Customizing sound fields

By adjusting the LEVEL menu and TONE menu, you can customize the sound fields to suit your particular listening situation.

Position your speakers and do the procedures described in “Placing speakers” (page 8) and “Checking the connections” (page 16) before you customize a sound field.

Adjusting the LEVEL menu

You can use the LEVEL menu to adjust the balance and level of each speaker. These settings are applied to all sound fields. (Except for the EFCT. parameter. The setting of the EFCT. parameter is stored independently for each sound field.)

1 Start playing a source encoded with multichannel surround effects (DVD, etc.).

2 Press MAIN MENU repeatedly to select the LEVEL menu.

3 Press F/f to select the menu item.

For details, see “LEVEL menu parameters” below.

4 While monitoring the sound, press G/g to adjust the selected parameter.

5 Repeat steps 3 and 4 to adjust other parameters.

LEVEL menu parameters

x L R BAL. XXX (Front speaker balance)

Lets you adjust the balance between the front left and right speakers.

•BALANCE (±0 dB)

•L (+1 dB to +8 dB)

•R (+1 dB to +8 dB)

xCTR XXX dB (Center speaker level)

xSUR.L. XXX dB

(Surround speaker (L) level)

xSUR.R. XXX dB

(Surround speaker (R) level)

xSB XXXX dB

(Surround back speaker level)

xS.W. XXX dB (Subwoofer level)

The initial setting is 0 dB.

Lets you adjust the level of the speakers (center, surround left, surround right, surround back) or subwoofer.

You can adjust from –10 dB to +10 dB in 1 dB steps.

x D.RANGE COMP.

(Dynamic range compressor)

Lets you compress the dynamic range of sound tracks. This may be useful when you want to watch movies at low volumes late at night.

•OFF

The dynamic range is not compressed.

•STD

The dynamic range is compressed as intended by the recording engineer.

•MAX

The dynamic range is compressed dramatically.

Tip

The dynamic range compressor feature lets you compress the dynamic range of soundtracks based on the dynamic range information included in the Dolby Digital signal. “STD” is the initial setting, but this only enacts light compression.

Therefore, we recommend using the “MAX” setting. This greatly compresses the dynamic range and lets you view movies late at night at low volumes. Unlike analog limiters, the levels are predetermined and provide a very natural-sounding compression.

Note

Dynamic range compression is possible with Dolby Digital sources only.

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