THX

The trade name THX represents a system of high fidelity sound reproduction for cinema that was invented by a renowned audio engineer Tomlinson Holman who worked at Lucas Films owned by George Lucas. The project was taken up to improve the quality of the soundtrack for the third Star Wars film the Return of the Jedi. The first two letters of the logo, 'TH' have reference to the name of Tomlinson Holman and the last letter X indicates the name of the company Lucas. Moreover the letters THX also refer to a film made by Lucas called THX 1138. The THX system is not exactly any sound recording format, or a recording technology. It can integrate with all the major sound formats whether they are digital such as Dolby Digital, SDDS or analog -Dolby SR, Ultra-Stereo- and ‘show them in THX’.

THX is a quantitative measure of quality. It is basically an assurance system for better sound quality. It certifies the high quality sound for theaters, audio/video source and processing components, DVD players, receivers, preamplifiers, power amplifiers, speakers, interconnect cables, speaker cables, and even the room's acoustic characteristics (for dedicated home theater environments) and predictable playback environment so that any film soundtrack integrated with the THX system will create the sound quality that is close to what its engineer intended it to be.

THX prescribe the highest possible quality standards for visual and audio sound tracks for the transfer of the films to DVDs or VHS. The labels that certify the audio quality bear the words: "THX Digitally Mastered for superior sound and picture quality" or simply "THX Certified".

Since high quality sound is at the heart of the THX process, the engineers who developed the criteria for the THX sound looked at two distinct components of the sound system, called A-chain and B-chain.

The A-chain is comprised of the features that decode the sound from its format and process it to remove the noise elements from it. The decoding process also includes the audio pick up on the projector and cinema sound processor.
The B-chain is the remaining sound system that includes the THX crossover, power amplifiers and speakers.

DTX certification is the hallmark of quality.