Harman Kardon AVR80II Owner's Manual

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Harman Kardon AVR80II Owner's Manual Manual pdf 33 page image

Advanced Featuresual taste and the acoustic conditions inyour listening room or home theater.The factory setting is appropriate formost rooms, but some installations cre-ate an uncommon distance between thefront and surround speakers that maycause the arrival of front channel soundsto become disconnected from surroundchannel sounds.To re-synchronize the front and surroundchannels, follow these steps:1. Measure the distance from the lis-tening/viewing position to the frontspeakers.2. Measure the distance from the lis-tening/viewing position to the sur-round speakers.3. Subtract the distance to the sur-round speakers from the distance tothe front speakers and add 15. Theresulting number is the ideal delaytime for your room. For example,if the front speakers are 10 feet awayand the surround speakers are 5feet away, the formula will be“10–5+15=20”. Thus, the correctdelay time in this room would be20ms.NOTE: The delay time may only beadjusted in certain modes.If the delay time needs to be changed,it may be increased by pressing theDELAY button @ p on the frontpanel. The delay time will be brieflydisplayed on the video menus as well asthe front panel.In addition to the use of the delay timeformula, it is a good idea to understandthe features of each of the AVR80II’s sur-round modes when entering delay time.The chart on the next page provides anexplanation of the suggested for eachmode. The chart also contains the delaytime limits for each of the modes.Direct Digital DecodingThe AVR80II’s digital signal processinguses sophisticated microprocessors andadvanced digital audio engines thatmanipulate sound in the digital domain.In order to work with sound, these cir-cuits must first convert the incominganalog audio input to a digital signal.After processing, the digital audio signalmust be converted back to analog for vol-ume control and amplification.While the digital to analog (D/A) andanalog to digital (A/D) circuits in theAVR80II are high quality, any time anaudio signal is digitized or reconstructedto analog there is the possibility of quali-ty loss. This helps you to avoid un-neededA/D and D/A conversion from any laserdisc player equipped with a coaxial digi-tal output.If your player has this type of output,connect the LD player to the AVR80IIwith a high quality digital or coax inter-connect. The connection should be madeto the LD DIGITAL IN jack S on therear panel.Once this connection is made, theAVR80II will accept the digital outputdirectly from your LD player. To select thedirect digital input, press the LD button7c and hold it for three seconds. Thismeans that audio signals will remain intheir pure digital state until after all sur-round processing has taken place.NOTE: This connection is for standardtwo channel 44.1 kHz PCM digital audio,as provided by LD or CD machines. It isNOT an input for multichannel digitalaudio signals such AC-3 or DTS. Improperconnection to the wrong type of digitaloutput may cause damage to the AVR80IIor other components in your audio systemand are not covered by the AVR80II war-ranty. Consult your dealer or installer ifyou have any questions about this input.6 Channel Direct OperationSince 1993, an increasing number oftheatrical motion pictures have beenrecorded with digital sound tracks.With these new processes such as DolbySurround Digital™, DTS ® and Sony’sSDDS®, five or more discrete soundchannels are available along with a dedi-cated subwoofer channel for low frequen-cy sounds. The replacement of analogmatrix theatrical audio, such as DolbyStereo with these new systems has greatlyincreased the enjoyment of movie sound.Advances in electronics technology nowmake it possible to bring these discretedigital audio soundtracks into yourhome. Many of today’s new LD playersand an increasing number of LD moviereleases provide for Dolby Digital sound-tracks. In the future, high definition tele-vision (HDTV) broadcasts will also carrymultichannel digital audio information.To prevent your AVR80II from obsoles-cence, special jacks are provided for usewith external multichannel audioadapters.If an adapter such as the HarmanKardon ADP303 is installed in your sys-tem, connect its six analog audio outputsto the 6-CH DIRECT INPUT jacks øon the AVR80II’s rear panel.When listening to programs using anexternal adapter, press the 6-CHDIRECT button zÔ on the remote orfront panel. All surround processing willbe disabled when 6 Channel Direct is inuse, as none is required with discreteaudio signals. Volume is controlled in thenormal fashion.NOTE: Audio reproduced from the6 Channel Direct inputs may not berecorded.31