Harman Kardon KARDON AVR 360 Owner's Manual

Also see for AVR 360: Function manual Owner's manual

Contents

4ADVANCED FuNCTIONSMuch of the AVR 460/AVR 360’s performance is handled automatically, withlittle intervention required on your part. The AVR 460/AVR 360 is capableof being customized to suit your system and your tastes. In this AdvancedFunctions Manual, some of the more advanced adjustments available aredescribed.auDIo proceSSInG anD SurrounDSounDAudio signals output by sources are encoded in a variety of formats that canaffect not only the quality of the sound but the number of speaker channelsand the surround mode. You may also manually select a different surroundmode, when available.analog audio SignalsAnalog audio signals usually consist of two channels – left and right. TheAVR 460/AVR 360 offers three options for playback:Analog Bypass Mode1. : The 2-channel signal is passed directly from theinput to the volume control, without being digitized or undergoing anyprocessing for bass management or surround sound. To select analogbypass mode:The analog audio inputs for the source must be selected. If necessary,a)press the Info Button on the remote and use the LK Buttons to scrollto the Audio Input from source setting.The tone controls must be disabled by setting the Tone Control to Off.b)Press the Audio Effects Button to access the Tone Control setting.The 2-channel Stereo mode must be selected. Press the Surroundc)Modes Button to access the STEREO line of the Surround Modessubmenu. Press the OK Button to select 2-channel Stereo.NOTE: Audio from The Bridge III source is analog, and when 2-channelStereo mode is selected, the audio will be played in Analog Bypass mode.Analog Surround Modes2. : The AVR 460/AVR 360 is able to process2-channel audio signals to produce multichannel surround sound, evenwhen no surround sound has been encoded in the recording. Among theavailable modes are the Dolby Pro Logic II/IIx modes, the Harman VirtualSpeaker modes, the DTS Neo:6 modes, the Logic 7 modes and the Stereomodes.Digital audio SignalsDigital audio signals offer greater capacity, which allows the encoding ofcenter and surround channel information directly into the signal. The resultis improved sound quality and startling directionality, since each channel isreproduced discretely.Even when only two channels are encoded, the digital signal allows for ahigher sampling rate that delivers greater detail. High-resolution recordingssound extraordinarily distortion-free, especially at high frequencies.Surround modesSurround mode selection is dependent upon the format of the incomingaudio signal, as well as personal taste. Table A12 offers a brief description ofeach mode and indicates the types of incoming signals or digital bitstreamsthe mode may be used with. Additional information about the Dolby and DTSmodes is available on the companies’ Web sites: www.dolby.com and www.dtsonline.com.When in doubt, check the jacket of your disc for more information on whichsurround modes are available. Usually, nonessential sections of the disc, suchas trailers, extra materials or the disc menu, are only available in Dolby Digital2.0 (2-channel) or PCM 2-channel mode. If the main title is playing and thedisplay shows one of these surround modes, look for an audio or languagesetup section in the disc’s menu. Also, make sure your player’s audio output isset to the original bitstream rather than 2-channel PCM. Stop play and checkthe player’s output setting.For any incoming signal, only a limited number of surround modes areavailable. Although there is never a time when all of the AVR 460/AVR 360’ssurround modes are available, there is usually a wide variety of modesavailable for a given input.Multichannel digital recordings are found in the 5.1-, 6.1- or 7.1-channelformats. The channels included in a 5.1-channel recording are front left,front right, center, surround left, surround right and LFE. The LFE channel isdenoted as “.1” to represent the fact that it is limited to the low frequencies.6.1-Channel recordings add a single surround back channel, and 7.1-channelrecordings add surround back left and surround back right channels tothe 5.1-channel configuration. New formats are available in 7.1-channelconfigurations. The AVR 460/AVR 360 is able to play the new audio formats,delivering a more exciting home theater experience.NOTE: To use the 6.1- and 7.1-channel surround modes, the SurroundBack channels must be enabled. See the Manual Speaker Setup section onpage 6 for more information.The Digital formats include Dolby Digital 2.0 (two channels only), DolbyDigital 5.1, Dolby Digital EX (6.1), Dolby Digital Plus (7.1), Dolby TrueHD (7.1),DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio (7.1), DTS-HD Master Audio (7.1), DTS 5.1,DTS-ES (6.1 Matrix and Discrete), DTS 96/24 (5.1), 2-channel PCM modes in32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz or 96kHz, and 5.1 or 7.1 multichannel PCM.When a digital signal is received, the AVR 460/AVR 360 detects the encodingmethod and the number of channels, which is displayed briefly as threenumbers, separated by slashes (e.g., “3/2/.1”).