WHOS GETTING HIGH?
At press time, only Onkyo had announced specific plans to produce A/V receivers incorporating Pro Logic IIz. Onkyo product manager Brian Sandifer said the receivers will come in two types: 7.1 and 9.1. The 9.1 receivers will have nine amplifiers, for driving a full 7.1 system plus the two height channels. The 7.1 receivers will have seven amp channels, which can be used for conventional 7.1 or for 5.1 with height channels added. Peter Tribeman, president of both speaker manufacturer Atlantic Technology and electronics company Outlaw Audio, likes the idea of repurposing surround speakers for height channels. In my opinion, the benefits of conventional 7.1 are marginal, he said. Applying those channels to height speakers in the front has a profound effect. All of a sudden, it goes from three front speakers to a total re-creation of the stage. Tribeman is enthusiastic enough about the technology to have created an Atlantic Technology speaker specifically for height-channel use. But Dolbys
