OPERATION
33
ENGLISH
Operation
speakers will be silenced. When the headphone
plug is removed, the audio feed to the speakers
will be restored.
• When the headphones are in use, you may take
advantage of the Dolby Headphone modes to
bring added spaciousness to headphone listen-
ing. Press the
Dolby Mode Select Button
M
or the
Surround Mode Group Selector
5
to
cycle through the three Dolby Headphone modes
to select the one that you prefer.
Surround Mode Selection
One of the most important features of the
AVR 155 is its ability to reproduce a full multi-
channel surround sound field from digital
sources, analog matrix surround encoded
programs and standard stereo or even mono
programs.
Selection of a surround mode is based on person-
al taste, as well as the type of program source
material being used. For example, CDs, motion
pictures or TV programs bearing the logo of one
of the major surround-encoding processes, such
as Dolby Surround should be played in either the
Dolby Pro Logic II Movie (with movies) or Music
(with music) surround mode, with any DTS NEO:6
mode or with Harman Kardon´s exclusive Logic 7
Movie Mode, to create a full range 5.1 channel
surround signal from surround encoded pro-
grams, with a stereophonic left and right rear sig-
nal, just as it was recorded (e.g. sound being
recorded from left rear side will be heard from
that side only, for more details see chart on page
30-31).
Note that when Dolby Digital 2.0 signals (e.g.
"D.D. 2.0" tracks from DVD), that are encoded
with Dolby Pro Logic information, are received via
any digital input, the Dolby Pro Logic II Movie
mode will be selected automatically (in addition
to the Dolby Digital mode) and will decode a full
range 5.1 channel surround sound even from
those recordings (see also "Dolby Digital" on this
page).
To create wide, enveloping sound field environ-
ments and defined pans and flyovers with all
analog stereo recordings select the
Dolby Pro Logic II Music or Emulation mode or
Harman Kardon’s exclusive Logic 7 Music mode
for a dramatic improvement in comparison to the
Dolby Pro Logic (I) mode of former times.
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 sur-
round modes such as Pro Logic II 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.
You may view a list of these programs at the
Dolby Laboratories Web site at
www.dolby.com
Even when a program is not listed as carrying
inten tional surround information, you may find
that the Dolby Pro Logic II Music, DTS NEO:6
Music or Logic 7 Music or Enhanced modes often
deliver enveloping surround presentations through
the use of the natural surround information
present in all stereo recordings.
However, for stereo programs without any
surround information the Theater, Hall and 5CH
Stereo modes should be tried (effective particularly
with old ”extreme” stereo recordings) and for
mono programs, we suggest that you try the
Theater or Hall modes.
Surround modes are selected using either the
front panel controls or the remote. To select a
new surround mode from the front panel, first
press the
Surround Mode Group Selector
Button
5
until the desired major surround
mode group such as Dolby, DTS or Logic 7 is
selected. Next, press the S
urround Mode
Selector Button
9
to choose the specific
individual surround mode.
To select a surround mode using the remote
control, press the button for the major surround
mode group that includes the mode you wish to
choose from:
Dolby
M
,
DTS Surround
N
,
DTS Neo:6
,
Logic 7
O
,
Stereo
or
DSP Surround
A
. The first press of the button
will show the current mode from that group if it
is already in use, or the first available mode if you
are currently using another mode. To cycle
through the available modes in that group press
the button again until the desired mode appears
in the
Main Information Display
Ò
and the
on-screen display.
To select from the DSP modes (Hall 1, Hall 2,
Theater) press the
Surround Mode Selector
A
repeatedly to scroll through the list of
available modes.
Note that the Dolby Digital or DTS modes may
only be selected when a digital input is in use. In
addition, when a digital source is present, the
AVR will automatically select and switch to the
correct mode (Dolby Digital or DTS), regardless of
the mode that has been previously selected. For
more information on selecting digital sources, see
the following section of this manual.
When the 6-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.
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
5
until
DSP SURROUND OFF
appears in the
Main Information Display
Ò
.
Digital Audio Playback
Digital audio is a major advancement over older
analog surround processing systems such as
Dolby Pro Logic. It delivers five discrete channels:
left front, center, right front, left surround and
right surround. Each channel repro duces full fre-
quency range (20Hz to 20kHz) and offers dramat-
ically improved dynamic range and significant
improvements to signal-to-noise ratios. In addi-
tion, digital systems have the capability to deliver
an additional channel that is specifically devoted
to low-frequency infor mation. This is the “.1”
channel referred to when you see these systems
described as “5.1”. The bass channel is separate
from the other channels, but since it is intention-
ally bandwidth-limited, sound designers have
given it that unique designation.
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital (originally known as AC-3
®
) is a
standard part of DVD, and is available on special-
ly encoded LD discs and satellite broadcasts and
it is a part of the new high- definition television
(HDTV) system.
Note that an optional, external RF demodulator is
required to use the AVR to listen to the Dolby
Digital sound tracks available on laser discs.
Connect the RF output of the LD player to the
demodulator and then connect the digital output
of the demodulator to the
Optical
or
Coaxial
inputs
RN
*Ó
of the AVR.
No demodulator is required for use with DVD
players or DTS-encoded laser discs.
DTS
DTS is another digital audio system that is capa-
ble of delivering 5.1 audio. Although both DTS
and Dolby Digital are digital, they use different
methods of encoding the signals, and thus they
require different decoding circuits to convert the
digital signals back to analog.
DTS-encoded sound tracks are available on select
DVD and LD discs, as well as on special audio-
only DTS CDs. You may use any LD, DVD or CD
player equipped with a digital output to play
DTS-encoded special audio-only CDs with the
AVR, but DTS-LDs can be played on LD players
and DTS-DVDs on DVD players only. All that is
required is to connect the player’s digital output
to either the
Optical
or
Coaxial
input on the
rear panel
RN
or front panel
*Ó
.
In order to listen to DVDs encoded with DTS
sound tracks, the DVD player must be compatible
with the DTS signal as indicated by a DTS logo on
the player’s front panel. Note that early DVD
players may not be able to play DTS- encoded
