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OPERATION  21

One of the most important features of the 
AVR 1550 is its ability to reproduce a full 
multichannel surround sound field from digital
sources, analog matrix surround encoded 
programs and standard stereo or even mono
programs. In all, a total of eleven listening
modes are available on the AVR 1550.

Selection of a surround mode is based on person-
al taste, as well as the type of program source
material being used. For example, motion pic-
tures, CD’s 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.

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 22).

To create wide, enveloping sound field 
environments and defined pans and flyovers
with all analog stereo recordings select the
Dolby Pro Logic II Music or Emulation mode.

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
surround modes such as Dolby Pro Logic II,
when they are broadcast via conventional TV
stations, cable, pay TV and satellite transmission.
In addition, a growing number of made-for-tele-
vision 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, Dolby 3 Stereo
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 5CH
Stereo modes should be tried (effective particu-
larly with old ”extreme” stereo recordings) and
for mono programs, we suggest that you try the
Theater or Hall modes.

Surround modes are selected using either the
front panel controls or the remote. To select a
surround mode from the front panel, press the
Surround Mode Selector 7 to scroll through
the list of available modes. To select a surround
mode using the remote, press the Surround
Mode Selector

9, and then press the 

⁄

¤

buttons 

C to change the mode. As you press

the buttons, the Surround mode name will
appear in the Main Information Display M,
and an individual mode indicator will also light
up C D F H J. Regard that any time a
surround mode is changed it remains associated
with the input just selected until another choice
is made.

NOTE: The name of each Surround Mode will
scroll through the Main Information Display
M

while the modes are being selected. To avoid

exiting from the surround mode selection
process, be certain to push the 

⁄

¤

buttons

C while a mode name is still visible.

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 1550 will automatically select and switch to
the correct mode (Dolby Digital or DTS), regard-
less of the mode that has been previously select-
ed. For more information on selecting digital
sources, see the following section of this manual.

To listen to a program in traditional two channel
stereo, using the front left and front right speak-
ers only (plus the subwoofer if installed and con-
figured), follow the instructions shown above for
using the remote until SURR O F F appears
in the Main Information Display M.

Digital audio is a major advancement over older
analog matrix surround systems. It delivers five 
discrete channels: left front, center, right front,
left surround and right surround. Each channel
reproduces full frequency range (20Hz to 20kHz)
and offers dramatically improved dynamic range
and significant improvements to signal-to-noise
ratios. In addition, digital systems have the 
capability to deliver an additional channel that is
specifically devoted to low frequency informa-
tion. This is the “.1” channel referred to when
you see these systems descibed as “5.1”.
The bass channel is separate from the other
channels, but since it is intentionally bandwidth
limited, sound designers have given it that
unique designation.

Dolby Digital 
Dolby Digital (originally known as AC-3

®

) is 

a standard part of DVD, and is available on 
specially encoded LD discs and satellite broad-
casts and it is a part of the new high-definition
television (HDTV) system.

Note that an optional, external RF demodulator
is required to use the AVR 1550 to listen to the
Dolby Digital sound tracks available on laser
discs. Connect the RF output of the LD player to
the demodulator and then connect the digital
output of the demodulator to the Optical or
Coaxial inputs 

 of the AVR 1550.

No demodulator is required for use with DVD
players or DTS-encoded laser discs.

DTS
DTS is another digital audio system that is capa-
ble of delivering 5.1 audio. Although both DTS
and Dolby Digital are digital, they use different
methods of encoding the signals, and thus they
require different decoding circuits to convert the
digital signals back to analog.

DTS-encoded sound tracks are available on
select DVD and LD discs, as well as on special
audio-only DTS CDs. You may use any LD, DVD
or CD player equipped with a digital output to
play DTS-encoded special audio-only CDs with
the AVR 1550, but DTS-LDs can be played on LD
players and DTS-DVDs on DVD players only. All
that is required is to connect the player’s output
to either the Optical or Coaxial input on the
rear panel 

.

22 OPERATION

PCM Audio Playback
PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) is the non- com-
pressed digital audio system used for compact
discs, Non-Dolby Digital/DTS Laserdiscs and
some special PCM encoded DVDs. The digital cir-
cuits in the AVR 1550 are capable of high quality
digital-to-analog decoding, and they may be con-
nected directly to the digital audio output of your
CD/DVD or LD player (LD only for PCM or DTS
programs, for Dolby Digital laser discs an RF
adapter is needed, see ”Dolby Digital” above).

