Surround Mode Selection; Digital Audio Playback - Harman Kardon AVR 140 Owner's Manual

• You may adjust the bass and treble tone controls
at any point during a listening session by pressing
the Tone Mode Button 5 until TONE IN
appears in the Lower Display Line ı. Press
the Tone Mode Button 5 again until either
TREBLE MODE or BASS MODE
appears in the Lower Display Line 5, and then
use the ‹/› Buttons o to boost or cut the low
or high frequencies by up to ±10dB, in 2dB steps,
until the desired setting is achieved.
• You may also totally remove the tone controls from
the circuit so that the output is "flat" at any time by
pressing the Tone Mode Button 5 and then
Button ) so that TONE
pressing the /
‹ ›
OUT appears in the on-screen display and the
Lower Display Line ı.
• The tone controls may also be adjusted using the
AUDIO SETUP submenu as described on
page 17.
• For private listening, plug the 1/4" stereo phone
plug from a pair of stereo headphones into the
front-panel Headphone Jack 4 . When the
headphone's plug is connected, the phrase
HEADPHONES IN will scroll once across
the Lower Display Line and all speakers will
be silenced. When the headphone plug is removed,
the audio feed to the speakers will be restored.

Surround Mode Selection

One of the important features of the AVR 140 is its
ability to reproduce a full multichannel surround sound
field from digital sources, analog matrix surround-
encoded programs and standard stereo programs.
Selection of a surround mode is based on personal
taste, as well as the type of program source material
being used. For example, motion pictures or TV pro-
grams bearing the logo of one of the major surround-
encoding processes, such as Dolby Surround or DTS
Stereo, may be played in either the Dolby Digital, Dolby
Pro Logic II or IIx Movie, DTS Neo:6 Cinema, or
Logic 7 5.1 or 7.1 Cinema surround modes.
NOTE: Once a program has been encoded with matrix
surround information, it retains the surround information
as long as the program is broadcast in stereo. Thus,
movies with surround sound may be decoded via any of
the analog surround modes such as Dolby Pro Logic IIx
Cinema, Logic 7 Cinema or DTS Neo:6 Cinema, when
they are broadcast via conventional TV stations, cable,
pay-TV and satellite transmission. In addition, a growing
number of made-for-television programs, sports broad-
casts, radio dramas and music CDs are also recorded in
surround sound.
Even when a program is not listed as carrying inten-
tional surround information, you may find that the Dolby
Pro Logic IIx, Logic 7 Enhanced or DTS Neo:6, VMAx
and the Hall or Theater modes often deliver enveloping
surround presentations through the use of the natural
information present in all stereo recordings.
Surround modes may be changed at any time by
using either the front panel or remote control. Any
changes made to the surround mode for that source
will be retained in the AVR's menu, even after another
source is selected, or if the AVR is placed in Standby
mode. To select a new surround mode from the
front panel, first press the Surround Mode Group
Selector Button 7 until the desired major surround
mode group (e.g., Dolby, DTS or Logic 7) is selected.
Next, press the Surround Mode Selector Button 8
to choose the specific individual surround mode.
To select a surround mode using the remote, press
the button for the major surround mode group that
includes the mode you wish to choose from: Dolby
w, DTS Surround x, DTS Neo:6
Logic 7 y, Stereo or DSP Surround k.
The first press of the button will show the current
mode from that group. To cycle through the available
modes in that group, press the button again until the
desired mode appears in the Lower Display Line
ı, the on-screen display and in the Surround
Mode Indicators ˆ.
As the surround mode changes, the appropriate
Surround Mode Indicator ˆ will light to indicate
the current mode. At times, it is possible that more
than one indicator will light. This can occur when the
DSP Surround Off mode has been selected, or when
post-processing is being used with an input signal,
such as when the Dolby Digital 2.0 plus Dolby
Pro Logic IIx mode is used to create a 7-channel
presentation of a 2-channel signal.
The Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX and DTS 5.1,
DTS-ES Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete modes may only
be selected when a digital input is in use and a digital
signal in that format is present. In addition, when a
digital source is present, the AVR 140 will automatically
select and switch to the correct mode, regardless of
the mode that has been previously selected. For more
information on selecting digital sources, see the Digital
Audio Playback section.
The Dolby Pro Logic IIx modes are available only
when the AVR 140 has been configured for 6.1/7.1
operation by setting the Surround Back speakers as
either LARGE or SMALL as described on page
21. These modes provide a matrixed 6.1-channel
presentation of analog sources.
When the 6-channel/8-channel direct inputs are in
use there is no surround processing, as these inputs
take the analog output signals from an optional, exter-
nal DVD-Audio or SACD player, or another source
OPERATION
device and carry them straight through to the volume
control without any further digital processing.
To listen to a program in traditional two-channel stereo,
using the front left and front right speakers only (plus
the subwoofer, if installed and configured), press the
until SURROUND OFF
Stereo Button
appears in the Lower Display Line ı, or press the
Surround Mode Group Selector 7 until the Stereo
modes appear in the on-screen display and Lower
Display Line ı. Next, press the Surround Mode
Select Button 8 until SURROUND OFF
appears in the on-screen display and Lower Display
Line .
When an analog audio source is in use, you may
activate an analog bypass Surround Off mode, if you
have removed the tone controls from the processing
circuitry. This is done by pressing the Tone Mode
Button 5 and using the ‹/› Buttons )o
,
until the TONE OUT message appears in the
Lower Display Line ı, or by using the AUDIO
SETUP menu.
If the tone controls are active (TONE IN), or if
you have selected the digitized Surround Off mode,
the DSP icon will appear in the Surround Mode
, and the message SURROUND
Indicators
OFF will appear in the lower line of the semi-OSD
display. The DSP icon indicates that the incoming sig-
nal is being digitized and any bass management set-
tings are being applied. This mode is recommended
when your front speakers are not capable of repro-
ducing the lower frequencies and are thus used with
a subwoofer.
When the DSP icon is not lit in Surround Off mode
with an analog audio input in use, the AVR is in analog
bypass mode. The signal is being routed directly to the
volume control, without entering the digital domain and
without any bass management settings being applied.
This mode is desirable when your left and right speak-
ers are capable of reproducing low frequencies, and
when you wish to hear the analog source material in
its pure form.

Digital Audio Playback

Digital audio is a major advancement over older analog
surround processing systems. It delivers five, six or seven
discrete channels: left front, center, right front, left sur-
round, right surround and optionally one or two surround
back channels. Each channel reproduces full frequency
range (20Hz to 20kHz) and offers dramatically improved
dynamic range and significant improvements to signal-
to-noise ratios. In addition, digital systems have the capa-
bility to deliver an additional channel that is specifically
devoted to low-frequency information. This is the ".1"
channel referred to when you see these systems
described as "5.1, " "6.1" or "7.1". The bass channel is
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