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32 OPERATION
Operation
Controls and Use of Headphones
• Adjust the volume to a comfortable level using
the front panel Volume Control
ı
or remote
Volume Up/Down
d
î
buttons.
• To temporarily silence all speaker outputs press
the Mute button
g
˚
.This will interrupt the
output to all speakers and the headphone jack,
but it will not affect any recording or dubbing
that may be in progress. When the system is
muted, the word
MUTEwill blink in the Main
Information Display
˜
. Press the Mute
button
g
˚
again to return to normal
operation.
• During a listening session you may wish to
adjust the Bass Control
and Treble
Control
Ú
to suit your listening tastes or room
acoustics. Note that these controls (and Balance)
will not function when the 6/8 channel direct
input is in use.
• To set the output of the AVR 5550 so that the
output is “flat,” with the tone and balance con-
trols de-activated, press the Tone Mode button
8
once or twice so that the words Tone
Outappear momentarily in the Main
Information Display
˜
.To return the tone
controls to an active condition, press the Tone
Mode
8
button once or twice so that the
words ToneInmomentarily appear in the
Main Information Display
˜
.
• For private listening, plug the 6.3 mm stereo
phone plug from a pair of stereo headphones
into the front panel Headphone Jack
4
. Note
that when the headphone’s plug is connected,
the word HEADPHONE will scroll once
across the Main Information Display
˜
and
all speakers will be silenced. When the head-
phone plug is removed, the audio feed to the
speakers will be restored.
Surround Mode Selection
One of the most important features of the
AVR 5550 is its ability to reproduce a full multi-
channel surround sound field from digital
sources, analog matrix surround encoded
programs and standard stereo or even mono
programs. In all, a total of 23 listening modes are
available on the AVR 5550.
Selection of a surround mode is based on personal
taste, as well as the type of program source mate-
rial being used. For example, CDs, motion pictures
or TV programs bearing the logo of one of the
major surround-encoding processes, such as Dolby
Surround should be played in either the Dolby Pro
Logic II Movie (with movies) or Music (with
music) surround mode, with any DTS NEO:6
mode or with Harman Kardon´s exclusive Logic 7
Movie Mode, to create a full range 5.1 channel or
(with Logic 7 and DTS NEO:6) even 7.1 channel
surround signal from surround encoded pro-
grams, with a stereophonic left and right rear sig-
nal, just as it was recorded (e.g. sound being
recorded from left rear side will be heard from
that side only, for more details see chart on
page 29).
When no rear speakers are in use, the Dolby 3
Stereo mode should be selected with all surround
recordings.
Note that when Dolby Digital 2.0 signals (e.g.
"D.D. 2.0" tracks from DVD), that are encoded
with Dolby Pro Logic information, are received via
any digital input, the Dolby Pro Logic II Movie
mode will be selected automatically (in addition
to the Dolby Digital mode) and will decode a full
range 5.1 channel surround sound even from
those recordings (see also "Dolby Digital" on
page 34).
To create wide, enveloping sound field environ-
ments and defined pans and flyovers with all
analog stereo recordings select the Dolby Pro
Logic II Music or Emulation mode or Harman
Kardon’s exclusive Logic 7 Music mode for a
dramatic improvement in comparison to the
Dolby Pro Logic (I) mode of former times.
NOTE: Once a program has been encoded with
matrix surround information, it retains the sur-
round information as long as the program is
broadcast in stereo. Thus, movies with surround
sound may be decoded via any of the analog sur-
round modes such as Pro Logic II Cinema, Logic 7
Cinema or DTS Neo:6 Cinema, when they are
broadcast via conventional TV stations, cable,
pay-TV and satellite transmission. In addition, a
growing number of made-for-television programs,
sports broadcasts, radio dramas and music CDs are
also recorded in surround sound.You may view a
list of these programs at the Dolby Laboratories
Web site at www.dolby.com.
Even when a program is not listed as carrying
intentional surround information, you may find
that the Dolby Pro Logic II Music, DTS NEO:6
Music or Logic 7 Music or Enhanced modes often
deliver enveloping surround presentations through
the use of the natural surround information
present in all stereo recordings.
However, for stereo programs without any
surround information the Theater, Hall and 5/7CH
Stereo modes should be tried (effective particularly
with old ”extreme” stereo recordings) and for
mono programs, we suggest that you try the
Theater or Hall modes.And when you use only two
front channel speakers you should select Harman’s
patented VMAx mode, delivering a virtually three
dimensional sound space with two speakers only.
Surround modes are selected using either the
front panel controls or the remote. To select a
new surround mode from the front panel, first
press the Surround Mode Group Selector
Button
5
until the desired major surround
mode group such as Dolby, DTS or Logic 7 is
selected. Next, press the Surround Mode
Selector Button
9
to choose the specific
individual surround mode.
To select a surround mode using the remote con-
trol, press the button for the major surround
mode group that includes the mode you wish to
choose from: Dolby
M
, DTS Surround
N
,
DTS Neo:6
T
, Logic 7
O
, Stereo
S
or
DSP Surround
A
.The first press of the button
will show the current mode from that group if it
is already in use, or the first available mode if you
are currently using another mode. To cycle
through the available modes in that group press
the button again until the desired mode appears
in the Lower Display Line
B
and the on-
screen display.
To select from the DSP modes (Hall 1, Hall 2,
Theater,VMAx Near or VMAx Far) press the
Surround Mode Selector
A
repeatedly to
scroll through the list of available modes.
As the surround modes change, a green LED will
light next to the current mode in the Surround
Mode Indicators
˘
list on the front panel.
Note that the Dolby Digital or DTS modes may
only be selected when a digital input is in use. In
addition, when a digital source is present, the
AVR 5550 will automatically select and switch to
the correct mode (Dolby Digital or DTS), regard-
less of the mode that has been previously
selected. For more information on selecting digital
sources, see the following section of this manual.