Harman Kardon AVR 354 Owner's Manual

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Harman Kardon AVR 354 Owner's Manual Manual pdf 45 page image

45ADVANCED FUNCTIONSMusic: Select an analog surround mode for music playback: Logic 7Music, DTS Neo:6 Music or Dolby Pro Logic II (IIx when seven mainspeakers are present). The Dolby Pro Logic II/IIx Music mode allowsaccess to a submenu with some additional settings. See the AdvancedFunctions section for more information.Video Game: Select an analog surround mode for game playback:Logic 7 Game, or Dolby Pro Logic II (IIx when seven main speakersare present).After you have made your selection, press the Back/Exit Button untilthe screen is cleared.See the Advanced Functions section for more information onsurround modes.Much of the AVR 354’s performance is handled automatically, with littleintervention required on your part. However, the AVR 354 is a sophisti-cated component, and is capable of being customized to suit yourparticular system and your tastes. In this section we describe some ofthe more advanced adjustments available on the AVR 354. You mayreturn to this section later, when you have become more familiar withyour receiver.Audio Processing and Surround SoundAudio signals output by sources are encoded in a variety of formats thatcan affect not only the quality of the sound but the number of speakerchannels and the surround mode. You may also manually select adifferent surround mode, although for certain types of audio signals,the modes available will be limited in certain ways, as described below.Analog Audio SignalsAnalog audio signals usually consist of two channels – left and right.The AVR 354 offers three basic options for playback of analog audio:1. Analog Bypass Mode: In this mode, the 2-channel signal is passeddirectly from the input to the volume control, without being digitizedor undergoing any processing for bass management or surroundsound. The requirements for selecting analog bypass mode are:a) The analog audio inputs for the source must be selected. Ifnecessary, press the Info Button on the remote and use the⁄ /¤ Buttons to scroll to the Audio Input from source setting,then select an analog input.b) The tone controls must be disabled by setting Tone Control to Off.Press the Audio Effects Button to access the Tone Control settingin the Audio Effects submenu.c) The 2-channel Stereo mode must be selected. Press the SurroundModes Button to access the STEREO line of the Surround Modessubmenu.When the Tone Control setting is Off, the front speakers will be set toLarge automatically, as indicated by the double boxes in their positionsin the Speaker/Channel Input Indicators on the front panel. That indicatesthat Analog Bypass mode is active. When the Tone Control setting isturned On, if you have set the front speaker crossover to a numericsetting, the front speakers will return to the Small setting, as indicatedby single boxes in the Speaker/Channel Input Indicators. When the frontspeakers are Small and 2-Channel Stereo mode has been selected inthe Surround Modes submenu, DSP Surround Off mode is active.2. DSP Surround Off Mode: The DSP Surround Off mode digitizes theincoming signal and applies the bass management settings, includingspeaker configuration, delay times and output levels. This mode isdesirable when your front speakers are small, limited-range satellitesand you are using a subwoofer. To select this mode, use a digitalaudio input, or turn the Tone Control setting off.3. Analog Surround Modes: One of the main benefits of a surroundreceiver such as the AVR 354 is its ability to process 2-channelaudio signals to produce multichannel surround sound in a varietyof modes, even when no surround sound has been encoded in therecording. Among the available modes are the Dolby Pro Logic II/IIxmodes, the Dolby Virtual Speaker modes, the DTS Neo:6 modes, theLogic 7 modes, and the Stereo modes.Digital Audio SignalsDigital audio signals offer the benefit of greater capacity, which allowsrecording artists to encode center and surround channel informationdirectly into the signal. The result is improved sound quality and startlingdirectionality, since each of these channels is reproduced discretely.Alternatively, the artist may encode only two channels, but the digitalsignal allows for a higher sampling rate that delivers greater detail.High-resolution recordings usually sound extraordinarily distortion-freeat all frequencies, but especially at high frequencies.Surround ModesSurround mode selection is dependent upon the format of the incomingaudio signal, as well as personal taste. There is no harm in experiment-ing with all of the modes available with any given source material. TableA12 offers a brief description of each mode the AVR 354 is capable ofusing, and also indicates the types of incoming signals or digital bit-streams the mode may be used with. Additional information about theDolby and DTS modes is available on the companies’ Web sites:www.dolby.com and www.dtsonline.com.When in doubt, check the jacket of your DVD for more information onwhich surround modes are available on the disc. Usually, nonessentialsections of the disc, such as trailers, extra materials or the disc menu,are only available in Dolby Digital 2.0 (2-channel) or PCM 2-channelmode. If the main title is playing and the letters in the Speaker/ChannelInput Indicators are not lit for all speaker locations, look for an audio orlanguage setup section in the disc’s menu. Also, make sure your DVDplayer’s audio output is set to the original bitstream rather than justPCM. Check the DVD player’s output setting by stopping play of thedisc and checking the DVD player’s menu system.As indicated in Table A12, different surround modes may only beavailable with certain input signals or bitstream formats. For any