Harman-Kardon PT2500 - Manual (Page 11)

Installation & Configuration
If side wall mounting is not practical, the
speakers may be placed on a rear wall,
behind the listening position. Again, they
should be located so that the bottom of
the cabinet is at least 24
″
higher than
the listeners’ ears. The speakers should
be no more than 6 feet behind the rear of
the seating area.
Subwoofers produce non-directional
sound, so they may be placed almost
anywhere in a room. Subwoofer place-
ment is highly influenced by room size
and shape, and the type of subwoofer
used. Follow the instructions of the sub-
woofer’s manufacturer, or experiment
with the best location for a subwoofer in
your listening room.
Output Level Calibration
For proper operation in the surround
modes it is important that the level from
all channels be as close to one another as
possible. A small amount of time spent to
properly calibrate the PT2500’s output
levels will enable the unit to deliver all
the performance it is capable of within
the specific environment of your listen-
ing room.
IMPORTANT NOTE: People are often
confused about the operation of the sur-
round 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 rear channels.
This is because they are only used when a
movie director or sound mixer specifical-
ly places sound there to create an effect or
pull you into the action. When the output
levels have been properly set it is normal
for the rear speakers to operate only occa-
sionally. Artificially increasing the vol-
ume to the rear speakers will destroy the
illusion of an enveloping surround field
that duplicates the way you hear sound
in a movie theater or concert hall.
To calibrate your system, follow these
steps:
1. Turn on the PT2500 and the compan-
ion power amplifier.
2. Select the Dolby ProLogic mode using
the
Surround Mode 6 button on the
front panel.
3. Place the front panel Balance #
control at its midpoint position, so that
the indicator is pointing straight up in
the 12 o’clock position. If the
Balance
control is normally in another position
to compensate for speaker placement rel-
ative to your preferred listening position,
leave it in that spot.
4. Sit in the location that you will nor-
mally occupy when using your PT2500.
5. Press the Test Tone
p8 button
on the remote or front panel and note
that a test noise signal will circulate
between the channels.
• While the test noise circulates among
the channels the word
TEST and the
channel name will appear in the front
panel information display window. As the
names change you should first listen to
the location of the tone and verify that it
matches the name displayed in the dis-
play. If the display indicates a different
location than the speaker the test noise is
coming from you should turn off the
unit and verify that the connections to
the amplifier speakers are made to the
correct terminals on the rear panel.
6. As the test signal circulates among the
channels, use the
Center Level
Up/Down
o and Rear Level
Up/Down
j buttons on the remote to
adjust the level so that the volume from
all channels sounds equal.
7. Press the Test Tone
8 button again
to turn the test signal off. Your system is
now properly calibrated and further vol-
ume adjustment should be made using
the
Master Volume
n buttons on
the remote or the front panel Volume
Control . ^ Once the system is calibrat-
ed no other adjustments are necessary.
Delay Setting
Delay time adjustment enables you to
adjust the timing between signals at the
front and surround channels.
The factory setting is appropriate for
most rooms, but in some instances the
use of an abundance of hard (reflective)
room surfaces such as windows and
wood floors, or soft (absorbent) surfaces
such as thick carpeting, acoustical tiles
and some furnishings may create an
unpleasant effect. These surfaces, in
conjunction with the size of the room,
the height of the ceiling and other
design aspects may cause the arrival of
surround channel sounds to become dis-
connected from rear channel sounds.
To adjust delay time it is necessary to
select the ProLogic, Theater or Stadium
modes using the
Surround Mode
Selector buttons on the front panel or
remote
h6 .
Press the Delay Adjust button 4 on
the front panel to adjust the delay time
as observed in the
Information
Display  according to personal
preference or the following formula:
1. Measure the distance from the listen-
ing/viewing position to the front
speakers.
2. Measure the distance from the listen-
ing/viewing position to the surround
speakers.
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PT2500 rev (G) 10/23/96
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