Philips HP1500 User Manual

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HP1500

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

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Helpline (www.p4c.philips.com)

België/Belgien/Belgique	Nederland
32-2-525.81.11	0900-8406
Danmark	Norge
45 33 29 33 33	47-22-748 000
Deutschland	Österreich
49-40-28990	43-1-601 01
España	Portugal
34-91-4042200	[phone]
France	Schweiz/ Suisse/ Svizzera
33 1 47 28 10 00	41-1-48 82 211
	Suomi
30-1-4894911	358-9-615 800
Ireland	Sverige
353-1-764 0000	468 598 520 00
Italia	UK (United Kingdom)
39.039.203.1	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

4Introduction

5System configuration

6Dolby Headphone

7Advanced technologies used in HP 1500

10Digital audio formats

10Important information

11Benefits of latest sound processing technology

11Kit contents

12Functional overview

15	Installation
15	Audio connections

26Basic operation

27Problem solving

28Maintenance

28Technical specifications

29European 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	User	Control			Block Diagram
	Supply	Interface
	Audio Processing
		HP1500 Basestation
DIG	DAI		DD
		IN						HP
			DTS	DPLII	DH	DAC	DBE
		SEL						AMP
			LPCM
ANA	ADC
	Basestation Audio Processing

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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.