Connections may be made to either the Optical
or Coaxial inputs 

 on the rear panel.

To listen to a PCM digital source, first select the
input for the desired source (e.g., CD) to feed its
video signal (if any) to the TV monitor and to
provide its analog audio signal for recording.
Next press the Digital Select button Ô

F

and then use the 

⁄

¤

buttons 

C on the

remote, or the Selector buttons & on the front
panel, until the desired choice appears in the
Main Information Display M, then press the
Enter button 

E on the remote control, or the

Set button on the front Ó to confirm the
choice.

When a PCM source is playing, the PCM indica-
tor A will light. During PCM playback you may
select any surround mode as described on pages
20 and 21 except Dolby Digital or DTS.

To utilize either digital mode you must have
properly connected a digital source to the 
AVR 1550. Connect the digital outputs from
DVD players, HDTV receivers, satellite systems or
CD players to the Optical or Coaxial inputs on
the rear panel 

.

When playing a digital source such as DVD, first
select its input using the remote or front panel
controls as outlined in this manual in order to
feed its video signal (if any) to the TV monitor
and to provide its analog audio signal for
recording. When the digital input appropriate
with the DVD player is not selected automatical-
ly (due to the input settings made earlier during
the system configuration, see page 14), select
the digital source by pressing the Digital Input
Selector button 

F Ô and then using the

⁄

/

¤

buttons 

C on the remote or the

Selector buttons & on the front panel to
choose any of the OPTICAL or 
COAXIAL

inputs, as they appear in the

Main Information Display M and Display
Indicators BE. When the digital source is
playing, the AVR 1550 will automatically detect
whether it is a multichannel Dolby Digital, DTS
source or a conventional PCM signal, which is
the standard output from CD players.
A Bitstream Indicator A will light in the
Main Information Display * to confirm that

the digital signal is Dolby Digital, DTS or PCM.
Note that a digital input (e.g. coaxial) remains
associated with any analog input (e.g. DVD) as
soon as it is selected, thus the digital input need
not be re-selected each time the appropriate
input choice (e.g. DVD) is made.

When a digital source is playing, the AVR 1550
senses the type of bitstream data that is present.
Using this information, the correct surround
mode will automatically be selected. For exam-
ple, DTS bitstreams will cause the unit to switch
to DTS decoding, and Dolby Digital bitstreams
will enable Dolby Digital decoding. When the unit
senses PCM data, from CDs and LDs and some
music DVDs or certain tracks on normal DVDs, it
will allow the appropriate surround mode to be
selected manually. Since the range of available
surround modes depends on the type of digital
data that is present, the AVR 1550 uses a variety
of indicators to let you know what type of signal
is present. This will help you to understand the
choice of modes and the input channels recorded
on the disc.

When a digital source is playing, a Bitstream
Indicator A will light to show which type of
signal is playing:

: When the DOLBY D indicator lights, a

Dolby Digital bitstream is being received.
Depending on the audio track selected on the
source player and number of channels on the
disc, different surround modes are possible. Note
that only one channel without subwoofer, called
”1.0” audio, or all five channels with subwoofer
(”5.1” audio) or all steps between can be
recorded on digitally surround encoded audio
tracks (see NOTE below). With all those tracks,
except ”2.0” audio, only the Dolby Digital mode
is available. When the Dolby Digital signal is only
two channel (”2.0”) these two channels (l and r)
often contain Pro Logic surround informations.
With those tracks the AVR 1550 automatically
switches to the Dolby Pro Logic II Movie mode
(in addition to the Dolby Digital mode). When
the D.D. 2.0 signal contains no Pro Logic infor-
mation, the pure Dolby Digital mode will be
selected automatically, but you may also select
any Pro Logic II mode (only Music or Emulation
should be used then).

D T S

: When the DTS indicator lights, a DTS 

bitstream is being received. When the unit senses
this type of data, only the DTS mode may be
used.

