Installation, Step One Connect the Speakers

You are now ready to connect the various components to the receiver. Before beginning, turn off all components, including the AVR 354, and unplug their power cords. Don’t plug in any of the power cords until you have finished making all of your connections.

Remember that the receiver generates heat while it is on. Select a location that leaves several inches of space on all sides of the receiver. Avoid completely enclosing the receiver inside an unventilated cabinet. It is preferable to place components on separate shelves rather than stacking them directly on top of the receiver. Some surface finishes are delicate. Try to select a location with a sturdy surface finish.

Step One – Connect the Speakers

If you have not yet done so, place your speakers in the listening room, as described in the Speaker Placement section above.

Connect the center, front left, front right, surround left, surround right, surround back left and surround back right loudspeakers to the corresponding speaker terminals on the AVR 354. See Figure 17. Maintain the proper polarity by always connecting the positive and negative terminals on each speaker to the positive and negative terminals on the receiver. Use the Connection Color Guide on page 19 as a reference.

AVR 354

FR	FL	SR	SL
	SBR	SBL

Figure 17 – Speaker Connections

NOTE: If you only have one surround back speaker, wait until after you have run the EzSet/EQ process in the Initial Setup section before connecting it to the Surround Back Left speaker outputs.

Step Two – Connect the Subwoofer

Connect the Subwoofer Output on the AVR 354 to the line-level input on your subwoofer. See Figure 18. Consult the manufacturer’s guide for the subwoofer for additional information.

When the system has two subwoofers for a 7.2-channel system, use a Y-Adapter (not included) with one male RCA plug and two female RCA jacks. Connect the male plug to the Subwoofer Output, and connect each female jack to a cable that is then plugged into the line-level input on each subwoofer.

INSTALLATION

AVR 354

SUB

Figure 18 – Subwoofer Connection

Step Three – Connect the Antennas

Connect the FM and AM antennas to their terminals. If you have purchased an XM antenna module designed for connection to an XM Ready device, connect it now. To enjoy XM Radio, remember to purchase a subscription and activate your antenna module. More information is available at www.xmradio.com. See Figure 19.

AVR 354

Figure 19 – Antenna Connections

Step Four – Connect the Source Components

A source is a device where the audio and video signals originate. Some sources, such as CD players, only offer audio, while sources used for watching movies or broadcast-television programming deliver a video signal as well.

Referring to the photograph of the AVR 354 remote control on page 15, there is a section of 8 buttons near the top of the remote designated “Source Selectors”: Cable/Sat, DVD, Media Server, Radio, TV, Game, The Bridge and AUX. Each of these buttons corresponds to a “source input”. The AVR 354’s flexible design allows you to use almost any combination of audio and video connections for each source device. The goal of Step Four of the Installation is to match up each of your source devices, e.g., DVD player and cable television box, with the correct connectors on the AVR 354.

NOTE: This is not true of The Bridge II and the tuner, which use dedicated audio source signals, and a dedicated video signal when applicable for The Bridge II.

You may connect a source device to any appropriate input connectors. Note which audio and video inputs are used for each device in Table A5 in the appendix. Table A2 indicates the default input-connection assign- ments, any of which may be changed to match the actual connections in your system.