System Setup - Harman Kardon AVR 745 Owner's Manual

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
Surround Speakers for 7.1 or 7.2 Systems
For the ultimate home theater experience, a 7.1 or
7.2 surround system uses both traditional surround
left/right channels and a surround back left/right
speaker pair. In a 7.1 system, the front left/center/right
speakers remain in the same place as they would be
for a 5.1 or 6.1 system, but due to the number of
speakers involved, the placement of the surround
speakers is different.
In a 7.1 system, you should place the main surround
left/right speakers at the 90-degree point on our cir-
cle. A good way to visualize proper surround speaker
positioning for 7.1 is to place the speakers directly to
the left and right of the ears of someone sitting in the
prime listening spot. The two speakers should ideally
face toward each other.
When two subwoofers are installed, the AVR 745 is
able to create a smoother low-frequency reproduction
with more powerful bass.
The additional Surround Back Left/Right speakers are
placed at about 150 degrees on the circle, pointing
inward, toward the listening area. The easiest way to
visualize the placement of these speakers is to place
the surround back left speaker directly opposite the
right front speaker and to place the surround back left
speaker directly opposite the left front speaker.
Video Screen
Center Speaker
Front Right
Front Left
Speaker
Speaker
30° 30°
90°
150°
150°
Side Surround
Left Speaker
Back Surround Back Surround
Left Speaker Right Speaker
7.1 Placement Diagram
Subwoofer Placement
Since subwoofers produce nondirectional sound, they
may be placed almost anywhere in a room. Actual
placement should be based on room size and shape
and the type of subwoofer used. One method of find-
ing the optimal location for a subwoofer is to begin by
placing it in the front of the room, about six inches
from a wall, or near the front corner of the room.
Another method is to temporarily place the subwoofer
at your normal listening position, and then walk
around the room until you find a spot where the sub-
woofer sounds best. Place the subwoofer in that spot.
You should also follow the instructions of the sub-
20 20 SYSTEM CONFIGURATION SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
woofer's manufacturer, or you may wish to experiment
with the best location for a subwoofer in your listening
room.
The AVR 745 is equipped for 7.2 operation, which
means that you can increase the low-frequency per-
formance of your system by using two subwoofers,
rather than one. When using two subwoofers, the fol-
lowing tips will add to the smoothness and power of
the bass reproduction:
• Although it is not mandatory, you will have the best
performance when both subwoofers are identical in
terms of driver size, amplifier power and cabinet
design (e.g., ported or sealed).
• The optimal placement when two subwoofers are in
use is to have them on the side walls of the room,
to the immediate left and right of the listening posi-
tion. If that positioning is not practical, a good alter-
native is to place the subwoofers in the front left
and right corners of the room, or to place the
subwoofers in any two corners of the room.
• Regardless of which subwoofer placement option is
chosen, EzSet/EQII will help to smooth room condi-
tions to deliver the optimal bass response.
For more information on subwoofer placement, as well
as a variety of topics relating to audio and home the-
ater, visit the Technology section of our Web site at
www.harmankardon.com. Links are provided there to
informative white papers written by the acoustic and
electronics experts at Harman Kardon and at our par-
ent company, Harman International Industries, Inc.
NOTES ON SPEAKER PLACEMENT:
90°
1. The limitations of your listening room, including the
placement of walls and furniture, may make it diffi-
Side Surround
cult to follow the speaker placement suggestions
Right Speaker
shown above. Depending on the specific layout of
the room, here are some ways to compensate for
unusual conditions:
• Try to follow the suggested placement, but move
the speakers within a few feet from the preferred
locations.
• Regardless of where they are placed, always try
to make certain that the main surround speakers
are the same distance from the front speakers.
(For example, try not to have the right surround
speaker further back into the room than the left
surround speaker.)
• If it is not possible to wall-mount or place speak-
ers on a shelf, consider the use of optional floor
stands, available for many speakers.
2. When using ceiling-mounted in-wall speakers, fol-
low the same guidelines shown for conventional
floorstanding or shelf-mounted speakers.
3. When you have reassigned the surround back
channels for use in a multiroom system, follow the
speaker placement instructions for a 5.1-channel
system for your main listening area (see page 19).
Remote Control Setup
The AVR 745 comes with two remotes, Harman Kardon's
TC 30 activity-based remote control with color LCD
and the ZR 10, which is designed primarily for use in
remote rooms but which may also be used as a com-
pact remote in your main home theater room.
The TC 30 remote packed with your new receiver will
operate the AVR 745 without any further program-
ming. However, in order to take full advantage of the
TC 30's power and flexibility, you will need to program
it via the Internet so that the codes needed to control
the other devices in your system (such as a video dis-
play, DVD players and set-top boxes) are transferred
into the TC 30's memory. Programming the TC 30
is easy, and complete instructions for setting up the
TC 30 may be found in the separate Installation
Guide for the remote.
Before using the TC 30, you must install the recharge-
able battery and connect the charging cradle to its
power supply. The battery should then be charged for
at least twelve hours before using the TC 30.
To allow you to continue with the setup of your
AVR 745 while the TC 30 battery is charging, the
ZR 10 may be used to navigate through the system
menus. No configuration is required; simply remove
the battery compartment door on the back of the ZR 10
and install the AAA batteries supplied with the AVR.
Replace the battery cover and you are ready to go!

System Setup

Once the speakers have been placed in the room and
connected, the remaining steps in the setup process
are to assign input and output connections, make any
video or audio adjustments, select a surround mode,
program the AVR 745's bass management system for
the type of speakers used in your system, calibrate
the output levels and set the delay times used by the
surround sound processor.
Although it is necessary to assign input/output settings
and surround mode choices manually, we recommend
that you take advantage of the power and precision of
EzSet/EQII to automatically select and enter the set-
tings for all other audio parameters. This will not only
save you time; it will ensure that your room is calibrated
and equalized with an accuracy not possible when
these settings are made manually.
You are now ready to power up the AVR 745 to begin
these final adjustments.
1. Make certain that the AC power cord is firmly
inserted into the AC Power Cord Jack a
and plug the cord into an unswitched AC outlet.