P C M

: When the PCM indicator lights, a standard

Pulse Code Modulation, or PCM, signal is being
received. This is the type of digital audio used by
conventional compact disc and laser disc record-
ings. When a PCM bitstream is present, all modes
except Dolby Digital and DTS are available. Note

that the PCM signal format can be selected on
the DVD player with any audio track, even with
Dolby Digital tracks (but not with Dolby Digital
decoding). So, if selected, even ”2.0” D.D. audio
tracks can be played with all surround modes.

In addition to the Bitstream Indicators, the
AVR 1550 features a set of unique channel input
indicators that tell you how many channels of
digital information are being received and if the
digital signal is interrupted.

These indicators are the L/C/R/SL/SR/LFE letters
that are inside the center boxes of the
Speaker/Channel Input Indicators P in the
front panel Main Information Display *.
When a standard analog stereo or matrix 
surround signal is in use, only the “L” and “R”
indicators will light, as analog signals have only
left and right channels, respectively, even 
surround recordings, carry surround information
on the left and right channels only.

Digital signals, however, may have one to six
separate channels, depending on the program
material, the method of transmission and the
way in which it was encoded. When a digital 
signal is playing, the letters in these indicators
will light in response to the specific signal being
received. It is important to note that although
Dolby Digital, for example, is referred to as a
“5.1” system, not all Dolby Digital DVD or audio
tracks selected on DVD or other Dolby Digital
programs are encoded for 5.1. Thus, it is some-
times normal for a DVD with a Dolby Digital
soundtrack to trigger e.g. only the “L” and “R”
indicators.

A special feature of Dolby Digital is the Night
mode, which enables Dolby Digital input sources
to be played back with full digital intelligibilty
while reducing the maximum peak level and lift-
ing the low levels by 

1

/

4

to 

1

/

3

. This prevents

abruptly loud transitions from disturbing others
without reducing the impact of the digital
source. The Night mode is available only when
Dolby Digital mode is selected.

The Night mode may be engaged when a Dolby
Digital DVD is playing by pressing the Night
Button 

A on the remote. Next, press the 

⁄

/

¤

buttons 

C to select either the middle range or

full compression versions of the Night mode. To
turn the Night mode off, press the 

⁄

/

¤

buttons

C until the message in the lower third of 
the video display and the Main Information
Display M reads D-R OFF.
When the Night mode is active, the Night
Mode Indicator O will also illuminate.

OPERATION 23

IMPORTANT NOTES ON DIGITAL
PLAYBACK:
1. When the digital playback source is stopped,
or in a pause, fast forward or chapter search
mode, the digital audio data will momentarily
stop, and the channel position letters inside the
Speaker/Channel Indicators P will flash.
This is normal and does not indicate a problem
with either the AVR 1550 or the source machine.
The AVR 1550 will return to digital playback as
soon as the data is available and when the
machine is in a standard play mode.

2. Although the AVR 1550 will decode virtually all
DVD movies, CDs and HDTV sources, it is possible
that some future digital sources may not be com-
patible with the AVR 1550.

3. Note that not all digitally encoded programs
and not all audio tracks on a DVD contain full
5.1-channel audio. Consult the program guide
that accompanies the DVD or laser disc to deter-
mine which type of audio has been recorded on
the disc. The AVR 1550 will automatically sense
the type of digital surround encoding used, indi-
cate it in the Bitstream Indicators A and
Channel Input Indicators P and adjust to
accommodate it.

4. When a Dolby Digital or DTS source is playing,
you normally may not be able to select some of
the analog surround modes such as Dolby Pro
Logic II, Dolby 3 Stereo, Hall, Theater or 5CH
Stereo, except with special audio tracks 
(see indication ”Dolby Digital” on previous
page) or data format selected (see ”PCM” on
previous page).

5. When a Dolby Digital or DTS source is playing,
it is not possible to make an analog recording
using the Tape

 or Video 1  record out-

puts, if the source is connected to any digital
input of the AVR 1550 only.

In normal operation, the audio or video source
selected for listening through the AVR 1550 is
sent to the record outputs. This means that any
program you are watching or listening to may be
recorded simply by placing machines connected
to the outputs for Tape Outputs

 or Video

 in the record mode.

When a digital audio recorder is connected to
the Coaxial Digital Audio Outputs

, you

are able to record the digital signal using a 
CD-R, MiniDisc or other digital recording system.
Note that all digital signals will be passed
through to the coaxial digital output, no matter
which kind of digital input was selected.

