Advanced Functions; Audio Processing And Surround Sound; Analog Audio Signals; Digital Audio Signals - Harman Kardon AVR 245 Owner's Manual

ADVANCED FUNCTIONS

Much of the AVR 245's performance is handled automatically, with little
intervention required on your part. However, the AVR 245 is a sophisti-
cated component, and is capable of being customized to suit your par-
ticular system and your tastes. In this section we describe some of the
more advanced adjustments available on the AVR 245. You may return
to this section later, when you have become more familiar with your
receiver.

Audio Processing and Surround Sound

Audio signals output by sources are encoded in a variety of formats that
can affect not only the quality of the sound but the number of speaker
channels and the surround mode. You may also manually select a differ-
ent surround mode, although for certain types of audio signals, the
modes available will be limited in certain ways, as described below.

Analog Audio Signals

Analog audio signals usually consist of two channels – left and right.
The AVR 245 offers three basic options for playback of analog audio:
1. Analog Bypass Mode: In this mode, the 2-channel signal is passed
directly to the volume control, without being digitized or undergoing
any processing for bass management or surround sound. The
requirements for selecting analog bypass mode are:
a) The analog audio inputs for the source must be selected. If neces-
sary, press the Digital Button on the remote and use the
Buttons to make the selection.
b) The tone controls must be disabled by setting TONE MODE to OUT.
Either use the Input Setup menu in the full-OSD system to make
this change, or press the Tone Mode Button on the front panel or
remote and use the ‹/› Buttons (
the TONE OUT message appears.
c) The Surround Off mode must be selected. The easiest way to
select the Surround Off mode is to press the Stereo Button on the
remote until the Surround Off icon is lit (and the DSP icon is not lit)
in the front-panel display.
2. DSP Surround Off Mode: The DSP Surround Off mode digitizes the
incoming signal and applies the bass management settings, including
speaker configuration, delay times and output levels. This mode is
desirable when your front speakers are small, limited-range satellites
and you are using a subwoofer. Both the DSP and Surround Off icons
will be lit when this mode is active. Press the Stereo Button on the
remote repeatedly to select this mode.
3. Analog Surround Modes: One of the main benefits of a surround
receiver such as the AVR 245 is its ability to process 2-channel
audio signals to produce multichannel surround sound in a variety
of modes, even when no surround sound has been encoded in the
recording. Among the available modes are the Dolby Pro Logic II and
IIx modes, the Dolby Virtual Speaker modes, the DTS Neo:6 modes,
the Logic 7 modes, the Hall and Theater modes and the Stereo
modes.
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Digital Audio Signals

Digital audio signals offer the benefit of greater capacity, which allows
recording artists to encode center and surround channel information
directly into the signal. The result is improved sound quality and startling
directionality, since each of these channels is reproduced discretely.
Alternatively, the artist will encode only two channels, but by using a digi-
tal signal, the artist has the capacity to increase the sampling rate, which
enables him or her to include even more detailed information about the
audio signal. High-resolution recordings usually sound extraordinarily
distortion-free at all frequencies, but especially at high frequencies.
Multichannel digital recordings usually are found in the 5.1-, 6.1- or
7.1-channel formats. The channels included in a 5.1-channel recording
are front left, front right, center, surround left, surround right and LFE.
The LFE channel is denoted as ".1" to represent the fact that it is not
full-range, being limited to the low frequencies.
6.1-Channel recordings add a single surround back channel, and 7.1-
channel recordings add surround back left and surround back right
channels to the 5.1-channel configuration.
NOTE: In order to use the 6.1- and 7.1-channel surround
modes, e.g. Logic 7 7-channel Cinema, the AVR 245 must be
configured so that the Surround Back channels are enabled.
See the Manual Setup section on page 48 of the Advanced
Functions section for more information.
Digital formats include Dolby Digital 2.0 (two channels only), Dolby
Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital EX, DTS 5.1, DTS-ES (6.1 Matrix and
Discrete), DTS 96/24 and 2-channel PCM modes in 44.1kHz, 48kHz
or 96kHz.
When a digital signal is received, the AVR 245 detects the encoding
method and the number of channels. The appropriate icon will light in
the front panel for Dolby Digital and DTS signals. The number of chan-
nels encoded will scroll once across the front panel display as three
numbers, separated by slashes (e.g., "3/2/.1").
The first number indicates the number of front channels in the signal:
"1" represents a monophonic recording, usually an older program that
has been digitally remastered or, more rarely, a modern program on
which the artist has selected an effect.
"2" indicates the presence of the left and right channels, but no
center channel.
"3" indicates that all three front channels (left, right and center) are
present.
The second number indicates whether any surround channels are
present:
"0" indicates that no surround information is present.
"1" indicates that a matrixed surround signal is present.
"2" indicates discrete left and right surround channels.