Harman Kardon AVR 140 Service Manual Download Page 18

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• When a DTS 5.1 signal is detected, you may listen

to it as a two-channel presentation, a 5.1-channel
presentation or a 6.1-channel presentation (if your
AVR is configured for 6.1 operation). To hear a two-
channel presentation, scroll through the DTS sur-
round modes until the Stereo icon lights in the

Surround Mode Indicators

in addition to the

DTS icon. Continue scrolling to engage DTS 5.1
processing or DTS+Neo:6 (6-channel) processing.

• If a DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete signal is present, you may

choose a two-channel presentation, a 5.1-channel
presentation or a 6.1-channel presentation (if your
AVR has been configured for 6.1 operation). Scroll
through the DTS surround modes until the Stereo
icon lights in the

Surround Mode Indicators

in addition to the DTS icon. Continue scrolling to
engage DTS 5.1 processing or DTS-ES Discrete
processing.

When a Dolby Digital signal with a 3/1/0 or 2/0/0
signal is detected you may select any of the Dolby
surround modes.

See page 33 for information on setting a default sur-
round mode.

It is always a good idea to check the readout for the
channel data to make certain that it matches the audio
logo information shown on the back of a DVD pack-
age. In some cases you will see indication for “2/0/0”
even when the disc contains a full 5.1, or 3/2/.1 sig-
nal. When this happens, check the audio output set-
tings for your DVD player or the audio menu selections
for the specific disc being played to make certain that
the player is sending the correct signal to the AVR.

PCM Audio Playback

PCM is the abbreviation for Pulse Code Modulation,
which is the type of digital signal used for standard CD
playback and other non-Dolby Digital and non-DTS
digital sources such as Mini-Disc. The digital circuits
in the AVR 140 are capable of high-quality digital-to-
analog decoding, and they may be connected directly
to the digital audio output of your CD or LD player.

Connections may be made to either the rear-panel

Optical

Coaxial Inputs

·d

or the front-panel

Digital Inputs

To listen to a PCM digital source, first select the input for
the desired source (e.g., CD). Next press the

Digital

Select Button

and then use the

⁄

Buttons

on the remote, or the

‹

›

Selector

Buttons

)

on the front panel, until the desired choice

appears in the

Upper Display Line

During PCM playback, you may select any Surround
mode except Dolby Digital or DTS.

When a PCM signal is detected, the

Lower Display

Line

will briefly show a message with the letters

PCM, in addition to a readout of the sampling fre-
quency of the digital signal. In most cases this will be

48kHz

, though in the case of specially mastered,

high-resolution audio discs you will see a

96kHz

indication.

Some DVD discs are recorded with both “5.1” and
“2.0” versions of the same sound-track. When playing
a DVD, always be certain to check the type of material
on the disc. Most discs show this information in the
form of a listing or icon on the back of the disc jacket.
When a disc does offer multiple soundtrack choices
you may have to make some adjustments to your
DVD player (usually with the “Audio Select” button or in
a menu screen on the disc) to send a full 5.1 feed to
the AVR 140. It is also possible for the type of signal
feed to change during the course of a DVD playback.
In some cases the menu screens and previews of
special material will only be recorded in 2.0 audio,
while the main feature is available in 5.1 audio. As
long as your DVD player is set for 6-channel output,
the AVR 140 will automatically sense changes to the
bitstream and channel count and reflect them in these
indicators.

Speaker/Channel Indicators

In addition to the bitstream indicators, the AVR 140
features a set of unique channel-input indicators that
tell you how many channels of digital information are
being received and/or whether the digital signal is
interrupted. (See Figure 9.)

Figure 9

These indicators are the L/C/R/LFE/SL/SR/SBL/SBR
letters that are inside the center boxes of the

Speaker/

Channel Input Indicators

on the front panel.

Remember that the AVR 140 is capable of processing
a 7.1-channel signal, although you may only connect
one surround back speaker to it. It will automatically
combine the left and right surround back channel
information, and output it through the single surround
back speaker, if you have configured that speaker
using the

SPEAKER SIZE

menu (Figure 8).

When a standard analog signal is in use, only the “L”
and “R” indicators will light, as analog signals have
only left and right channels.

Digital signals, however, may have two, five, six or
seven channels, depending on the program material,
the method of transmission and the way in which it
was encoded. When a digital signal is playing, the let-

ters in these indicators will light in response to the
specific signal being received. It is important to note
that although Dolby Digital, for example, is referred to
as a “5.1” system, not all Dolby Digital DVDs or pro-
grams are encoded for 5.1. Thus, it is sometimes nor-
mal for a DVD with a Dolby Digital soundtrack to trig-
ger only the “L” and “R” indicators.

NOTE:

Many DVD discs are recorded with both “5.1”

and “2.0” versions of the same soundtrack. When
playing a DVD, always be certain to check the type of
material on the disc. Most discs show this information
in the form of a listing or icon on the back of the disc
jacket. When a disc does offer multiple soundtrack
choices, you may have to make some adjustments to
your DVD player (usually with the “Audio Select” button
or in a menu screen on the disc) to send a full 5.1
feed to the AVR 140. It is also possible for the type
of signal feed to change during the course of a DVD
playback. In some cases, the menu screens and pre-
views of special material will only be recorded in 2.0
audio, while the main feature is available in 5.1 audio.
The AVR 140 will automatically sense changes to the
bitstream and channel count and reflect them in these
indicators.

The letters used by the

Speaker/Channel Input

Indicators

also flash to indicate when a bitstream

has been interrupted. This will happen when a digital
input source is selected before the playback starts, or
when a digital source such as a DVD is paused. The
flashing indicators remind you that the playback has
stopped due to the absence of a digital signal and not
through any fault of the AVR 140. This is normal, and
the digital playback will resume once the playback is
started again.

Night Mode

A special feature of Dolby Digital is the Night mode,
which enables specially encoded Dolby Digital input
sources to be played back with full digital intelligibility
while reducing the minimum peak level by 1/4 to 1/3.
This prevents abruptly loud transitions from disturbing
others, without reducing the impact of the digital
source. The Night mode is available only when Dolby
Digital signals with special data are being played.

The Night mode may be engaged when a Dolby
Digital DVD is playing by pressing the

Night Mode

Button

on the remote. Next, press the

⁄

Buttons

to select either the middle range or

full compression versions of the Night mode. To turn
the Night mode off, press the

⁄

Buttons

until the message in the lower third of the video dis-
play and in the

Lower Display Line