Harman Kardon AVR 158 Owner's Manual page 21

AVR 158
Surround Modes
Surround-mode selection depends upon the format of the incoming audio signal as well
as your personal taste. Although there is never a time when all of the AVr's surround
modes are available, there is usually a wide variety of modes available for a given
input. table A9 in the Appendix, on page 30, offers a brief description of each mode and
indicates the types of incoming signals or digital bitstreams the mode may be used with.
Additional information about the dolby and dtS modes is available on the companies'
web sites: www.dolby.com and www.dtsonline.com
when in doubt, check the jacket of your disc for more information on which surround
modes are available. usually, nonessential sections of the disc, such as trailers, extra
materials or the disc menu, are available only in dolby digital 2.0 (two-channel) or
pcM two-channel mode. If the main title is playing and the display shows one of these
surround modes, look for an audio or language setup section in the disc's menu. Also,
make sure your disc player's audio output is set to the original bitstream rather than
two-channel pcM. Stop play and check the player's output setting.
the channels included in a typical 5.1-channel recording are front left, front right, centre,
surround left, surround right and lFe (low-frequency effects). the lFe channel is denoted
as ".1" to represent the fact that it is limited to the low frequencies.
digital formats include dolby digital 2.0 (two channels only), dolby digital 5.1, dolby
digital ex (6.1), dolby digital plus (7.1), dolby truehd (7.1), dtS-hd high-resolution
Audio (7.1), dtS-hd Master Audio (7.1), dtS 5.1, dtS 96/24 (5.1), two-channel pcM
modes in 32khz, 44.1khz, 48khz or 96khz, and 5.1 or 7.1 multichannel pcM. (Your
AVr will downmix the discrete surround back-channel information in 6.1-channel and
7.1-channel recordings into your system's surround left and surround right channels.)
when the AVr receives a digital bitstream, it detects the encoding method and the
number of channels, which is displayed briefly 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 for which the director has chosen mono as a special
effect). "2" indicates the presence of the left and right channels but no centre channel.
"3" indicates that all three front channels (left, right and centre) 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 surround left and right channels. (bitstreams with
discrete surround back left and right channel signals will be indicated by a "4," although
the AVr downmixes the surround back-channel information into the surround left and
right channels.)
the third number is used for the lFe channel: "0" indicates no lFe channel. ".1"
indicates that an lFe channel is present.
dolby digital 2.0 signals may include a dolby Surround flag indicating dS-on or dS-oFF,
depending on whether the two-channel bitstream contains only stereo information or a
downmix of a multichannel program that can be decoded by the AVr's dolby pro logic
decoder. by default, these signals are played in dolby pro logic II Movie mode.
when a pcM signal is received, the pcM message and the sampling rate (32khz,
44.1khz, 48khz or 96khz) will appear.
when only two channels – left and right – are present, the analogue surround modes
may be used to decode the signal into multiple channels. If you would prefer a different
surround format than the native signal's digital encoding, press the Surround Modes
button to display the Surround Modes menu (see Selecting a Surround Mode, on page
20).
the Auto Select option sets the surround mode to the native signal's digital encoding,
e.g., dolby digital, dtS, dolby truehd or dtS-hd Master Audio. For analogue two-
channel materials, the AVr defaults to the logic 7 Movie mode. For dolby digital 2.0
programs, the AVr defaults to the dolby pro logic II Movie mode, which creates a
5.1-channel surround-sound presentation from the two-channel program. If you prefer
a different surround mode, select the surround-mode category: Virtual Surround, Stereo,
Movie, Music or Video game. press the ok button to change the mode.
Advanced Functions, continued
each surround-mode category is set to a default surround mode:
• Virtual Surround: hArMAn virtual speaker.
• Stereo: 5-ch Stereo.
• Movie: logic 7 Movie.
• Music: logic 7 Music.
• Video game: logic 7 game.
You may select a different mode for each category. below is a complete list of available
surround modes. (the actual surround modes available will depend on the number of
speakers in your system.)
• Virtual Surround: hArMAn virtual speaker.
• Stereo: 2-ch Stereo or 5-ch Stereo.
• Movie: logic 7 Movie, dolby pro logic II Movie.
• Music: logic 7 Music, dolby pro logic II Music.
• Video game: logic 7 game, dolby pro logic II game.
once you have programmed the surround mode for each type of audio, select the line
from the Surround Modes menu to override the AVr's automatic surround-mode selection.
the AVr will use the same surround mode the next time the source is selected.
please refer to table A9 in the Appendix for more information on which surround modes
are available with different bitstreams.
Dolby Pro Logic II Music Mode Adjustments
when you select dolby pro logic II as the music surround mode, additional adjustments
become available:
* MODE : MUSIC *
DOLBY PLII MUSIC
CENTER WIDTH : 3
DIMENSION
PANORAMA
BACK TO MASTER MENU
Center Width: this setting affects how vocals sound through the three front speakers.
A lower number focuses the vocal information tightly on the centre channel. higher
numbers (up to 7) broaden the vocal soundstage. use the left/right buttons to adjust
this setting.
Dimension: this setting affects the depth of the surround presentation, allowing you to
"move" the sound toward the front or rear of the room. the setting of "0" is a neutral
default. Setting "F-3" moves the sound toward the front of the room, while setting "r-3"
moves the sound toward the rear. use the left/right buttons to adjust it.
Panorama: with the panorama mode turned on, some of the sound from the front
speakers is moved to the surround speakers, creating an enveloping "wraparound"
effect. each press of the ok button toggles the setting on or off.
: 0
: Off
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