NOTES:
• The digital outputs are active only when a digi-
tal signal is present, and they do not convert an
analog input to a digital signal, or change the for-
mat of the digital signal (e.g. Dolby Digital to

PCM or vice versa, but optical digital input signals
are converted to coaxial signals). In additon, the
digital recorder must be compatible with the out-
put signal. For example, the PCM digital output
from a CD player may be recorded on a CD-R or
MiniDisc, but Dolby Digital or DTS signals may
not.

Normal output level adjustment for the 
AVR 1550 is established using the test tone, as
outlined on pages 17 and 18. In some cases,
however, it may be desirable to adjust the out-
put levels using program material such as a test
disc, or a selection you are familiar with.
Additionally, the output level for the subwoofer
and those for the Stereo mode can only be
adjusted using this procedure.

To adjust the output levels using program mate-
rial, first select the surround mode for which you
want to trim the speakers (see NOTE below) by
selecting the appropriate input, associated with
the desired surround mode, start your program
material source and set the reference volume for
the front left and front right channels using the
Volume Control (

I.

Once the reference level has been set, press the
Channel Select button 

B# and note that

FL LEVEL

will appear in the Main

Information Display M for five seconds. To
change the level, first press the Enter button
E on the remote control, or the Set button on
the front Ó, and then use the Selector but-
tons & or the 

⁄

/

¤

buttons 

C to raise or

lower the level. DO NOT use the volume control,
as this will alter the reference setting.

Once the change has been made, press the
Enter button 

E on the remote control, or the

Set button on the front Ó and then press the
Selector buttons & or the 

⁄

/

¤

buttons 

C

to select the next output channel location that
you wish to adjust. To adjust the subwoofer
level, press the Selector buttons & or the

⁄

/

¤

buttons 

C until SW LEVEL appears

in the Main Information Display M (only
available if the subwoofer was selected during
the speaker configuration, see page 14).

Press the Enter button 

E on the remote 

control, or the Set button on the front Ó when
the name of the desired channel appears in the
Main Information Display M and on-screen
display, and follow the instructions shown above
to adjust the level.

Repeat the procedure as needed until all 
channels requiring adjustment have been set.
When all adjustments have been made press the
Enter button 

E on the remote control, or the

Set button on the front Ó twice, the AVR 1550
will return to normal operation.

NOTE: The output levels may be separately
trimmed for each digital and analog surround
mode. If you wish to have different trim levels for a
specific mode, select that mode and then follow
the instructions in the steps shown above.

Changing the levels by the trim adjustment as
described above will automatically change the
level settings shown during the Output Level
Adjustment (see page 17) correspondingly (and
vice versa) and will remain in the AVR 1550´s
memory system, even when the unit is turned
off. With Stereo mode the adjustment procedure
described above is the only way to trim the out-
put level.

The AVR 1550’s front panel Main Information
Display * is set at a default brightness level
that is sufficient for viewing in a normally lit
room. However, in some home theater installa-
tions, you may wish to occasionally lower the
brightness of the display, or turn it off completely.

The display brightness may be changed by 
pressing and holding the Set button Ó on the
front for three seconds until the message in the
Main Information Display M reads V F D
F U L L

. Within five seconds, press the front

panel 

‹

/

›

buttons & until the desired bright-

ness display level is shown. At that point, press
the Set button Ó again to enter the setting.

This product is equipped with a memory backup
system that preserves tuner presets and system
configuration information if the unit is turned off
completely, accidentally unplugged or subjected
to a power outage. This memory will last for
approximately two weeks, after which time all
information must be reentered.

24 OPERATION

The AVR 1550’s tuner is capable of tuning AM,
FM and FM Stereo broadcast stations and
receiving RDS data. Stations may be tuned
manually, or they may be stored as favorite
station presets and recalled from a 30 position
memory.

Station Selection
1. Press the AM/FM Tuner Select button 

6

on the remote to select the tuner as an input.
The tuner may be selected from the front 
panel by either pressing the Input Source 
Selector ! until the tuner is active or by
pressing the Tuner Band Selector 9 at any
time.

2. Press the AM/FM Tuner Select button 

6

or Tuner Band Selector 9 again to switch
between AM and FM so that the desired frequen-
cy band is selected.

