Surround Mode Selection; Digital Audio Playback - Harman Kardon AVR 635 Owner's Manual

• For private listening, simply place a standard
1/4" stereo headphone plug or adaptor into the
Headphone Jack B behind the door 9 on the
front panel. The speakers will automatically mute
and a two-channel stereo signal will be sent to the
headphones. The Lower Display Line $ will read
DOLBY H: BP, indicating that the headphone
output is in the Bypass mode, and to confirm that
no processing is being used.
• When the headphones are in use, you may take
advantage of the Dolby Headphone modes to bring
added spaciousness to headphone listening. Press
the Dolby Mode Select Button
Surround Mode Selector 3 to cycle through the
three Dolby Headphone modes to select the one
that you prefer.

Surround Mode Selection

One of the most important features of the AVR 635
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 Cinema, DTS Neo:6 Cinema, or
Logic 7 Cinema surround modes, depending on the
source material.
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 Pro Logic II
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 produced
in surround sound. You may view a list of these pro-
grams at the Dolby Laboratories Web site at
www.dolby.com.
Even when a program is not listed as carrying intentional
surround information, you may find that the Pro Logic II,
Pro Logic IIx, Logic 7 or DTS Neo:6, and the Hall or
Theater modes often deliver enveloping surround pre-
sentations 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. To
select a new surround mode from the front panel, first
press the Surround Mode Group Selector Button
2 until the desired major surround mode group such
as Dolby, DTS or Logic 7 is selected. Next, press the
Surround Mode Selector Button 3 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
, DTS Digital
h, Stereo
press of the button will show the current mode from
or the that group if it is already in use, or the first available
mode if you are currently using another mode. To
cycle through the available modes in that group,
press the button again until the desired mode appears
in the Lower Display Line $ and the on-screen
display and in the front-panel Surround Mode
Indicators %.
The Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS 5.1, DTS-ES
Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete modes may only be
selected when a digital input is in use. In addition,
when a digital source is present, the AVR 635 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 below.
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
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 Stereo Mode Select Button
SURROUND OFF appears in the Lower Display
Line $. From the front panel, press the Surround
Mode Group Selector 2 until the Stereo modes
appear in the on-screen display and Lower Display
Line $. Next, press the Surround Mode Selector
Button 3 until SURROUND OFF appears in
the on-screen display and Lower Display Line $.

Digital Audio Playback

Digital audio is a major advancement over older analog
surround processing systems. It delivers up to six dis-
crete channels, and each channel reproduces full fre-
quency range (20Hz to 20kHz) and offers dramatically
improved dynamic range and significant improvements to
signal-to-noise ratios. In addition, digital systems have the
capability to deliver an additional channel that is specifi-
cally devoted to low-frequency information. This is the
, DTS Neo:6 , Logic 7
or DSP Surround g. The first
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OPERATION
".1" channel referred to when you see these systems
described as "5.1, " "6.1" or "7.1." The bass channel is
separate from the other channels, but since it is inten-
tionally bandwidth-limited, sound designers have given it
that unique designation. When a Digital soundtrack is
playing, the number of channels available will vary
according to the way in which the program was
recorded. Although most movies recorded with digital
sound have 5.1 soundtracks, some have 6.1 or 7.1
sound, while others retain the original 2.0 or even
monaural sound. When the program source is a
broadcast, cable or satellite delivered digital program,
only one type of soundtrack may be delivered at a
time, while optical sources such as DVD may provide
more than one audio option. In either case, the deci-
sion of what type of sound track and how many chan-
nels to offer is up to the program's producer. With the
AVR 635 you are able to not only play back the origi-
nal compatible digital format, but using the processing
power of the Texas Instruments DSP processor it is
possible to decode the basic digital track for 2.0 or
5.1 sound and then select an additional "post-pro-
cessing" mode to deliver additional channels.
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is a standard part of DVD, and is available
on specially encoded LD discs and satellite broad-
casts and it is a part of the high-definition television
(HDTV) system.
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An optional, external RF demodulator is required to
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use the AVR 635 to listen to the Dolby Digital sound-
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tracks available on laser discs. Connect the RF output
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of the LD player to the demodulator and then connect
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the digital output of the demodulator to the Optical or
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Coaxial Inputs KM
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demodulator is required for use with DVD players or 32 21 39
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DTS-encoded laser discs.
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In order to provide maximum playback compatibility
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with DVDs, the AVR 635 receiver will always default
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first to the playback mode embedded in a disc's digital
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"flag" information. For Dolby Digital discs, the following
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playback modes are initially selected after the AVR
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locks to the incoming digital audio data stream to
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identify the selected:
• When a 5.1 audio stream is detected, the Dolby
Digital 5.1 format will be selected, regardless of the
number of speakers in your system, in compliance
with Dolby Laboratories licensing requirements.
• When a disc with the Dolby Digital EX format flag is
played, your system will automatically switch to the
EX mode when seven main channel speakers are
available.
OPERATION
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