Philips HP1500 User Manual

Instructions for use
English 4

Mode d'emploi
Français 30

Bedienungsanleitung
Deutsch 56

Gebruiksaanwijzing
Nederlands 82

Instrucciones de manejo
Español 108

Manual de utilização
Português 134

Instruzioni per l'uso
Italiano 160

Bruksanvisning
Svenska 186

HP1500

HP1500

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☎

Helpline (www.p4c.philips.com)

België/Belgien/Belgique

32-2-525.81.11

Danmark

45 33 29 33 33

Deutschland

49-40-28990

España

34-91-4042200

France

33 1 47 28 10 00



30-1-4894911

Ireland

353-1-764 0000

Italia

39.039.203.1

Nederland

0900-8406

Norge

47-22-748 000

Österreich

43-1-601 01

Portugal

[phone]

Schweiz/ Suisse/ Svizzera

41-1-48 82 211

Suomi

358-9-615 800

Sverige

468 598 520 00

UK (United Kingdom)

44-208-689 2166

‘Dolby’,‘Pro Logic’ and the double-D symbol
are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories.

‘DTS’ and ‘DTS Virtual’ are trademarks of
Digital Theater Systems, Inc .

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Index

4 Introduction

5 System configuration

6 Dolby Headphone

7 Advanced technologies used in HP 1500

10 Digital audio formats

10 Important information

11 Benefits of latest sound processing technology

11 Kit contents

12 Functional overview

15 Installation

15 Audio connections

26 Basic operation

27 Problem solving

28 Maintenance

28 Technical specifications

29 European Regulations

Introduction

SBC HP1500

Congratulations! You have just bought a most sophisticated digital
headphone system.

This system uses state of the art digital technology, offering you the freedom
of enjoying your favourite music or movies in the purest digital quality.
Even silent passages in classical music and plain silence in between
two music tracks are reproduced as pure silence.

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This system has been designed to faithfully reproduce the kind of
multi-channel surround sound experience that you normally can enjoy with
a conventional multi-channel speaker set-up.The latest digital signal
processing technology is being used to ensure that you can indulge yourself
in an overwhelming private home entertainment experience.
And all this at the volume level that you personally prefer without running
the risk of disturbing the neighbours or the family!

To ensure you get the best performance from your digital headphone
system please read this manual carefully.

System configuration

The HP 1500 system consists of a digital base station and a pure
Hifi headphone.The base station contains a digital signal processor offering
you a real 5.1-channel surround sound experience through the personal
comfort of your headphone.

The base station can decode Dolby Pro Logic II signals as well as
Dolby Digital and DTS signals.The Dolby Headphone technology will
ensure that these signals are converted to audio signals that can be handled
by the headphone whilst still maintaining the directional information as in
the original signals.

The base station has an analogue stereo input as well as a digital electrical
coaxial S/PDIF input.The digital input allows you to enjoy your favourite
DVD movies in full surround sound through Dolby Pro Logic II,
Dolby Digital or DTS. And the analogue input brings your collection of
VCR tapes back to life in full Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound.

The pure Hifi headphone that comes with the HP1500 system will provide
you with pure audio quality that is second to none.

Power
Supply

Audio Processing

User

Interface

Control

Block Diagram

HP1500 Basestation

Basestation Audio Processing

IN

SEL

HP

AMP

DD

DTS

LPCM

DAI

ADC

DIG

ANA

DPLII DH DAC DBE

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Dolby Headphone

A brief introduction

Dolby Digital and DTS provide discrete left and right surround channels,
for more precise localization of sound and a more convincing, realistic
ambience. Discrete means that each channel contains its own particular
audio information and plays a unique role in creating a realistic surround
sound experience.

Up until now all this was reserved to speaker set-ups, but thanks to
Dolby Headphone, the ultimate experience in home theatre surround with
five (left, right, centre, rear-left and rear-right) discrete channels of digital
sound quality is now also available to headphones.

