NAD S170 manual

S170 AV Surr ound Sound Pr e-amplifier Owner’ s Manual GB[...]

GB 2 SAFETY INFORMA TION EXPLANA TION OF GRAPHICAL SYMBOLS The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol, within an equilateral triangle, is intended to alert the user to the presence of uninsulated “danger ous voltage” within the product’ s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons. The excla[...]

GB 3 SAFETY INFORMA TION ELECTRIC POWER 1 Power Sources - Connect this unit only to power sour ces specified in the Operating Instructions, and as marked on the unit. 2 Polarization - As a safety feature, some units ar e equipped with polarized AC power plugs which can only be inserted one way into a power outlet. If it is difficult or impossible t[...]

GB 4 T ABLE OF CONTENTS Safety Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-3 Getting the Most from the NAD S170 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Unpacking and Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

GB 5 GETTING THE MOST FROM THE NAD S170 Thank you for choosing NAD. The S170 A/V Surround Sound Pr eamplifier is one of the most technologically advanced surround-audio processor/pr eamplifiers yet devised, incorporating advanced, ultra-high-speed 32-bit digital signal processing, an ar chitecture that is fully upgradeable (in both hardwar e and so[...]

GB 6 UNP ACKING AND SETUP WHA T'S IN THE BOX Packed with your S170 preamplifier you will find: •A r emovable AC cable (if you wish, any IEC-standard AC cable of suitable wattage may be substituted). •1 DC trigger cable. • The S70 remote contr oller with operating manual and 9v (PP-3) battery . •A pair of white cotton gloves—for handl[...]

GB 7 ABOUT THE S170 Though the S170 A/V preamp is among the most powerful and sophisticated digital-surr ound decoder/processors available, we worked har d to make it one of the most musically transparent home- theater components as well; this is what we mean by NAD's "Music First" design philosophy . Here are just a few examples: ?[...]

GB 8 ABOUT THE S170 UPGRADABILITY We engineered the S170 preamplifier with selectively modular construction. All of its digital-control and - processing “intelligence” is located on a single plug in module. This sophisticated yet accessible architectur e simplifies servicing while maintaining signal-path integrity , making potential hardware up[...]

GB 9 QUICKST ART In case you simply cannot wait to experience the performance of your new S170 preamplifier , we provide the following "Quickstart" instructions to get you underway . They assume that the DVD/CD player is connected to the VIDEO1 input and that the appropriate audio and video connections have been made. PLA Y A DVD MOVIE (O[...]

GB 10 FRONT P ANEL 1 POWER : Switch off to disconnect the S170 fr om all AC power and exit the Standby mode. Switching POWER on both reconnects the AC and actively power -up the preamp. 2S T ANDBY : Illuminates when the S170 is in the Standby mode (dark when preamp is on, or power ed-off). 3 AUDIO : Press to select audio inputs sequentially using t[...]

GB 11 REAR P ANEL A TTENTION! Please make all connections to your S170 preamplifier with the unit powered off or unplugged. (It is equally wise to power -down or unplug all associated components while making or breaking any signal or AC power connections.) 1 COMPOSITE VIDEO IN 1-6 : Connect Video Inputs 1-6 to composite- video from sour ce componen[...]

GB 12 SETTING UP THE S170 GETTING ST ARTED Before you make the first connection to your S170, you should have the arrangement of your listening r oom/home theater components and fur niture mapped out, at least initially . Unfortunately , a discussion of the vital questions of loudspeaker placement and listening/viewing positions is beyond our scope[...]

GB 13 ABOUT THE ON-SCREEN DISPLA YS (OSD) AND FRONT -P ANEL READOUT The S170 preamplifier employs a simple, self-explanatory system of on-scr een display "menus" that will appear on the connected video monitor/TV , useful both during setup and in day-to-day operation. While the OSDs are always helpful, it is also perfectly possible to ope[...]

GB 14 CONFIGURING THE S170 Y ou may set up your S170's levels, modes, and options in any order; it is not necessary to follow the or der employed here. However , it is advisable to begin by configuring the S170's on-screen display options, since certain of these will affect the options made available to other setup r outines. DISPLA Y SET[...]

GB 15 CONFIGURING THE S170 AUDIO SETUP The <Audio setup> menu enables you to modify tone-control settings and other listening options. Modifications you make on this menu will remain in af fect until changed again, or until a Preset containing differ ent settings is recalled (see below). This menu also serves to calibrate the S170's Bass[...]

GB 16 CONFIGURING THE S170 CONFIGURING THE BASS LIMITER From the <Audio setup> menu, use the r emote's [Cursor up/down] and [Enter] keys to select the <Bass limiter setup> item. Using the same keys, set <Bass limiter> to "On" and <Limiter noise> to "On"; you will hear a soft rumbling from your subwoo[...]

GB 17 CONFIGURING THE S170 SPEAKER SETUP Every surround-sound system r equires "bass-management" to direct low-fr equency content from any or all channels to the speakers best able to repr oduce it. In order for this function to operate correctly , it is very important that you correctly identify your speakers' capabilities. We use t[...]

