Harman Kardon AVR 350 Owner's Manual

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Harman Kardon AVR 350 Owner's Manual Manual pdf 53 page image

53Manual SetupThe AVR 350 is flexibly designed to be used with almost any loud-speakers available. The flexibility arises from the AVR 350’s capability tobe configured to match the characteristics of your particular speakers,and to compensate for the acoustic characteristics of your room.EzSet/EQ automatically detects the capabilities of each speaker, andoptimizes the AVR 350’s performance in your system. However, if forsome reason you are unable to run EzSet/EQ (e.g., you have misplacedthe microphone) or if you wish to make further adjustments to thesettings made by EzSet/EQ, you may use the Manual Setup on-screenmenus as described in this section.Before beginning manual setup, you will need to have fully installed yourAVR, placed your loudspeakers in their correct locations within the room(see Speaker Placement section on page 23), and connected themto the AVR. You will need the specifications for each of your speakers,which may usually be found in the owner’s guide for the speakers oron the manufacturer’s Web site. If necessary, contact the manufacturerto obtain the frequency range specification. Although the output-levelsetting portion of manual setup may be performed “by ear,” werecommend that you purchase an SPL (sound-pressure level) meterat a local electronics store.We suggest that you record your configuration settings in the appropri-ate places in Tables A3 through A7 in the appendix in case you need toreenter them after a system reset, or if the AVR’s Master Power Switchis turned off or the unit is unplugged for more than four weeks.Step One – Determine Speaker SizeWithout using EzSet/EQ, the AVR 350 can’t detect how many speakersyou’ve connected to it; nor can it determine their capabilities. For thispart of the system setup, you will need to consult the speaker’s technicalspecifications.The specification you’re looking for is the frequency response, whichis usually given as a range, e.g., 100Hz – 20kHz (±3dB). This specifi-cation tells you whether the speaker is able to play sounds that are veryhigh- or low-pitched, represented by the high and low frequencies.We are concerned with the lowest frequency that each of your mainspeakers is capable of playing, which is 100Hz in this example. Usethe Table A5 worksheet in the appendix to note this number as thecrossover for that speaker (not the same as the crossover frequencylisted in the speaker’s specifications).Your subwoofer’s frequency response will include only the verylowest frequencies, since the subwoofer is designed to play only bassmaterials. A typical frequency response for a subwoofer is 25Hz –150Hz. In this case, the higher number is most important and shouldbe noted in the worksheet.This information is required to program the receiver’s bass manage-ment, which determines which speakers the receiver will use to playback the low-frequency (bass) portion of the source program.If you send the lowest notes to small satellite speakers, you won’t hearthese notes very well, and you may even damage the speaker byexceeding its capabilities. If you send the highest notes to the special-purpose subwoofer, you may not hear them at all.With proper bass management, the AVR 350 divides the source signalat a crossover point. All information above the crossover point is playedthrough the satellite speaker (front left/right, center, surround left/right, orsurround back left/right), and all information below the crossover point isplayed through the subwoofer. This enables each loudspeaker in yoursystem to perform at its best, delivering an enjoyable sound experience.Step Two – Measure Speaker DistancesIdeally, all of your speakers were placed in a circle, each at the samedistance from the listening position. However, your room may not beideal, and you may have had to place some speakers a little furtheraway than others. This could affect the overall sound of the receiver,as sounds that are supposed to arrive simultaneously from differentspeakers blur due to different arrival times.The AVR 350 has a delay adjustment that enables the receiver tocompensate for real-world speaker placements.Before you begin making adjustments, measure the distance from eachspeaker to the listening position, and note it in the Table A3 worksheetin the appendix. Even if all of your speakers are the same distance fromthe listening position, you should enter your speaker distances into theDelay Adjust menu, which is described in Step Three.Step Three – Manual Setup MenuNow you are ready to program these adjustments into the receiver. It’sbest to sit in the usual listening position and make the room as quiet aspossible. Don’t worry if you make a mistake; you can always go backand change these settings.With the receiver and video display turned on, press the OSD Buttonon the remote to display the Menu System. Use the ¤ Button on theremote to move the cursor to the Speaker tab, and press the Set Buttonto display the Speaker Setup menu. See Figure 52.Figure 52 (repeated) – Speaker Setup Menu ScreenSelect the Manual Configuration option, and the Manual Speaker Setupmenu will appear. See Figure 89.ADVANCED FUNCTIONS