Surroundmode Selection; Digitalaudio Playback; Selecting A Digitalsource - Harman Kardon AVR 220 Owner's Manual

Operation
Surround Mode Selection
One of the mostimportantfeaturesof the
AVR220 is its abilityto reproducea full
multichannelsurroundsoundfield from digital
sources, a nalog matrix surround-encoded
programsand standardstereoprograms.In all,
a total of fifteen listeningmodesareavailable
on the AVR220.
Selection of a surroundmodeis basedon per-
sonaltaste,aswell asthe type of program
sourcematerialbeing used.Forexample, m otion
picturesor TVprogramsbearingthe logo of one
of the major surround-encoding p rocesses, such
as DolbySurround, D TSStereoor UItraStereo ®
may be playedin eitherthe DolbyDigital,Dolby
ProLogicII or Logic7 Cinemasurroundmodes
dependingon the sourcematerial.
NOTE:Oncea programhasbeenencoded with
matrixsurroundinformation,it retainsthe sur-
roundinformationas long asthe programis
broadcastin stereo. T hus,movieswith surround
soundmay bedecodedviaany of the analog
surroundmodessuchas ProLogicII or Logic7,
when they arebroadcastviaconventional TV
stations,cable,payTVandsatellitetransmission.
Inaddition,a growing numberof made-for-
televisionprograms, s portsbroadcasts, r adio
dramasandmusicCDsarealsorecordedin
surroundsound.Youmayview a list of these
programs at the DolbyLaboratories W ebsite
at www.dolby.com.
Evenwhen a programis not listedascarrying
intentionalsurroundinformation,you mayfind
that the ProLogicII, Logic7,VMAxandthe
Hallor Theatermodesoften deliverenveloping
surroundpresentations throughthe useof
the naturalinformationpresentin all stereo
recordings. H owever, f or stereo,but not surround
programs, w esuggestthat you experiment w ith
the othermodes.
Surroundmodesare selectedusingeither 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 Selectorli_) and then
pressthe A/T Buttons _I_) to change
the mode.Asyou pressthe buttons,the
Surroundmode namewill appearin the Main
Information Display l_l, and an individual
mode indicator w ill also light up r_ll_jri_r-=l[_l
[11111. Asthe surroundmodeschange, a green
LEDwill light next to the currentmodein the
Surround Mode Indicators [] list on the
front panel.
NOTE:Thenameof eachSurround Mode will
scrollacrossthe bottom of the on-screendis-
playand through the Main Information
Display [] while the modesare being select-
ed.Toavoid exiting from the surroundmode
selectionprocess, b e certainto pushthe • or
• Button _ while a mode nameis still
visible.
Notethat the DolbyDigitaland DTS modesmay
only be selected when a digital input is in use.
In addition,when a digital sourceis present,
the AVR220 will automaticallyselectand
switchto the correctmode (Dolby Digitalor
DTS), r egardless of the modethat has beenpre-
viouslyselected.Formoreinformationon select-
ing digitalsources, seethe following sectionof
this manual.
Tolistento a programin traditionaltwo-channel
stereo, u singthe front-left andfront-right
speakers only(plusthe subwooferif installed
andconfigured), f ollow the instructionsshown
abovefor usingthe remoteuntil SURR OFF
appears in the Main Information Display [].
Digital Audio Playback
Digitalaudiois a majoradvancement o verolder
analogmatrixsurroundsystems. I t deliversfive
discrete channels: l eft-front,center, r ight-front,
left-surround and right-surround. E ach channel
reproduces f ull frequency range(20Hzto 20kHz)
andoffersdramatically improved dynamicrange
andsignificant i mprovements t o signal-to-noise
ratios.Inaddition,digital systems havethe capa-
bilityto deliveran additionalchannel t hat is
specifically d evotedto low-frequency information.
Thisis the ". 1" channel r eferredto whenyou see
thesesystems described as "5.1". Thebasschan-
nelis separate from the otherchannels, b ut since
it is intentionallybandwidth-limited, sound
designers havegiven it that uniquedesignation.
Dolby Digital
DolbyDigital(originallyknown asAC-3 ®) is
a standardpartof the DVD format, andis also
partof the new digital broadcasting s ystemandit
isavailablewith manysatellitereceivers and
somedigital cableboxes, a swell aswith specially
encoded LDdiscs.
Notethat an optional,externalRFdemodulator
is requiredto use the AVR220to listento the
DolbyDigitalsoundtracksavailableon laser
discs.Connect t he RFoutput of the LDplayerto
the demodulatorandthen connectthe digital
output of the demodulatorto the the Optical
or Coaxial Inputs '@DJ_3[_]i'l_'! of the AVR
220. No demodulatoris requiredfor use with
DVDplayersor 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 decodingcircuits t o
convert t he digital signalsbackto analog.
DTS-encoded s oundtracksare availableon
selectDVDand LDdiscs,aswell as on special
audio-onlyDTSdiscs. Y oumayuse any LDor
CDplayerequippedwith a digital output to
play DTS-encoded d iscswith the AVR220. All
that is requiredis to connectthe player'soutput
to either the Optical or Coaxial inputon the
rearpanel_ or front paneli"l_li'l_'l.
In order to listento DVDsencodedwith DTS
soundtracks,the DVDplayermust be compati-
ble with the DTSsignalas indicatedby a DTS
logo on the player'sfront panel. Notethat early
DVDplayersmay not be ableto play DTS-
encodedDVDs. T hisdoesnot indicatea prob-
lem with the AVR220, as someplayerscannot
passthe DTSsignalthrough to the digital out-
puts.If you are in doubt asto the capabilityof
your DVDplayerto handleDTSdiscs,consult
the player'sowner'smanual.Pleasenote that
someDVDplayersareshippedwith their output
setfor DolbyDigitalonly.Toinsurethat DTS
data is being sentto the AVR,pleasecheckthe
setupmenu systemon your DVDplayerto
makecertainthat DTSdata output is enabled.
Selecting a Digital Source
Toutilize eitherdigital modeyou must have
properlyconnected a digital sourceto the
AVR220. Connectthe digital outputsfrom DVD
players,HDTVreceivers, s atellitesystemsor CD
playersto the Optical or Coaxial Inputs
'@DJ_:_i"l_li'[l. In orderto providea backupsig-
nal and a sourcefor analog stereorecording,
the analogoutputs providedon digital source
equipmentshouldalso be connectedto their
appropriateinputson the AVR220 rearpanel
(e.g.,connectthe analog stereoaudio output
from a DVDto the DVD Audio Inputs O on
the rearpanelwhen you connect the source's
digital outputs).
26 OPERATION