GB 18 CONFIGURING THE S170 CONFIGURING LEVELS From the OSD Main menu, select the <Level setup> item using the r emote's [Cursor up/down], and [Enter] keys. Activate the test-noise signal with the remote's [T est] key (third from the bottom); you will her e a "surf" noise that cycles through your speakers, beginning with th[...]

GB 19 CONFIGURING THE S170 Using the [Cursor] (down) key scroll down to the <Digital input> menu item. Use the [Cursor <>] keys to assign a digital input to the current sour ce. The digital inputs will appear in order: Coax1-4, OPT 1, and Opt 2, followed by Off. Y ou would set a source’ s <Digital input> to “Off” if you wish[...]

GB 20 USING THE S170 Y ou may operate the S170 preamplifier equally fr om its front panel or via the S70 remote contr oller . Since the remote will be the primary contr oller for most cases, we will focus on remote-controlled operations. Be sure to r ead the section, "Front Panel Operations," below . SELECTING SOURCES From the S70 r emote[...]

GB 21 USING THE S170 SETTING LISTENING MODES ABOUT THE S170'S LISTENING MODES The S170 preamplifier of fers seven distinct listening modes, tailored for differ ent types of recordings or program material. MONO All output is directed to the center channel; low fr equencies are directed to the subwoofer if one is pr esent in the Speaker setup Mo[...]

GB 22 USING THE S170 EARS Stereo r ecordings (and surround-encoded ster eo recordings), whether in PCM/digital or analog form, ar e r eproduced with proprietary NAD surr ound processing with signals output to the left, center -, and right- front channels and both surr ound-channel speakers (plus surround-back, and subwoofer , if any). EARS extracts[...]

GB 23 USING THE S170 Note that the S170's front-panel r eadout (and, momentarily , the OSD, if so enabled; see Display Setup, above) will always indicate the signal-format of the currently selected sour ce. The table below lists the primary readings; multichannel r eadouts show the number of channels employed in the format front/surr ound/LFE,[...]

GB 24 USING THE S170 ABOUT THE LA TE NIGHT MODE The S170 incorporate a Late Night mode available only to Dolby Digital recor dings. This engages dynamic- range compression to make widely dynamic material such as many movie soundtracks mor e useful at modest master -volume settings—such as those likely to be employed late at night; hence the name [...]

GB 25 USING THE S170 ADJUSTING THE TONE CONTROLS From the S70 r emote's PREAMP menu, select [MODE/MUL TI.S]; then press the [•T one] key; "T reble" appears on the OSD and the front-panel r eadout. Use the remote's [Cursor up/down] to boost or cut treble by 1 dB increments. Pr ess [•T one] again to adjust bass, similarly usin[...]

GB 26 USING THE S170 FRONT P ANEL OPERA TIONS It is possible to perform every function directly fr om the S170 Preamplifier's front panel, without the S70 r emote controller . •T o change input sources or listening modes, press AUDIO or Video or MODE; the VOLUME (SETUP) knob will now cycle, bi-directionally , through all audio-video or audio[...]

GB 27 USING THE S170 LISTENING IN A REMOTE ZONE (MUL TISOURCE) The S170 can provide line-level signals, in ster eo-mode only , to a second room or zone via its rear -panel MUL TISOURCE OUT jacks. These jacks may output stereo signals from any analog sour ce, completely independent from (or the same as) the one curr ently selected at the S170's[...]

GB 28 SAFETY INFORMA TION NAD LINK The S170's rear -panel NAD LINK OUT jack can relay remote-control commands to other pr oducts equipped with an NAD Link (or compatible) input, sending out the same control codes it r eceives from the S70 r emote handset via IR (infra red ). NAD Link thus creates a “har d wired” connection between the S170[...]

GB 29 SPECIFICA TIONS CONDITION POSSIBLE CAUSE(S) POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS(S) NO SOUND FROM ALL CHANNELS • AC power unplugged • power not switched on • outlet is un-powered •T ape Monitor is engaged • Check AC cable, connection, and outlet •d isengage T ape Monitor NO SOUND FROM SOME CHANNELS • Faulty/missing cables • <Speaker setup>[...]

GB 30 SPECIFICA TIONS Decoding formats Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic, DTS, THX Surround EX Sampling rates 32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz Modes EARS STEREO (ANALOG BYP ASS) Analog input impedance 16k Ω / 100pF Analog frequency r esponse 20Hz - 20kHz +/- 0.2dB Maximum input level 3V rms THD+N 0.005% Signal/noise ratio >90dB Dynamic range 95dB Ana[...]

S170 Owner's Manual Addendum New HTR 2 Learning Remote Control Since the S170 was first introduced, we have been asked by many of our customers for a remote control that will operate their entire audio-video system. We have recently developed a product to answer this demand, the HTR-2. So, in addition to the S70 unit remote described in the Ow[...]

Hold function) of input level. In this mode use the UP/DOWN CURSOR KEY to expand the meter scale from -20dB to 0dB, to -40dB to 0dB. 3. SPEAKER SETUP (Page 17) There are three additional features in the SPEAKER SETUP menu: • Adjustable Crossover Frequency selectable in 10 Hz increments from 40 Hz to 140 Hz. This adjusts both the High Pass (2nd or[...]

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