3. Press the Tuner Mode button 

H on the

remote or hold the Band Selector 9 on the
front panel pressed for 3 seconds to select 
manual or automatic tuning.

When the AUTO indicator O is illuminated in the
Main Information Display M the tuner will
only stop at those stations that have a strong
enough signal to be received with acceptable
quality.

When the AUTO indicator O is not illuminated,
the tuner is in a manual mode and will stop at
each frequency increment in the selected band.

4. To select stations press any Tuning button 8
J. When the AUTO indicator O is illumin-
ated, press the button to cause the tuner to
search for the next highest or lowest frequency
station that has an acceptable signal or hold the
button pressed to tune more quickly and release
it to start the auto search. In the Auto mode the
tuner will play each station in stereo or mono
mode, just as the program is transmitted. If the
AUTO indicator O is not illuminated, tap the
Tuning button 8

J to advance one frequen-

cy increment at a time, or press and hold it to
locate a specific station. When the TUNED
indicator L illuminates, the station is properly
tuned and should be heard with clarity.

5. Stations may also be tuned directly by press-
ing the Direct button 

F, and then pressing

the Numeric Keys

G that correspond to the

station’s frequency. The desired station will auto-
matically be tuned after the latest number is
entered. If you press an incorrect button while
entering a direct frequency, press the Clear
button 

P to start over.

NOTE: When the FM reception of a stereo
station is weak, audio quality will be increased
by switching to Mono mode by pressing the
Tuner Mode button 

H on the remote or

holding the Band Selector 9 on the front
panel pressed for 3 seconds until the
STEREO

indicator U goes out.

Preset Tuning
Using the remote, up to 30 stations may be
stored in the AVR 1550’s memory for easy recall
using the front panel controls or the remote.

To enter a station into the memory, first tune the
station using the steps outlined above. Then:

1. Press the Memory button 

Q on the

remote. Note that MEMORY indicator T will
illuminate and flash in the Main Information
Display *.

2. Within five seconds, press the Numeric Keys
G corresponding to the location where you
wish to store this station’s frequency. Once
entered, the preset number will appear in the
Preset Number/Sleep Time Display Q.

3. Repeat the process after tuning any additional
stations to be preset.

Recalling Preset Stations
• To manually select a station previously entered
in the preset memory, press the Numeric Keys
G that correspond to the desired station’s
memory location.

• To manually tune through the list of stored
preset stations one by one, press the Preset
Stations Selector buttons )

O on the

front panel or remote.

The AVR 1550 is equipped with RDS (Radio Data
System), which brings a wide range of informa-
tion to FM radio. Now in use in many countries,
RDS is a system for transmitting station call
signs or network information, a description of
station program type, text messages about the
station or specifics of a musical selection, and
the correct time.

RDS Tuning
When an FM station is tuned in and it contains
RDS data, the RDS Indicator I will illuminate
and the AVR 1550 will automatically display the
station’s call sign or other program service in the
Main Information Display M.

RDS Display Options
In normal RDS operation the display will indi-
cate the station name, broadcast network or
call letters. Pressing the RDS button @

N

enables you to cycle through the various data
types in the following sequence:

• The station’s call letters (with some private sta-
tions other information too).

• The station’s frequency.

• The Program Type (PTY) as shown in the list
below.

• A “text” message (Radiotext, RT) containing
special information from the broadcast station.
Note that this message may scroll across the dis-
play to permit messages longer than the eight
positions in the display. Depending on signal
quality, it may take up to 30 seconds for the text
message to appear; in that time, the word
TEXT

will flash in the Information Display

when RT is selected.

• The current time of day (CT). Note that it may
take up to two minutes for the time to appear,
in that time the word TIME will flash in the
information display when CT is selected.
Please note that the accuracy of the time data is
dependent on the radio station, not the 
AVR 1550.

Some RDS stations may not include some of
these additional features. If the data required
for the selected mode is not being transmitted,
the Main Information Display M will show
a NO TYPE, NO TEXT or NO TIME
message after the individual time out.

In any FM mode the RDS function requires a
strong enough signal for proper operation.
If you receive a partial message, or the 
RDS Indicator I going on and off, try slowly
adjusting the antenna or tune to another
stronger RDS station.