Harman-Kardon HS 500 Home Theater System User Manual


 
SYSTEM SETUP 19
ENGLISH
System Setup
(from 17 years old, level 7).The DVD will
accommodate a total of eight rating steps, as set
by the DVD creators.These additional steps allow
for more critical control of program playback for
all audiences. Level 8:All DVDs can be played.
Levels 7 to 2: DVDs for general audiences/
children can be played. Level 1: DVDs for children
can be played; DVDs for adults/general audiences
are prohibited. Follow the explanations on the
screen to set a new password.
Disc Recognition: When set to on, the next
time a disc is inserted, the HS will show a “Disc
Recognized” message, with the question if you
would like to play the disc from the beginning or
would like to resume from where you last
stopped the disc.The memory can contain infor-
mation of the last 100 discs played.
PBC Support: Activates PBC (Play Back Control)
Support for VCD discs.
Screen Saver: Activates a Screen Saver to pre-
vent image “burn” in a video display device. If
you connect the HS Controller to a plasma screen
or video projector, we recommend you activate
the screen saver at all times.
Show Angle Icon: Determines whether the
Angle Icon will appear on the screen when there
are different angles available on a DVD disc.
Audio Settings
The Audio Setting Submenu contains the follow-
ing settings. Follow the explanations in the Upper
Menu Line on the bottom of your screen to
change the settings.
Preferred Audio Language: Defines your
preferred audio language. Every time a disc is
played that contains this audio language, it will
be activated automatically. If you do not find
your preferred language in the list of options, you
can select your preferred language by selecting
OTHER, and than typing a 4-digit code found in
the code list on page 27.
Dynamic Range: This setting allows you to take
advantage of the programming present on some
Dolby Digital recordings to reduce the volume of
louder passages while maintaining intelligibility
of quieter passages.This means that you may
listen to programs at a level that allows the full
impact of a soundtrack to be heard at a volume
that is lower than you might otherwise use to
avoid disturbing others.The HS 500 accomplishes
this by compressing the audio to a greater or
lesser degree, depending on which setting you
choose.Three options are available:
MINIMUMdoes not make any changes to
the original playback, and should be used
when the volume setting in the listening room
may be as loud as you desire.
MEDIUMapplies a moderate amount of
compression so that louder passages are a
little bit quieter.
MAXIMUMapplies more compression so that
louder passages are much softer.
Feel free to experiment with the settings at any
time.
Delay Unit: This setting sets the measuring unit
for Delay in either Feet or Meter.
Tone Control: Activates or De-activates the
Bass and Treble settings. Once either the Bass or
Treble Settings are changed, the Tone Control
automatically switches to ON.
Bass Level: Sets the level of low frequencies.
Treble Level: Sets the level of high frequencies.
DVD Sound Mode: Sets the audio format of
the DVD-disc playing (for other sources, see
Surround Mode in each respective chapter). Once
set to stereo, every surround format on a DVD
will be converted to a pure stereo signal. Once
set to DPLII, all stereo signals on a DVD are
forced into 5.1., leaving all multichannel signals
in their original format.This setting is recom-
mended. Original will follow the surround format
on the disc.
Audio Adjustment
The Audio Adjustment Submenu contains the
access to the speaker delay and the output level
adjustment settings of the HS 500. Follow the
explanations in the Upper Menu Line on the
bottom of your screen to make adjustments.
Delay
Due to the different distances between the
listening position for the front channel speakers
and the surround speakers, the amount of time it
takes for sound to reach your ears from the front
or surround speakers is different.You may
compensate for this difference through the use of
the delay settings to adjust the timing for the
specific speaker placement and acoustic con-
ditions in your listening room or home theater.
Measure the distance from the listening position
to each of the individual loudspeakers. Once
done, select per loudspeaker the distance that is
closest to the one measured.
Output level adjustment
Output level adjustment is a key part of the
configuration process for any surround sound
product.
NOTE: Listeners are often confused about the
operation of the surround channels. While some
assume that sound should always be coming
from each speaker, most of the time there will be
little or no sound in the surround channels.This is
because they are only used when a movie
director or sound mixer specifically places sound
there to create ambiance, a special effect or to
continue action from the front of the room to the
rear.When the output levels are properly set it is
normal for surround speakers to operate only
occasionally. Artificially increasing the volume to
the rear speakers may destroy the illusion of an
enveloping sound field that duplicates the way
you hear sound in a movie theater or concert
hall.
The default settings of the DVD player is 0 dB for
all channels. In case you feel adjustments are
necessary in your setup, we advise you to make
the adjustments using the internal test tone
generator.
Once the cursor is moved to any of the speaker
level icons, the test noise will be heard from the
corresponding speaker. If this is not the case
please check whether the loudspeaker is con-
nected to the correct loudspeaker output on the
rear panel.The speaker level can be adjusted by
pressing ENTER and selecting an appropriate
level indicated in the Lower Menu Line.The test
noise will stop as soon as the cursor is moved
away from any speaker level icon.