Audio Components
There are several things you must do to audio components after they're connected. Most DVD players and A/V receivers have their own way of doing the same things and might even have a different name for certain settings. Consult your owner's manual for exact instructions to apply this checklist to your system.
Receiver Setup
- Bass management: Large/Small speaker settings. Front and center speakers capable of low frequencies (200hz or less) set to large. Surround speakers should usually be set to small especially when playing SACD or DVD-Audio.
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- LFE: Enable LFE (low frequency effects) to drive your sub. Your receiver might have an on/off setting for stereo.
- Dynamic Range: Set to 100% (night mode, dynamic compression turned off).
- DSP modes: Turn off all DSP modes. Only experiment with these when you're ready to play with the sound.
- Dolby Pro Logic II: Setup Dolby PL II for two channel (stereo) sources only. Double check to see if the PL II settings are saved for each input selected. IE: Setup "music" appropriately for CD input, switch to VCR and see if your CD settings carried over to the other inputs. PLII presets and saved settings per input are convenient features and often overlooked when shopping for an A/V receiver.
- Dolby Digital/DTS: Enable automatic detection of Dolby Digital/DTS for digital audio inputs. This should override any Pro Logic II or DSP setting you have chosen. There should be an indicator on your receiver's front panel to let you know which audio format is detected.
- Bass Management: Large/Small speaker settings. Only one component should handle bass management. Receiver, DVD player or another specialty component such Outlaw's ICBM. If another component is handling bass management set all speakers to large or turn off bass management.
- S/PDIF: Use your DVD player's digital audio output only (coax or optical). Do not use the RCA stereo output if you already have the digital output connected to the receiver.
- Bitstream/PCM: Set audio output to bitstream. The only reason you wouldn't want to use bitstream is if you're not using the DVD player's digital audio outputs. Almost all DVD players have PCM set as default, PCM will not send Dolby Digital or DTS to the receiver even if the DVD player is compatible with those audio formats. Countless new DVD player owners will listen to stereo PCM transmitted to their receiver over digital outputs, wondering why the receiver isn't detecting Dolby Digital or DTS.
- Audio filtering or effects: Disable any audio noise reduction, filtering, DSPs or any other audio effects your DVD Player might provide. The A/V Receiver can handle these. Experiment with these settings later, after you've heard the "true" sound of your system.
- Aspect Ratio: Enable widescreen mode (16:9). Disable zoom.
- Video output: Always use the best possible video output available on your TV. If your TV is High Definition you MUST use either Component outputs (R,G,B) or digital video such as DVI or HDMI to get a de-interlaced video signal to your TV. S-Video is your best option for non-digital TV.
- Progressive Scan: Enable progressive scan if your DVD player has this feature and your TV is Digital or HD.
- Other Video Features: Black level, brightness, filtering etc should all be disabled on the DVD player. All of the video tweaking should be done on your TV.
