24
OPERATION
Operation
played back with full digital intelligibilty while
reducing the minimum peak level by
1
/
4
to
1
/
3
.
This prevents abruptly loud transitions from dis-
turbing 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.
To engage the Night mode, press the
Night
button
z
on the remote and note that the
NIGHT
mode indicator
N
will illuminate in
the Information Display and a message will
appear on the OSD.
IMPORTANT NOTES ON
DIGITAL PLAYBACK:
1. When the digital playback source is stopped,
or in a pause, fast forward or chapter search
mode, the digital audio data will momentarily
stop, causing a
NO DATA
message to be dis-
played in the
Main Information Display
V
or on-screen display. This is normal and does
not indicate a problem with either the AVR 500
or the source machine. The AVR 500 will return
to digital playback as soon as the data is avail-
able and when the machine is in a standard
play mode.
2. Although the AVR 500 will decode virtually all
DVD movies, CDs and HDTV sources, it is possible
that some future digital sources may not be com-
patible with the AVR 500.
3. Note that not all digitally encoded programs
contain full 5.1 channel audio. Consult the pro-
gram guide that accompanies the DVD or laser
disc to determine which type of audio has been
recorded on the disc. The AVR 500 will auto-
matically sense the type of digital surround
encoding used and adjust to accommodate it.
4. When a digital source is playing, you may not
select any of the analog surround modes such
as Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby 3 Stereo or Theater or
Logic 7.
5. When a Dolby Digital or DTS source is play-
ing, it is not possible to make an analog record-
ing using the Tape
g
and VCR 1
™
record
outputs. However, the digital signals will be
passed through to the digital audio outputs
ª
.
PCM Audio Playback
PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) is the non-
compressed digital audio system used for
compact discs and Dolby Digital or DTS laser
discs. The digital circuits in the AVR 500 are
capable of high-quality digital-to-analog decod-
ing, and they may be connected directly to the
digital audio output of your CD or LD player.
Connections may be made to either the
Optical
or
Coaxial
inputs
d e
on the rear panel.
To listen to a PCM digital source, first select the
input for the desired source (e.g., CD). Next press
the
Digital Select
button
¯ k
and then
use the
⁄
/
¤
buttons
g
on the remote or the
Selector
buttons
34
on the front panel until
the desired choice of either
OPTICAL
or
COAX
appears in the
Main Information
Display
V
. Press the
Set
button
i 31
to
enter the desired choice.
When a PCM source is playing, the
PCM
indi-
cator
E
will light, and the Main Information
Display will show the input source and the digi-
tal type. During PCM playback you may select
any surround mode except Dolby Digital. When
an audio-only DTS disc is played, the AVR will
automatically select the DTS mode, and no
other mode may be selected.
Tuner Operation
The AVR 500’s tuner is capable of tuning AM,
FM and FM Stereo broadcast stations. Stations
may be tuned manually, or they may be stored
as favorite station presets and recalled from a
30-position memory.
Station Selection
1. Press the
AM/FM
button
$ n
to select
the tuner as an input.
2. Press the
AM/FM
button
$ n
again to
switch between AM and FM so that the desired
frequency band is selected.
3. Press the
Tune Mode
button
* o
to select manual or automatic tuning.
When the
AUTO
indicator
R
is illuminated in
the Main Information Display the tuner will only
stop at those stations that have a strong enough
signal to be received with acceptable quality.
When the
MONO
indicator
S
is illuminated,
the tuner is in a manual mode and will stop at
each frequency increment in the selected band.
4. To select stations press the
Tuning
button
% x
. When the
AUTO
indicator
R
is
illuminated, press the buttons for two seconds
and then release to cause the tuner to search
for the next highest or lowest frequency station
that has an acceptable signal. When tuning FM
stations in the Auto mode, the tuner will only
select Stereo stations. To tune to the next sta-
tion, press the button again. If the
MONO
indi-
cator
S
is illuminated, tap the
Tuning
button
% x
to advance one frequency increment at
a time, or press and hold it to locate a specific
station. When the
TUNED
indicator
U
illumi-
nates, the station is properly tuned and should
be heard with clarity.
5. Stations may also be tuned directly by press-
ing the
Direct
button
u
, and then pressing
the
Numeric Keys
q
that correspond to the
station’s frequency. The desired station will
automatically be tuned.
NOTE:
When the FM reception of a station is
weak, audio quality will be increased by
switching to Mono mode by pressing the
Tune Mode
button
* o
until the
STEREO
indicator
T
goes out.
Preset Tuning
Up to 30 stations may be stored in the
AVR 500’s memory for easy recall using the
front-panel controls or the remote.
To enter a station to the memory, first tune the
station using the steps outlined above; then:
1. Press the
Memory
button
p
on the
remote. Note that
MEMORY
indicator
Q
will
illuminate and flash in the Information Display.
2. Within five seconds, press the
Numeric
Keys
q
corresponding to the location where
you wish to store this station’s frequency.
3. Repeat the process after tuning any
additional stations to be preset.
Recalling Preset Stations
• To manually select a station previously
entered in the preset memory, press the
Numeric Keys
q
that correspond to the
desired station’s memory location.
• To manually tune through the list of stored
preset stations one by one, press the
Preset
buttons
& w
on the front panel or remote.
• To automatically scan through the stations
entered in the preset memory, press the
Preset Scan
button
^
on the front panel.
