Harman-Kardon AVR 146 owner manual Dolby Surround Settings, Default Modes

ADVANCED FUNCTIONS

Dolby Surround Settings

In addition to the MODE line, the DOLBY SURROUND submenu includes three settings that are active only when the Dolby Pro Logic II Music mode has been selected. See Figure 72.

Figure 72 – Dolby Surround Menu Screen

CENTER WIDTH: This setting affects how vocals sound through the three front speakers. A higher number (up to 7) focuses the vocal information tightly on the center channel. Lower numbers broaden the vocal soundstage across the three speakers.

DIMENSION: This setting affects the depth of the surround presentation, allowing you to “move” the sound toward the front or rear of the room. The setting of “0” is a neutral default. Setting “F-3” moves the sound mostly toward the front of the room, while setting “R-3” moves the sound mostly toward the rear.

PANORAMA: With the Panorama mode turned ON, some of the sound from the front speakers is moved to the surround speakers, creating an enveloping “wraparound” type of effect.

NIGHT MODE: Night mode is available with some Dolby Digital programs, if it has been encoded in the material. It compresses the peak sound levels, maintaining the intelligibility of the dialogue and quieter passages, while reducing the loudness of special effects and louder passages to avoid disturbing others. Three levels of compression are available:

OFF: At this setting, there is no compression, as the Night mode is deactivated.

MID: A mild compression is applied.

MAX: More compression is applied.

We suggest that you experiment with the modes to find a setting that meets your needs.

The Night mode may also be adjusted without using the full-OSD menu system. With a Dolby Digital program encoded with Night mode playing, press the Night Button on the remote. Each press of the button will cycle through the three settings, with the selected setting being displayed on the front panel and in the semi-OSD display.

UPSAMPLING: The last line of the Surround Select menu activates upsampling, only available with the Dolby Pro Logic II Movie, Dolby Pro Logic II Music and Dolby Pro Logic modes. Normally set to OFF, upsampling, when activated, processes digital sources at a higher resolution for improved sound quality. This feature can be useful to eliminate distortion in some low-resolution sources.

Default Modes

During initial use or after a processor reset, the AVR 146 will default to the Logic 7 Music mode for all analog and PCM audio inputs. Subsequently, when a source input is selected and an analog or PCM signal is received, the AVR will switch to the last surround mode used for that source input/incoming signal combination.

Whenever a multichannel Dolby Digital or DTS signal is detected, the AVR 146 will automatically switch to that mode, unless the DEFAULT SURR MODE setting in the System Setup menu has been changed to OFF. Table 5 reflects that other surround modes are available for use with the multichannel digital bitstreams. If you would prefer the AVR 146 to use one of those alternate modes any time the same digital signal is detected, then select that mode while the multichannel bitstream is present, and then change the DEFAULT SURR MODE setting in the System Setup menu to OFF.

Table 5 provides descriptions of all surround modes available on the

AVR 146, along with the incoming bitstreams or signals that the particular mode may be used with. Feel free to experiment and simply cycle through all of the available modes at any time; you cannot cause any problems for the AVR 146 by doing so.

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