detection means.
[0037]
Hereinafter, the difference will be mainly described. First, when a press for 2 seconds or more is detected in step S2, the process proceeds to step S9, where subwoofer connection is determined. This connection is determined by whether or not the subwoofer connection detecting means 51LFE is detected, and the connection is determined. If there is, the process proceeds to step S7, and an OFF control command is output to the mixing switch 6. On the other hand, if the subwoofer connection detecting means 51LFE detects that there is no connection, the process proceeds to step S6 to determine whether or not the mixing switch 6 is ON, and the subsequent processing is the same as the flow of FIG. The Rukoto.
[0038]
That is, when the active subwoofer 9LFE is connected to the subwoofer output terminal 5LFE, the mixing switch 6 is automatically turned off if the operation unit 7B is pressed for 2 seconds or more by the output of the subwoofer connection detection means 51LFE. . When the active subwoofer 9LFE is not connected, the mixing switch 6 is switched ON / OFF every time the operation unit 7B is pressed for 2 seconds or more.
[0039]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the connection state of the active subwoofer is reflected in the ON / OFF state of the mixing switch 6, and in the active subwoofer connection state, the mixing switch 6 is OFF and CH independence of the front signal is established. In the case where the subwoofer is not connected, the mixing switch 6 can be selected to be either ON or OFF.
[0040]
(Embodiment 3)
Next, FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an acoustic device according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Since the configuration shown in FIG. 1 is the same as that described above, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.
[0041]
In the present embodiment, the front L and front R amplifying circuits are separated into the high frequency amplifying circuits 4LH and 4RH and the low frequency amplifying circuits 4LL and 4RL with bass enhancement variable, which are different from the first embodiment described above. The output is also separated into 5LH, 5LL, 5RH, and 5RL, and the subwoofer signal is mixed only in the low frequency amplifying circuits 4LL and 4RL with the bass enhancement variable by the mixing switch 6, and is mixed in the high frequency amplifying circuits 4LH and 4RH. Since this is not the case, this point will be described.
[0042]
By separating the front signal into a high frequency signal and a low frequency signal and mixing the subwoofer signal only with the low frequency signal, the independence of the high frequency signal is maintained. In addition to improving the fidelity of the amplifier circuit by adopting a multi-amplifier configuration, the amplification gain of the high frequency and the low frequency can be set independently, thereby increasing the degree of freedom of bass enhancement.
[0043]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, even when the subwoofer signal is mixed with the front signal, the independence of the CH is maintained in the front high range, and the range of the bass enhancement variable of the front signal can be increased. It can be configured.
[0044]
In the third embodiment, the filters for separating the front L and R signals into high and low frequencies are included in the high frequency amplifier circuits 4LH and 4RH and the low frequency amplifier circuits 4LL and 4RL with bass enhancement variable, respectively. These filters may be applied as they are to the configuration provided in the preceding stage of the mixing switch 6 independently of the low frequency amplifying circuits 4LL and 4RL with the bass enhancement variable.
[0045]
In the first to third embodiments, an active subwoofer that is an amplifier built-in type subwoofer is connected to the subwoofer output terminal. However, the present invention may be applied to a configuration in which individual amplifiers and subwoofers are connected.
[0046]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when reproducing a multi- channel input having at least a front signal and a subwoofer signal, when the subwoofer output terminal is not used, the subwoofer signal is mixed with the front signal by turning on the mixing switch to output the front signal. When the subwoofer output terminal is used, the independence of the front signal and the subwoofer signal can be maintained by turning the mixing switch OFF, and the amplifier circuit with bass enhancement variable can be controlled by the bass enhancement control means. in addition to the bass enhancement function by, mixes the subwoofer signal by oN mixing switch on the front signal can be bass enhancing, and since it is sufficient only select equipped with active subwoofer when you need subwoofers, composite multichannel When channel need only play beneficial effect that may be no subwoofer amplifier.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an audio device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a connection between the audio device and an external device. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a sound apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a bass enhancement control procedure according to the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an audio device according to a third embodiment of the invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a conventional audio device.
1,16 Reproducing means 2,12 Surround processing unit 3 Multi-channel input units 3L, 3R, 3C, 3LS, 3RS, 3LFE Signal input terminals 4C, 4LS, 4RS Amplifying circuits 4L, 4R Amplifying circuits 4LH, 4RH with variable bass amplification Low-frequency amplifier circuit 5L, 5R, 5C, 5LS, 5RS, 5LFE, 5LH, 5LL, 5RH, 5RL, 15 Output terminal 51LFE Subwoofer connection detection means 6 Mixing switch 7 Low-frequency boost control means 7A, 17 Control means 7B Operation unit 7C Display unit 8L, 8R, 8C, 8LS, 8RS, 18L, 18R, 18C, 18LS, 18RS Speaker 9LFE Active subwoofer 10 Sound device 11 Independent multi-channel playback device 13 External input terminal 14 5CH amplification Circuit 19 Volume 20 Power switching means

Claims (6)

A surround processing unit for processing a reproduction signal of a reproduction means for reproducing a two-channel signal to output a plurality of channel signals including at least two left and right channel front signals, and an amplification circuit for amplifying the output for each channel are provided. An audio device,
Multi-channel input having an input terminal for inputting at least two left and right front signals and an input terminal for inputting a subwoofer signal without an output signal from the surround processing unit in order to input a multi-channel signal other than a reproduction signal by the reproduction means. And
An amplification circuit with a bass enhancement variable of two left and right channels for amplifying a front signal of two left and right channels from the surround processing unit and the multi-channel input unit ;
A subwoofer output terminal that outputs the subwoofer signal from the subwoofer signal input terminal of the multi-channel input section without amplifying , and
A mixing switch connected to input a subwoofer signal from a subwoofer signal input terminal of the multi-channel input unit to a preceding stage of the amplification circuit with the bass enhancement variable;
A bass enhancement control means for controlling ON / OFF switching of the mixing switch,
An acoustic apparatus characterized in that a bass sound is enhanced by mixing a subwoofer signal with the front signals of the two left and right channels when a mixing switch is turned on by the bass enhancement control means.   2. The acoustic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bass enhancement control means has a mixing switch ON / OFF switching function as well as a plurality of enhancement level variable functions.   3. The bass enhancement control means includes a control unit and an operation unit, and is configured to switch from normal variable level control to mixing control when the operation unit is pressed for a predetermined time or more. The acoustic device described.   4. The acoustic apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the mixing control is configured to alternately switch the mixing switch from ON to OFF or from OFF to ON each time the mixing control is pressed.   The bass enhancement control means includes a subwoofer connection detection means at a subwoofer output terminal, and the mixing control is configured to output ON when a predetermined connection terminal is not connected to the subwoofer output terminal. The acoustic device according to claim 3.   The amplifying circuit is an amplifying circuit that divides and amplifies signals in two or more frequency ranges, and is configured so that a subwoofer signal input by a mixing switch is input only to a low frequency amplifying circuit. The acoustic device according to 1.

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