Harman Kardon AVR 140 Owners Manual - Page 27

OPERATION • You may adjust the bass and treble tone controls at any point during a listening session by pressing the Tone Mode Button 5 until TONE IN appears in the Lower Display Line ı. Press the Tone Mode Button 5 again until either TREBLE MODE or BASS MODE appears in the Lower Display Line 5, and then use the ‹/› Buttons o to boost or cut the low or high frequencies by up to ±10dB, in 2dB steps, until the desired setting is achieved. • You may also totally remove the tone controls from the circuit so that the output is "flat" at any time by pressing the Tone Mode Button 5 and then pressing the ‹/› Button ) so that TONE OUT appears in the on-screen display and the Lower Display Line ı. • The tone controls may also be adjusted using the AUDIO SETUP submenu as described on page 17. • For private listening, plug the 1/4" stereo phone plug from a pair of stereo headphones into the front-panel Headphone Jack 4. When the headphone's plug is connected, the phrase HEADPHONES IN will scroll once across the Lower Display Line Q and all speakers will be silenced. When the headphone plug is removed, the audio feed to the speakers will be restored. Surround Mode Selection One of the important features of the AVR 140 is its ability to reproduce a full multichannel surround sound field from digital sources, analog matrix surroundencoded 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 programs bearing the logo of one of the major surroundencoding processes, such as Dolby Surround or DTS Stereo, may be played in either the Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II or IIx Movie, DTS Neo:6 Cinema, or Logic 7 5.1 or 7.1 Cinema surround modes. 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 Dolby Pro Logic IIx 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 broadcasts, radio dramas and music CDs are also recorded in surround sound. Even when a program is not listed as carrying intentional surround information, you may find that the Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Logic 7 Enhanced or DTS Neo:6, VMAx and the Hall or Theater modes often deliver enveloping surround presentations 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. Any changes made to the surround mode for that source will be retained in the AVR's menu, even after another source is selected, or if the AVR is placed in Standby mode. To select a new surround mode from the front panel, first press the Surround Mode Group Selector Button 7 until the desired major surround mode group (e.g., Dolby, DTS or Logic 7) is selected. Next, press the Surround Mode Selector Button 8 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 w, DTS Surround x, DTS Neo:6 S, Logic 7 y, Stereo R or DSP Surround k. The first press of the button will show the current mode from that group. To cycle through the available modes in that group, press the button again until the desired mode appears in the Lower Display Line ı, the on-screen display and in the Surround Mode Indicators ˆ. As the surround mode changes, the appropriate Surround Mode Indicator ˆ will light to indicate the current mode. At times, it is possible that more than one indicator will light. This can occur when the DSP Surround Off mode has been selected, or when post-processing is being used with an input signal, such as when the Dolby Digital 2.0 plus Dolby Pro Logic IIx mode is used to create a 7-channel presentation of a 2-channel signal. The Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX and DTS 5.1, DTS-ES Matrix and DTS-ES Discrete modes may only be selected when a digital input is in use and a digital signal in that format is present. In addition, when a digital source is present, the AVR 140 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. The Dolby Pro Logic IIx modes are available only when the AVR 140 has been configured for 6.1/7.1 operation by setting the Surround Back speakers as either LARGE or SMALL as described on page 21. These modes provide a matrixed 6.1-channel presentation of analog sources. 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, external 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 Button R until SURROUND OFF appears in the Lower Display Line ı, or press the Surround Mode Group Selector 7 until the Stereo modes appear in the on-screen display and Lower Display Line ı. Next, press the Surround Mode Select Button 8 until SURROUND OFF appears in the on-screen display and Lower Display Line Q. When an analog audio source is in use, you may activate an analog bypass Surround Off mode, if you have removed the tone controls from the processing circuitry. This is done by pressing the Tone Mode Button 5 and using the ‹/› Buttons )o until the TONE OUT message appears in the Lower Display Line ı, or by using the AUDIO SETUP menu. If the tone controls are active (TONE IN), or if you have selected the digitized Surround Off mode, the DSP icon will appear in the Surround Mode Indicators R, and the message SURROUND OFF will appear in the lower line of the semi-OSD display. The DSP icon indicates that the incoming signal is being digitized and any bass management settings are being applied. This mode is recommended when your front speakers are not capable of reproducing the lower frequencies and are thus used with a subwoofer. When the DSP icon is not lit in Surround Off mode with an analog audio input in use, the AVR is in analog bypass mode. The signal is being routed directly to the volume control, without entering the digital domain and without any bass management settings being applied. This mode is desirable when your left and right speakers are capable of reproducing low frequencies, and when you wish to hear the analog source material in its pure form. Digital Audio Playback Digital audio is a major advancement over older analog surround processing systems. It delivers five, six or seven discrete channels: left front, center, right front, left surround, right surround and optionally one or two surround back channels. Each channel reproduces full frequency range (20Hz to 20kHz) and offers dramatically improved dynamic range and significant improvements to signalto-noise ratios. In addition, digital systems have the capability to deliver an additional channel that is specifically devoted to low-frequency information. This is the ".1" channel referred to when you see these systems described as "5.1," "6.1" or "7.1". The bass channel is (Continued on page 30) OPERATION 27