AVR 500 - Harman Kardon Audio User Guide / Operation Manual. Page 4

3 INTRODUCTION

Thank you for choosing Harman Kardon!
With the purchase of a Harman Kardon 
AVR 500 you are about to begin many years of
listening enjoyment. The AVR 500 has been cus-
tom designed to provide all the excitement and
detail of movie sound tracks and every nuance
of musical selections. With onboard Dolby*
Digital and DTS† Decoding, the AVR 500 deliv-
ers six discrete channels of audio that take
advantage of the digital sound tracks from the
latest DVD and LD releases and Digital
Television broadcasts.

While complex digital systems are hard 
at work within the AVR 500 to make all of this
happen, hookup and operation are simple.
Color-keyed connections, a backlit, programma-
ble remote control, and on-screen menus make
the AVR 500 easy to use. To obtain the maxi-
mum enjoyment from your new receiver, we
urge you to take a few minutes to read
through this manual. This will ensure that con-
nections to speakers, source playback units and
other external devices are made properly. In
addition, a few minutes spent learning the
functions of the various controls will enable
you to take advantage of all the power the
AVR 500 is able to deliver.

If you have any questions about this product,
its installation or its operation, please contact
your retailer or custom installer. They are your
best local source of information.

Description and Features
The AVR 500 is a full-featured A/V receiver,
incorporating a wide variety of listening
options. In addition to Dolby Digital and DTS
decoding, Dolby Pro Logic* and Dolby 3 Stereo
are available for compatibility with the tens of
thousands of movies and television programs
encoded with analog surround information. In
addition, Harman Kardon is the only receiver
brand to offer Logic 7

®

to create wider,

enveloping sound field environments and more
defined pans and flyovers. Our exclusive
VMAx

®

delivers a spacious sound field even

when only two front speakers are available.

A total of four audio/video inputs, each with
both composite and S-Video, as well as three
additional audio-only inputs, are selected
through a learning remote control and an easy-
to-read front-panel display or on-screen graph-
ics through a TV monitor. Multiroom operation
is available with independent source and 
volume selection.

The AVR 500’s powerful amplifier uses
traditional Harman Kardon high-current design
technologies to meet the wide dynamic range
of any program selection.

Harman Kardon invented the high-fidelity
receiver over forty-five years ago. With state-
of-the-art circuitry and time-honored circuit
designs, the AVR 500 is one of the finest
receivers ever offered by Harman Kardon.

■ Onboard Dolby Digital and 

■ Harman Kardon’s Exclusive VMAx and

■ Coax and Optical Digital Inputs and

■ On-Screen Menu Displays

■ Backlit, Programmable Remote Control

■ Composite and S-Video Switching

■ Complete Multiroom Control

■ 6-Channel Direct Input and Preamp

CAUTION: To prevent electric shock,

 do not remove the grounding plug 

on the power cord, or use any plug 

or extension cord that does not have 

a grounding plug provided. 

Make certain that the 

AC outlet is properly grounded. 

Do not use an adapter plug 

with this product.

The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol, 
within an equilateral triangle, is intended to 
alert the user to the presence of uninsulated 

“dangerous voltage” within the product’s 

enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a 
risk of electric shock to persons.

The exclamation point within an equilateral 
triangle is intended to alert the user to the 
presence of important operating and 
maintenance (servicing) instructions in the 

literature accompanying the appliance.