5 minute guide, 5 minute guide 02, Chapter 2 – Pioneer VSX-1018AH-S User Manual

Page 8: Introduction to home theater, Listening to surround sound

5 minute guide

Chapter 2:

5 minute guide

Introduction to home theater

Home theater refers to the use of multiple audio tracks to
create a surround sound effect, making you feel like
you’re in the middle of the action or concert. The
surround sound you get from a home theater system
depends not only on your speaker setup, but also on the
source and the sound settings of the receiver.

This receiver will automatically decode multichannel
Dolby Digital, DTS, or Dolby Surround sources according
to your speaker setup. In most cases, you won’t have to
make changes for realistic surround sound, but other
possibilities (like listening to a CD with multichannel
surround sound) are explained in

Listening to your

system on page 29.

Listening to Surround Sound

This receiver was designed with the easiest possible
setup in mind, so with the following quick setup guide,
you should have your system hooked up for surround
sound in no time at all. In most cases, you can simply
leave the receiver in the default settings.

• Be sure to complete all connections before

connecting this receiver to an AC power source.

Connect your TV and DVD player.

See

Connecting your TV and DVD player on page 16 to do

this. For surround sound, you’ll want to hook up using a
digital connection from the DVD player to the receiver.

Connect your speakers and place them for optimal

surround sound.
Connect your speakers as shown in

Installing your

speaker system on page 20.

Where you place the speakers will have a big effect on the
sound. Place your speakers as shown below for the best
surround sound effect. Also see

Placing the speakers on

page 21 for more on this.

Plug in the receiver and switch it on, followed by

your DVD player, your subwoofer and the TV.
Plug the power cable into the AC outlet and switch on the

receiver.

Make sure you’ve set the video input on your TV

to this receiver. Check the manual that came with the TV
if you don’t know how to do this.

• Set the subwoofer volume to a comfortable level.

Use the on-screen automatic MCACC setup to set up

your system.
See

Automatically setting up for surround sound (Auto

MCACC) on page 9 for more on this.

Play a DVD, and adjust the volume to your liking.

Make sure that

DVD is showing in the receiver’s display,

indicating that the DVD input is selected. If it isn’t, press
DVD on the remote control to set the receiver to the DVD
input.

In addition to the basic playback explained in

Playing a

source on page 10, there are several other sound options
you can select. See

Listening to your system on page 29

for more on this.