AVR 170 (serv.man6) - Harman Kardon Audio Service Manual (repair manual). Page 13

AVR

11

English

Types of Home Theater  

System Connections

there are different types of audio and video connections used to connect the AVr to your 

speakers, your tV or video display, and your source devices. the consumer electronics 

Association has established the ceA

®

 color-coding standard.

front left/right

white/red

center

green

Surround left/right

blue/gray

Subwoofer

purple

coaxial

orange

optical

black

composite Video

yellow

Speaker cables carry an amplified signal from the AVr’s speaker terminals to each 

loudspeaker. each cable contains two wire conductors, or leads, that are differentiated in 

some way, such as with colors or stripes.
the differentiation helps you maintain proper polarity, without which your system’s low-

frequency performance can suffer. each speaker is connected to the AVr’s speaker-

output terminals using two wires, one positive (+) and one negative (–). Always connect 

the positive terminal on the speaker, which is usually colored red, to the positive terminal 

on the AVr, which is colored as indicated in the connection color guide table, above. the 

negative terminals on the speakers and the AVr are black.
your AVr uses binding-post speaker terminals that can accept bare-wire cables or 

banana plugs. bare-wire cables are installed as shown below:

1. Unscrew Cap

2. Insert Bare Wire

3. Tighten Cap

1. unscrew cap

3. tighten cap

2. Insert bare wire

banana plugs are inserted into the hole in the middle of the terminal cap, as shown 

below:

A. tighten cap

b.  Insert banana connector 

into hole in cap

Always connect the colored (+) terminal on the AVr to the (+) terminal on the speaker 

(usually red), and the black (–) terminal on the AVr to the (–) terminal on the speaker 

(usually black).
IMPORTANT: Make sure the ( + ) and ( – ) bare wires do not touch each other or 

the subwoofer is a speaker dedicated to reproducing only the low (bass) frequencies, 

which require more power. to obtain the best results, most speaker manufacturers offer 

powered subwoofers that contain their own amplifiers. use a single rcA audio cable 

(not included) to make a line-level (non-amplified) connection from the AVr’s Subwoofer 

connector to a corresponding input jack on the subwoofer.

Although the AVr’s purple subwoofer output looks similar to a full-range analog audio 

jack, it is filtered so that only the low frequencies pass through it. don’t connect this 

output to any device other than a subwoofer.

Audio and video signals originate in source devices (components where a playback 

signal originates) such as your blu-ray disc or dVd player, cd player, dVr (digital video 

recorder) or other recorder, tape deck, game console, cable or satellite television tuner, 

or a device docked in the AVr’s uSb port. the AVr’s fm/Am tuner also counts as a 

source, even though no external connectors are needed other than the AVr’s fm and 

Am antennas. Separate connectors are required for the audio and video portions of the 

source device’s signal, except for digital hdmI connectors. the types of connectors you 

use will depend upon the capabilities of the source device and of your tV or video display.
Digital Audio Connections – HDMI
there are two types of audio connections – digital and analog. digital audio signals are 

required for listening to sources encoded with digital surround modes, such as dolby 

digital and dtS, or for uncompressed pcm digital audio. your AVr has three types of 

digital audio connectors: hdmI, coaxial and optical. do not use more than one type of 

digital audio connector for each source device. however, it’s okay to make both analog 

and digital audio connections to the same source.
your AVr is equipped with four rear-panel hdmI input connectors and one hdmI monitor 

output connector. hdmI technology enables digital audio and video information to be 

carried using a single cable, delivering the highest quality picture and sound. If your tV or 

video-display device has an hdmI input connector, make a single hdmI connection from 

each source device to the AVr.
the AVr’s hdmI monitor output connector contains an Audio return channel (Arc) that 

carries a digital audio signal from your tV or video display back to the AVr. It allows 

you to listen to hdmI devices that are connected directly to your tV (such as an Internet 

connection) without making an additional connection from the device to the AVr. the 

Arc signal is active when the tV source is selected. See System Setup, on page 26, for 

more information.
the hdmI connector is shaped for easy plug-in (see illustration, below), and hdmI 

cable runs are limited to about 10 feet (3m). If your video display has a dVI input and is 

hdcp-compliant, use an hdmI-to-dVI adapter (not included), and make a separate audio 

connection.

Digital Audio Connections – Coaxial
coaxial digital audio jacks are usually color-coded orange. Although they look like 

standard rcA-type analog jacks, you should not connect coaxial digital audio outputs to 

analog inputs or vice versa.

Harman Kardon

AVR 170 / 230V Service Manual

Page 13 of 114