Dolby Headphone is a revolutionary signal processing system that works
not only with multi channel audio but also with conventional stereo signals.
In case of multi channel audio signals, Dolby Headphone technology will
process these signals in such a way that you will experience the sound
through your headphone as if it were coming from an actual five speaker
home entertainment set-up. And even when listening to conventional stereo
signals, Dolby Headphone will give you a much more natural and less
fatiguing listening experience, equivalent to a good two-speaker playback
system in a room with good acoustics.

Dolby Headphone technology can model the sound of a playback system in
up to three different listening environments, based on acoustic
measurements of real rooms:

• DH1 is a small, well-damped room appropriate for both movies and

music-only recordings.

• DH2 is a more acoustically live room particularly suited to music

listening, but also great for movies.

• DH3 is a larger room, more like a concert hall or movie theatre.

You can easily switch between these room modes and select whichever one
suits the particular program material and your own preferences.

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Advanced technologies used in HP 1500

The HP1500 makes use of several advanced technologies.

Principle of determining the direction of sound

People can determine the localization of sounds through the perception of
differences in intensity – so called Interaural Intensity Difference (IID) – and
through time differences – so called Interaural Time Difference (ITD).

IID is about the fact of sounds being louder as they are closer to the ear
and being louder in case they have a non-obstructed path to the ear.

ITD is about the fact that in most cases sounds will arrive earlier in time at
one ear than at the other.

In fact it is the environment itself that greatly impacts the sound before it
reaches our ears. Reflections and absorption all will influence the sense of
distance and direction we associate with a sound.

Combining IID and ITD will allow the brain to determine the direction of
sounds only in a rough way. It is in through the combination of IID and ITD
and the way sounds are filtered because of the structure of the pinna
– the outer ear – that allows to brain to accurately localise sounds.

• Depending on how a sound wave hits the pinna, it will be emphasized
or suppressed.

• Depending on how a sound wave hits the pinna, reflections within the
pinna are created, altering the phase relationship within the spectrum of
the sound wave.

• And also: higher frequencies are more affected by the pinna than lower
frequencies.That’s why our brain can easily locate higher frequencies,
rather than lower frequencies.

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If we wish to reproduce all those effects through an audio system, than we
need to take IID, ITD, pinna effects, room impulse response, etc. into
account.That is where Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTF) come into
play.

An HRTF is a mathematical equation that describes how a sound is effected
when travelling from its source to our ears.

There are several ways to synthesise an HRTF. The most common way to
measure an HRTF makes use of placing tiny microphones in a listener’s ears.

Every person has its unique HRTF. However, we can identify crucial parts in
an HRTF that are responsible for localization of sound as if this sound
would be radiated by a typical home cinema speaker set-up.
When these parts are synthesized in an optimal way, a typical 5 speaker set­up listening experience is created.

HRTFs are implemented in real-time Digital Signal Processors (DSP) and
will then be applied to audio signals in order to reproduce "spatial" cues, i.e.
create a sense of directionality.

It is through these techniques that Philips is able to bring you a home
cinema experience through a headphone that is as real as when you would
be listening to an actual 5.1 speaker set-up.

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Automatic Audio Signal Routing

The Automatic Audio Signal Routing (AASR) feature of the HP 1500
basestation allows for audio sources to be connected to its audio inputs and
at the same time it can pass those same audio signals on to – for example –
your Home Cinema receiver. This allows for permanent audio connections
to be made without the need for swapping cables.Whether you want to
listen to your headphone or your existing speaker set-up, it no longer
involves tiresome swapping of cables: the choice is yours at the flick of a
switch.

Intelligent user interface

After a digital analysis of the audio input signal the display will indicate which
sound processing features can be activated. No more frustrating pressing of
all buttons. Just read the display and select out of the active sound menus.

Headphone construction

The headphone’s semi-open construction will benefit the transparency of
the sound.This will make you experience your favourite tracks under even
more realistic conditions.

Neodymium magnets

Neodymium is the strongest magnet material available, which optimises the
behaviour of the speaker coil for increased sound pressure levels and a
more powerful bass response. All this at the lowest possible levels of
distortion.

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