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ADVANCED FUNCTIONS
Much of the AVR 3550HD’s performance is handled automatically, with
little intervention required on your part. The AVR 3550HD is capable of
being customized to suit your system and your tastes. In this section we
describe some of the more advanced adjustments available.
Audio Processing and Surround Sound
Audio signals output by sources are encoded in a variety of formats
that can affect not only the quality of the sound but the number of
speaker channels and the surround mode.You may also manually
select a different surround mode, when available.
Analog Audio Signals
Analog audio signals usually consist of two channels – left and right.
The AVR 3550HD offers three options for playback:
1. Analog Bypass Mode: The 2-channel signal is passed directly from
the input to the volume control, without being digitized or undergoing
any processing for bass management or surround sound. To select
analog bypass mode:
a) The analog audio inputs for the source must be selected. If
necessary, press the Info Button on the remote and use the
⁄
/
¤
Buttons to scroll to the Audio Input from source setting.
b) The tone controls must be disabled by setting Tone Control to Off.
Press the Audio Effects Button to access the Tone Control setting.
c) The 2-channel Stereo mode must be selected. Press the Surround
Modes Button to access the STEREO line of the Surround Modes
submenu. Press the OK Button to select 2-channel Stereo.
When the Tone Control setting is Off, the front speakers will be set to
Large automatically, indicated by double boxes in the Speaker/Channel
Input Indicators. When the Tone Control setting is turned On, if you have
set the front speaker crossover to a numeric setting, the front speakers
will return to the Small setting, indicated by single boxes in the Speaker/
Channel Input Indicators.
2. DSP Surround Off Mode: The DSP Surround Off mode digitizes the
incoming signal and applies the bass management settings, including
speaker configuration, delay times and output levels. Select this mode
when your front speakers are small, limited-range satellites and you are
using a subwoofer. To select this mode, use a digital audio input, or
turn the Tone Control setting off, and select 2-channel Stereo mode.
3. Analog Surround Modes: The AVR 3550HD is able to process
2-channel audio signals to produce multichannel surround sound,
even when no surround sound has been encoded in the recording.
Among the available modes are the Dolby Pro Logic II/IIx modes, the
Dolby Virtual Speaker modes, the DTS Neo:6 modes, the Logic 7
modes, and the Stereo modes.
Digital Audio Signals
Digital audio signals offer greater capacity, which allows the encoding
of center and surround channel information directly into the signal. The
result is improved sound quality and startling directionality, since each
channel is reproduced discretely.
Even when only two channels are encoded, the digital signal allows
for a higher sampling rate that delivers greater detail. High-resolution
recordings sound extraordinarily distortion-free, especially at high
frequencies.
Surround Modes
Surround mode selection is dependent upon the format of the incoming
audio signal, as well as personal taste. Table A12 offers a brief descrip-
tion of each mode and indicates the types of incoming signals or digital
bitstreams the mode may be used with. Additional information about
the Dolby and DTS modes is available on the companies’ Web sites:
www.dolby.com and www.dtsonline.com.
When in doubt, check the jacket of your disc for more information on
which surround modes are available. Usually, nonessential sections of the
disc, such as trailers, extra materials or the disc menu, are only available
in Dolby Digital 2.0 (2-channel) or PCM 2-channel mode. If the main
title is playing and the letters in the Speaker/Channel Input Indicators
are not lit for all speaker locations, look for an audio or language setup
section in the disc’s menu. Also, make sure your player’s audio output
is set to the original bitstream rather than just PCM. Stop play and check
the player’s output setting.
For any incoming signal, only a limited number of surround modes are
available.Although there is never a time when all of the AVR 3550HD’s
surround modes are available, there is usually a wide variety of modes
available for a given input.
Multichannel digital recordings are found in the 5.1-, 6.1- or 7.1-channel
formats. The channels included in a 5.1-channel recording are front
left, front right, center, surround left, surround right and LFE. The LFE
channel is denoted as “.1” to represent the fact that it is limited to the
low frequencies.
6.1-Channel recordings add a single surround back channel, and
7.1-channel recordings add surround back left and surround back
right channels to the 5.1-channel configuration. New formats are
available in 7.1-channel configurations.The AVR 3550HD is able to
play the new audio formats, delivering a more exciting home theater
experience.
NOTE: To use the 6.1- and 7.1-channel surround modes, the
Surround Back channels must be enabled. See the Manual Setup
section on page 42 for more information.
The Digital formats are Dolby Digital 2.0 (two channels only), Dolby
Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital EX (6.1), Dolby Digital Plus (7.1), Dolby
TrueHD (7.1), DTS-HD High-Resolution Audio (7.1), DTS-HD Master
Audio (7.1), DTS 5.1, DTS-ES (6.1 Matrix and Discrete), DTS 96/24
(5.1), 2-channel PCM modes in 32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz or 96kHz,
and 5.1 or 7.1 multichannel PCM.
When a digital signal is received, the AVR 3550HD detects the encoding
method and the number of channels, which is displayed briefly as three
numbers, separated by slashes (e.g., “3/2/.1”).