Harman-Kardon Complete Guide to Setting Up Your Harman Kardon AVR 135

INSTALLATION AND CONNECTIONS

System Installation

After unpacking the unit, locating it in a place with ade- quate ventilation and placing it on a solid surface capable of supporting its weight, you will need to make the con- nections to your audio and video equipment.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For your personal safety and to avoid possible damage to your equipment and speakers, it is always a good practice to turn off and unplug the AVR and ALL source equipment from the AC output before making any audio or video system connections.

Audio Equipment Connections

We recommend that you use high-quality interconnect cables when making connections to source equipment and recorders to preserve the integrity of the signals.

1.Connect the analog output of a CD player to the CD Audio Inputs ™.

NOTE: When the CD player has both fixed and vari- able audio outputs, it is best to use the fixed output unless you find that the input to the receiver is so low that the sound is noisy, or so high that it is distorted.

2.Connect the analog Play/Out jacks of a cassette deck, MD, CD-R or other audio recorder to the Tape Input Jacks ¢. Connect the analog Record/In jacks on the recorder to the Tape Output Jacks £ on the AVR 135.

3.Connect the output of any digital sources such as a CD or DVD changer or player, advanced video game, a digital satellite receiver, HDTV tuner or digital cable set-top box or the output of a compatible computer sound card to the Optical and Coaxial Digital Audio Inputs ·c*(. We recommend connecting the coaxial digital audio output of your DVD player to the Coax 1 Digital Audio Input ·, since that digital input is assigned to the DVD source by default.

4.Connect the Coaxial or Optical Digital Audio Outputs fl‡ on the rear panel of the AVR 135 to the matching digital input connections on a CD-R or MiniDisc recorder.

5.Assemble the AM Loop Antenna supplied with the unit so that the tabs at the bottom of the antenna loop snap into the holes in the base. Connect it to the AM Antenna Terminals 31 .

6.Connect the supplied FM antenna to the FM (75- ohm) Connection ¡. The FM antenna may be an

external roof antenna, an inside powered or wire-lead antenna or a connection from a cable TV system. If the antenna or connection uses 300-ohm twin-lead cable, you must use the 300-ohm-to-75-ohm adapter supplied with the unit to make the connection.

7.Connect the front, center, surround and surround back speaker outputs §¶•ª to the respective speakers.

To ensure that all the audio signals are carried to your speakers without loss of clarity or resolution, we sug- gest that you use high-quality speaker cable. Many brands of cable are available and the choice of cable may be influenced by the distance between your speakers and the receiver, the type of speakers you use, personal preferences and other factors. Your dealer or installer is a valuable resource to consult in select- ing the proper cable.

Regardless of the brand of cable selected, we recom- mend that you use a cable constructed of multistrand copper with a gauge of 14 or smaller. Remember that in specifying cable, the lower the number, the thicker the cable.

Cable with a gauge of 16 may be used for short runs of less than 10 feet. We do not recommend that you use cables with an AWG equivalent of 18 or higher, due to the power loss and degradation in performance that will occur.

Cables that are run inside walls should have the appro- priate markings to indicate listing with UL, CSA or other appropriate testing agency standards. Questions about running cables inside walls should be referred to your installer or a licensed electrician who is familiar with the NEC and/or the applicable local building codes in your area.

When connecting wires to the speakers, be certain to observe proper polarity. Note that the positive (+) ter- minal of each speaker connection may carry a specific color code, as noted on page 7. However, many speakers still use a red terminal for the positive (+) connection. Connect the “negative” or “black” wire

to the same terminal on both the receiver and the speaker.

NOTE: While most speaker manufacturers adhere to an industry convention of using black terminals for negative and red ones for positive, some may vary from this configuration. To ensure proper phase and optimal performance, consult the identification plate on your speaker or the speaker’s manual to verify polarity. If you do not know the polarity of your speaker, ask your dealer for advice before proceeding, or consult the speaker’s manufacturer.

We also recommend that the length of cable used to connect speaker pairs be identical. For example,

use the same length piece of cable to connect the front-left and front-right or surround-left and sur- round-right speakers, even if the speakers are a different distance from the AVR 135.

Note that it is not possible to use the AVR 135 in a 7.1-channel configuration. Any source information that the AVR receives or derives for the surround back left and right channels, e.g. through the 6/8- Channel Direct Inputs f or during 7-channel Stereo processing, is combined and outputted

to the single-channel Surround Back Speaker Outputs ¶.

8.Connections to a subwoofer are normally made via a line-level audio connection from the Subwoofer Output ∞ to the line-level input of a subwoofer with a built-in amplifier. When a passive subwoofer is used, the connection first goes to a power amplifier, which will be connected to one or more subwoofer speakers. If you are using a powered subwoofer that does not have line-level input connections, follow the instruc- tions furnished with the speaker for connection information.

9.If an external multichannel audio source with 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 outputs such as an external digital proces- sor/decoder, DVD-Audio or SACD player is used, con- nect the outputs of that device to the 6/8-Channel Direct Inputs f.

Video Equipment Connections

Video equipment is connected in the same manner as audio components. Again, the use of high-quality inter- connect cables is recommended to preserve signal quality.

1.Connect a VCR’s, DVD recorder’s, personal video recorder’s or other video source’s audio and video Play/Out jacks to the Video 1 Audio/Video and/or S-Video Input Jacks bion the rear panel. The Audio and Video Record/In jacks on the recorder should be connected to the Video 1 Audio/Video and/or S-Video Output Jacks dj on the AVR 135. Although any video device may be connected to these jacks, we recommend connecting your video recorder so that you may take advantage of the fact that the remote control is preprogrammed with video recorder product codes for the Video 1 device.

2.Connect the analog audio and video outputs of a satellite receiver, cable TV converter, television set or any other video source to the Video 2 Audio/Video and S-Video Input Jacks ek. Although any video device may be connected to these jacks, we recom- mend connecting your cable TV converter or satellite receiver so that you may take advantage of the fact that the remote control is preprogrammed with the product codes of these device types for the Video 2 device. If your device is capable of switching compo-

12 INSTALLATION AND CONNECTIONS