Harman Kardon AVR 7550HD Owners Manual - Page 18

CONNECTIONS There are different types of audio and video connections used to connect the receiver, the speakers, the video display, and the source devices. The Consumer Electronics Association has established the CEA® color-coding standard. See Table 1. Table 1 - Connection Color Guide Audio Connections Front (FL/FR) Center (C) Surround (SL/SR) Surround Back (SBL/SBR) Subwoofer (SUB) Left White Blue Brown Green Purple Right Red Gray Tan Digital Audio Connections Coaxial Optical Input Orange Output Video Connections Component Composite S-Video Y Green Pb Blue Pr Red Yellow HDMI™ Connections (digital audio/video) HDMI Speaker Connections Speaker cables carry an amplified signal from the receiver's speaker terminals to each loudspeaker. They contain two wire conductors, or leads, inside plastic insulation, that are differentiated in some way, such as with colors or stripes. The differentiation preserves polarity, without which low-frequency performance can suffer. Each speaker is connected to the receiver's speaker-output terminals using two wires, one positive (+) and one negative (-). Always connect the positive terminal on the speaker, which is usually colored red, to the positive terminal on the receiver, which is colored as indicated in the Connection Color Guide above (Table 1). The negative terminals are both black. The AVR 7550HD uses binding-post speaker terminals that can accept + banana plugs or bare-wire cables. Banana plugs are inserted into the hole in the middle of the terminal cap. See Figure 1. Figure 1 - Binding-Post Speaker Terminals With Banana Plugs Bare wire cables are installed as follows (see Figure 2): 1. Unscrew the terminal cap until the pass-through hole is revealed. 2. Insert the bare end of the wire into the hole. 3. Hand-tighten the cap until the wire is held snugly. 1 2 3 Figure 2 - Binding-Post Speaker Terminals With Bare Wires Subwoofer The subwoofer is dedicated to the low frequencies (bass), which require more power. To obtain the best results, most speaker manufacturers offer powered subwoofers that contain their own amplifier. Usually, a line-level (nonamplified) connection is made from the receiver's Subwoofer Output to a corresponding jack on the subwoofer, as shown in Figure 3. The AVR 7550HD offers the option of connecting two subwoofers to independent outputs, which enables the EzSet/EQ II process to configure each subwoofer precisely to account for its unique characteristics and placement within the room. Although the purple subwoofer outputs look similar to full-range analog audio jacks, they are filtered to allow only the low frequencies to pass. Don't connect these outputs to any other devices. Preout Subwoofer Figure 3 - Subwoofer CONNECTING SOURCE DEVICES TO THE AVR Audio and video signals originate in "source devices," including your Blu-ray Disc or DVD player, CD player, DVR (digital video recorder) or other recorder, tape deck, game console, cable or satellite฀television฀box,฀MP3฀player,฀USB฀drive฀or฀network฀device.฀ The AVR's tuner also counts as a source, even though no external connections฀are฀needed,฀other฀than฀the฀FM฀and฀AM฀antennas฀ and฀the฀XM฀antenna฀module. Separate connections are required for the audio and video portions of฀the฀signal,฀except฀for฀digital฀HDMI฀connections.฀The฀types฀of฀ connections used depend upon the capabilities of the source device and video display. Audio Connections There are two types of audio connections: digital and analog. Digital audio signals are required for listening to sources encoded with digital surround modes, such as Dolby Digital and DTS, or for noncompressed฀PCM฀digital฀audio.฀There฀are฀three฀types฀of฀digital฀ audio฀connections:฀HDMI,฀coaxial฀and฀optical.฀Do฀not฀use฀more฀ than one type of digital audio connection for each source device. However, it's okay to make both analog and digital audio connections to the same source. NOTE: HDMI฀signals฀may฀carry฀both฀audio฀and฀video.฀If฀your฀ video฀display฀device฀has฀an฀HDMI฀input,฀make฀a฀single฀HDMI฀ connection from each source device to the AVR. Usually, a separate digital audio connection is not required. Turn the volume on your television all the way down. Digital Audio The฀AVR฀7550HD฀is฀equipped฀with฀four฀HDMI฀(High-Definition฀ Multimedia฀Interface)฀inputs,฀and฀one฀output.฀HDMI฀technology฀ enables digital audio and video information to be carried using a single cable, delivering the highest quality picture and sound. The฀AVR฀7550HD฀uses฀HDMI฀(V.1.3a฀with฀Deep฀Color)฀technology฀ and is capable of processing both the audio and video components 19