Surroundmode Selection; Digitalaudio Playback; Selectinga Digitalsource - Harman Kardon AVR 110 Owner's Manual

Operation
Surround Mode Selection
One of the most important features of the
AVR 110 is its ability to reproduce a fulI
multichannel surround-sound field from digital
sources, analog matrix surround-encoded
programs and standard stereo programs. In all,
a totaI of tweive listening modes are available
on the AVR 110.
Selection of a surroundmodeis basedon per-
sonaltaste,aswell asthe type of program
souleematerialbeingused.Forexample, m otion
picturesor TVprograms bearing the logo of one
of the majorsurround-encoding p rocesses, such
as DolbySulround,DTSStereoor UltraStereo ®
may be playedin eitherthe DotbyDigital,Dotby
ProLogicor Logic7 Cinemasurroundmodes
dependingon the souleematerial.
NOTE:Oncea programhasbeenencoded with
matrixsurroundinformation,it retainsthe sur-
roundinformationaslong asthe programis
broadcastin stereo. T hus, m ovieswith surround
soundmay be decoded viaany of the analog
surroundmodessuchasProLogicor Logic7,
when they arebroadcast v ia conventional TVsta-
tions,cable,payTVand satellitetransmission. I n
addition,a growingnumberd made-for-televi-
sion proglams, s portsbroadcasts, Iadiodramas
and musicCDsarealsorecordedin surround
sound.Youmayview a list of theseproglams
at the DolbyLabolatories Website at
www.dotby.com.
[ven when a programis not listedascarying
intentionalsurroundinformation,you mayfind
that the ProLogic,Logic7, VMAxandthe Haltor
Theatermodesoftendeliverenveloping surround
presentations through the useof the natulat
informationpresentin all stereorecordings.
However, f or stereo, b ut not surroundprograms,
we suggestthat you experiment w ith the
other modes.
Surroundmodesare selectedusing either the
front panel controlsor the remote.Toselecta
surroundmodefrom the front panel,pressthe
Surround Mode Selector [] to scrollup or
down through the list of availablemodes.To
selecta surroundmode usingthe remote,press
the Surround Mode SelectorS) and then
pressthe A/T buttons_ to changethe
mode.Asyou pressthe buttons,the Surround
mode namewill appearin the Main
Information Display_r_, and an individual
mode indicatorwill alsolight up roll_rdl_II
ll]l_lll. Asthe surroundmodeschange,a
green LEDwill light next to the current mode in
the Surround Mode Indicators list [] on
the front panel.
Notethat the DolbyDigitaland DTSmodesmay
only be selectedwhen a digital input is in use.
In addition,when a digital sourceis present,
the AVR110will automaticallyselectand
switch to the correctmode (Dolby Digitalor
DTS), r egardless of the mode that hasbeen pre-
viouslyselected.Formoreinformationon select-
ing digitalsoulces, s eethe following sectionof
this manual.
To listento a programin traditionaltwo-channel
stereo,using the front-left and front-right
speakersonly (plusthe subwooferif installed
and configured),follow the instructionsshown
abovefor usingthe remoteuntil SURR OFF
appearsinthe Main Information Display _rj.
Digital Audio Playback
Digitalaudiois a majoradvancement o verolder
systems suchasDolbyProLogic.It deliversfive
discretechannels: l eft-fronbcentel, r ight-front,
left-sulround andright-surroued. E ach channel
reproduces full frequency range(20Hzto 20kHz)
and offersdlamatically improved dynamic iange
and significant i mprovements t o signal-to-noise
ratios.In addition,digital systems havethe capa-
bilityto deliveran additionalchannel t hat is
specifically devotedto Iow-fequeeeyinformation.
Thisis the ".1" channel r efelredto when you see
thesesystems d escribed as "5.1 ". Thebasschan-
nelis sepaatefrom the otherchannels, b ut since
it is intentionallybandwidth-limited, sound
designers havegivenit that uniquedesignation.
Dolby Digital
DolbyDigital(originallyknown asAC-3_;)is
a standardpartof DVD,andis availableon
specially encoded LDdiscsandsatellitebroad-
castsand isa part of the new high-definition tel-
evision(HDTV) s ystem.
Notethat an optional,externalRFdemodulator
is requiredto usethe AVR110 to listen to the
DotbyDigitalsoundtracksavailableon laser
discs.Connectthe RFoutput of the LDplayerto
the demodulatorandthen connectthe digital
output of the demodulatorto the Optical or
Coaxial Inputs _] of the AVR110.
Nodemodulatoris requiredfor usewith DVD
playersor DTS-encoded l aserdiscs.
DTS
DTSis another digital audiosystemthat is
capableof delivering5.1 audio.Although both
DTSand DolbyDigitalare digital, they usedif-
ferent methodsof encodingthe signals,and
thus they requiredifferent decodingcircuitsto
convertthe digital signalsbackto analog.
DTS-encoded s oundtracksare availableon
selectDVDand LDdiscs, a swell as on special
audio-onlyDTSdiscs. Y oumayuse any LDor
CDplayerequippedwith a digital output to
play DTS-encoded d iscswith the AVR110.Att
that is requiredis to connectthe player'soutput
to either the Optical or Coaxial Input on the
rearpanel_ or front panel1]_11'_.
In orderto listen to DVDsencodedwith DTS
soundtracks,the DVDplayermust be compati-
ble with the DTSsignalas indicatedby a DTS
logo on the player'sfront panel. Note that early
DVDplayersmay not be able to play DTS-
encodedDVDs. T hisdoesnot indicatea prob-
lem with the AVR110, assomeplayerscannot
passthe DTSsignalthrough to the digital out-
puts.If you are in doubt as to the capabilityof
your DVDplayerto handle DTS discs,consult
the player'sowner'smanual.
Selecting a Digital Source
Toutilize either digital mode you must have
properlyconnecteda digital sourceto the
AVR110. Connectthe digital outputsfrom DVD
players,HDTV receivers, s atellite systems or CD
playersto the Optical or Coaxial Inputs
_]. In order to providea backupsig-
nal and a sourcefor analog stereorecording,
the analog outputsprovidedon digital source
equipmentshouldalso be connectedto their
appropriateinputs on the AVR110 rearpanel
(e.g.,connectthe analog stereoaudio output
from a DVDto the DVD Audio inputs_ on
the rearpanelwhen you connectthe source's
digital outputs).
When playinga digital sourcesuchas DVD,first
selectthe input using the remoteor front panel
controlsas outlined in this manual.Next,select
the digital sourceby pressingthe Digital
Input Selector button _[] and then using
the A/v buttons_ on the remoteor the
Selector buttons[] on the front panelto
choose any of the OPTICAL or COAXIAL
inputs,asthey appearin the Main
Information Display [T_j, o r Source
Indicators 1"£tl51. Whenthe digitatsourceis
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23 OPERATION