Cary 6 System Setup and Remote Control

The rear panel is well spaced and logically laid out. From the left to right, there are connectors for:

• Four co-axial digital inputs (DVD, CD, TV, D-VCR)
• Four optical digital inputs (DVD, CD, TV, D-VCR)
• Five analog 2-ch audio inputs (DVD, CD, TV, D-VCR, TUNER)
• Four sets of composite and S-Video video inputs (DVD, CD, TV, D-VCR)
• Two sets of composite and S-Video video outputs (with and without OSD)
• Zone-2 composite and S-Video video outputs
• Zone-2 2ch analog audio outputs
• Three sets of component video inputs (DVD, CD, TV) and one set of component video outputs
• Two sets of 7.1 analog audio inputs (A and B)
• One set of 7.1 preamplifier analog audio outputs
• RS-232C interface
• Zone 1 and Zone 2 IR inputs
• Three sets of DC trigger output terminals
• IEC power in socket

Note that there are no digital or analog line-level outputs. Digital outputs tend not to be very useful in most AV receivers or pre/pros, since on most models the digital outputs are simply copies of the digital inputs and there is no support for digital decoding (such as providing 2ch LPCM decoding of a Dolby Digital or DTS bitstream). So the lack of support is no big loss. The lack of analog line level outputs is interesting, since this is a feature available on even the most basic analog pre-amplifier. However, you can use the Zone-2 output as a line-level analog out (though the Zone 2 output will only switch between the analog 2ch inputs - the Cinema 6 will not convert digital inputs into the Zone 2 output).

Setup is pretty straightforward. Pressing the Menu button will activate the on-screen display. Note: a video display is required for configuring the processor. There are six sub-menus:

• Input Setup
• Tone Setup
• Balance Setup
• Delay Setup
• Speakers Setup
• Other Setup

The Input Setup allows you to select the audio and video source independently (note: this can also be achieved by on the remote control using the Video and Audio buttons plus the left/right arrow keys and on the front panel using the Video and Audio buttons plus the Input Selector knob).

The Tone Setup allows you to change the bass and treble settings (by +/- 10dB) but they appear to only work for LPCM digital inputs. In addition, there is an undocumented "Pre Amp" setting that can be varied between 0 and -10dB - this appears to only function on LPCM digital inputs and acts as a digital attenuator. Based on the measured results, I would recommend setting this parameter to -8 dB for optimal performance and calibrated reference level outputs.

The Balance Setup allows you to change the levels for all 7.1 channels in a +/- 15 dB range with 0.5 dB increments. There is a test signal generator that allows you to calibrate levels to 75 dB SPL using a sound meter (slow response, C weighting, 70dB sensitivity). Like the tone controls, these only work for digital sources, not analog.

The Delay Setup allows you to adjust speaker distances for all 7.1 channels from 0 to 20 feet in 0.5 foot increments (0 to 6.1 meters in 0.15 meter increments).

The Speakers Setup allows you to configure the physical speaker number and bass management settings. The front left/right channels are mandatory and can either be set to large (full range) or small (bass managed). All other channels are optional and can be configured as large/small or off. In addition, can configure your surround back channels as 1ch, 2ch or off and you can set the subwoofer crossover frequency from 40 to 140 Hz in 10 Hz increments. Unfortunately, there are no separate crossover settings for different speaker groups. However, there is some empirical evidence that suggests 80 Hz is an optimal crossover setting for bass management regardless of the actual frequency response of your individual speakers so perhaps this is not such a drastic limitation.

Finally, the 'Other Setup' allows you to configure various parameters:

• Zone 2 output (DVD, CD, TV, D-VCR, TUNER)
• Auto Detect (Off, On)
• Late (Off, On) - Dolby Digital Dynamic Range Compression
• Bright (High, Middle, Low) - Front Panel VFD brightness setting
• OSD Timeout (5 to 60 seconds in 5 sec increments)
• HDCD Default (On, Off) - HDCD format detector
• Restore Default - reset processor to default settings

Frankly, the unit was not as configurable as I would have hoped. There are no settings to adjust Dolby Pro Logic II/IIx parameters, and there is no digital room correction. The level settings and tone controls cannot be memorized for each input source, and the unit cannot remember the most recently used surround mode per input source.

The manual implies that the unit remembers the most recently selected input type (coaxial, optical, analog) per input source, but I found that the unit defaults to coaxial every time I switched input sources.

There are also some annoying limitations: Dolby Pro Logic IIx only operates on LPCM and Dolby Digital sources, not for DTS and analog sources. DTS NEO:6 only operates on LPCM sources.

The power toggle button is curiously labeled 'P'. Underneath are four surround processing buttons (functional only for digital inputs):

• PLIIx - toggles between normal, Dolby Pro Logic II and Dolby Pro Logic IIx
• Sur. Mode - in Pro Logic II or IIx mode, toggles between Virtual, Music, Movie, Matrix, Emulate; in NEO:6 mode, toggles between Cinema and Music
• CES 7.1 - in Dolby Digital mode, toggles between Ex On, Off and Auto
• NEO:96/24 - Turns NEO:6 mode on and off

Below this are input source and volume up/down selectors, and direct access buttons to 7.1 analog inputs A and B.

Next are four buttons for Mute, Test, Exit, and Menu, followed by arrow keys and selection buttons, and then analog/digital selection, plus auto decode, auto detect.

The numeric keypad is repurposed for input source select (DVD, CD, TV, D-VCR, TUNER). Finally, there is the 2XF (upsampling), Video (input source select), Audio (input source select), Zone (Zone 2 input source select), Stereo (stereo downmix), Bright (front panel VFD brightness), and Late (Dolby Digital dynamic range compression) buttons.