Harman Kardon AVR 145 Owner's Manual

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Harman Kardon AVR 145 Owner's Manual Manual pdf 15 page image

15CONNECTIONSThere are different types of audio and video connections used to con-nect the receiver to the speakers and video display, and to connectthe source devices to the receiver. To make it easier to keep them allstraight, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has established acolor-coding standard. Table 1 may be helpful to you as a referencewhile you set up your system.Table 1– Connection Color GuideTypes of CablesThis section will briefly review different types of cables and connectionsthat you may use to set up your system.Speaker CablesSpeaker cables carry an amplified signal from the receiver’s speaker ter-minals to each loudspeaker. Speaker cables generally contain two wireconductors, or leads, inside plastic insulation. The two conductors areusually differentiated in some way, by using different colors, or stripes, oreven by adding a ridge to the insulation. Sometimes the actual wires aredifferent, one being copper red and the other silver.The differentiation is important because each speaker must be connect-ed to the receiver’s speaker-output terminals using two wires, one posi-tive (+) and one negative (–). This is called speaker polarity. It’s impor-tant to maintain the proper polarity for all speakers in the system. Ifsome speakers have their negative terminals connected to the receiver’spositive terminals, performance can suffer, especially for the low fre-quencies.Always connect the positive terminal on the loudspeaker, which is usuallycolored red, to the positive terminal on the receiver, which is colored asshown in the Connection Color Guide (Table 1). Similarly, always con-nect the black negative terminal on the speaker to the black negativeterminal on the receiver.The AVR 145 uses binding-post speakerterminals that can accept banana plugsor bare-wire cables.Banana plugs are simply plugged into thehole in the middle of the terminal cap.Figure 1 – Binding-Post SpeakerTerminals With Banana PlugsBare wire cables are installed as follows:1. Unscrew the terminal cap until the pass-through hole in the collar isrevealed.2. Insert the bare end of the wire into the hole.3. Screw the cap back into place until the wire is held snugly.Figure 2 – Binding-Post Speaker Terminals With Bare WiresSubwooferThe subwoofer is a specialized type of loudspeaker that is usually con-nected in a different way. The subwoofer is used to play only the lowfrequencies (bass), which require much more power than the otherspeaker channels. In order to obtain the best results, most speakermanufacturers offer powered subwoofers, in which the speaker containsits own amplifier on board. Sometimes the subwoofer is connected tothe receiver using the front left and right speaker outputs, and then thefront left and right speakers are connected to terminals on the sub-woofer. More often, a line-level (nonamplified) connection is madefrom the receiver’s Subwoofer Output to a corresponding jack on thesubwoofer.Although the subwoofer output looks similar to the analog audio jacksused for the various components, it is filtered and only allows the lowfrequencies to pass. Don’t connect this output to your other devices.Although doing so won’t cause any harm, performance will suffer.Figure 3 – SubwooferConnecting Source Devices to the AVRThe AVR 145 is designed to process audio and video input signals,playing back the audio and displaying the video on a television or moni-tor connected to the AVR. These signals originate in what are known as“source devices,” including your DVD player, CD player, DVR (digitalvideo recorder) or other recorder, tape deck, game console, cable orsatellite television box or MP3 player. Although the tuner is built into theAVR, it also counts as a source, even though no external connectionsare needed, other than the FM and AM antennas.In general, separate connections are required for the audio and videoportions of the signal. The types of connections used depend uponwhat’s available on the source device, and for video signals, the capabili-ties of your video display.SubwooferPre-out1 2 3+Audio ConnectionsLeft RightFront (FL/FR)Center (C)Surround (SL/SR)Subwoofer (SUB)Surround Back (SBL/SBR)Digital Audio ConnectionsCoaxialOptical Input OutputVideo ConnectionsComponent Y Pb PrCompositeS-Video