Harman Kardon AVR 3550HD Owner's Manual

Also see for AVR 3550HD: Quick start guide Service manual Software upgrade instructions

Harman Kardon AVR 3550HD Owner's Manual Manual pdf 42 page image

42ADVANCED FUNCTIONStightly on the center channel. Lower numbers broaden the vocal sound-stage. Use the ‹/› Buttons to adjust.Dimension: This setting affects the depth of the surround presentation,allowing you to “move” the sound toward the front or rear of the room.The setting of “0” is a neutral default. Setting “F-3” moves the soundtoward the front of the room, while setting “R-3” moves the soundtoward the rear. Use the ‹/› Buttons to adjust.Panorama: With the Panorama mode turned ON, some of the soundfrom the front speakers is moved to the surround speakers, creating anenveloping “wraparound” effect. Each press of the OK Button togglesthe setting on or off.Night ModeNight mode is available with Dolby Digital programs, if it has been encod-ed in the material. It compresses the peak sound levels, maintaining theintelligibility of the dialogue and quieter passages, while reducing theloudness of special effects and louder passages to avoid disturbing others.Night Mode is accessed from the Audio Effects menu. See page 45.NOTE: To access 6.1- and 7.1-channel modes, the surroundback channels must be enabled as explained in the ManualSetup section. Do not enable these channels if you don’t havesurround back speakers in your system.Manual SetupThe AVR 3550HD is flexible and may be configured for most speakers,and to compensate for the acoustic characteristics of your room.The EzSet/EQ process automatically detects the capabilities of eachspeaker, and optimizes the AVR 3550HD’s performance. If you areunable to run EzSet/EQ calibration, or if you wish to make furtheradjustments, use the Manual Setup on-screen menus.Before beginning, place your loudspeakers as explained in the SpeakerPlacement section, and connect them to the AVR. Consult the owner’sguide for the speakers or the manufacturer’s Web site for the frequencyrange specification. Although you may set the output levels “by ear,” anSPL (sound-pressure level) meter purchased at a local electronics storewill provide greater accuracy.Record your configuration settings in Tables A3 through A11 in the appendixfor easy re-entry after a system reset, or if the AVR’s Master PowerSwitch is turned off or the unit is unplugged for more than four weeks.NOTE: When using the AVR’s Speaker Setup menus, select avideo output resolution of 720p or higher to view graphics thatsimplify configuration.Step One – Determine Speaker CrossoverWithout using the EzSet/EQ process, the AVR 3550HD can’t detecthow many speakers you’ve connected to it; nor can it determine theircapabilities. Consult the speaker’s technical specifications and locatethe frequency response, usually given as a range, e.g., 100Hz – 20kHz(±3dB). Write down the lowest frequency that each of your mainspeakers is capable of playing (100Hz in the example) as the crossoverin Table A3 in the appendix. This is not the same as the crossoverfrequency listed in the speaker’s specifications. For the subwoofer, writedown the transducer size.The receiver’s bass management determines which speakers will beused to play back the low-frequency (bass) portion of the source program.Sending the lowest notes to small satellite speakers won’t sound right,and may even damage the speaker. The highest notes may not beheard at all through the subwoofer.With proper bass management, the AVR 3550HD divides the sourcesignal at a crossover point. All information above the crossover pointis played through the satellite speaker, and all information below thecrossover point is played through the subwoofer. Each loudspeaker inyour system performs at its best, delivering an enjoyable sound experience.Step Two – Measure Speaker DistancesIdeally, all of your speakers would be placed in a circle, with the listeningposition at the center. However, you may have had to place somespeakers a little further away from the listening position than others.Sounds that are supposed to arrive simultaneously from different speakersmay blur due to different arrival times.Use the AVR’s delay adjustment to compensate for real-world speakerplacements.Measure the distance from each speaker to the listening position, andwrite it down in Table A4 in the appendix. Even if all of your speakersare the same distance from the listening position, enter your speakerdistances as described in Step Three.Step Three – Manual Setup MenuNow you are ready to program the receiver. Sit in the usual listeningposition and make the room as quiet as possible.With the receiver and video display turned on, press the AVR SettingsButton to display the menu system. Use the ¤ Button to move thecursor to the Speaker Setup line, and press the OK Button to displaythe Speaker Setup menu. See Figure 51.If you have run the EzSet/EQ process, the results were saved. Adjustthe EzSet/EQ On/Off setting in the Audio Effects menu to activate ordeactivate the results (see page 45). To tweak the EzSet/EQ results, orto configure the AVR from scratch, select Manual Setup. The screenshown in Figure 66 will appear.Figure 66 – Manual Speaker Setup Menu