Denon DVD3800BDCI Owner's Thread - Page 183

I use a Wireworld Electra power cord for my 3800. It is a wonderful cord for this application (it is very flexible and fits nicely with the two prongs).

+1 for me. this player has performed very well for me with my all analog set-up, with just a few minor glitches.

Since the initiation of the HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray formats many of the units have shown a varying degree of issues, some worse than others. I have had the Toshiba HD A-1 and AX-2, The Sammy BDP-1000, 1400, The Panny 10A, and 30 and the Sony 350. The last being the Pio 05fd and now the Denon 3800. I have found the Dennon so far the best performer in both PQ and Audio on consistantly the same Display and other periferal equiptment. Many of my issues were of my own opinion and most of the CSR.s I have dealt with were of varying degrees of knowledge and help. All when asked wound up doing the right thing in the long run or I took the loss and sold the unit.
I have followed this thread since its inception and found the knowledge and experience of the owners here extremely useful. My best guess was that the early editions of this model were truly issued with some major issues which Dennon quickly adressed, and later issues were free of these early problems. My unit is of an August 08 issue, with a s/n starting with a 20. Base on this I received a tremendous price from a respected authorized dealer I couldnt pass by. I have had the unit for two weeks and found it awesome compared to the others listed above for my use. Thanks guys for all your imput and direction to those of us less informed. I would think that the company doing the right thing for the above poster would be reccomentation enough to deal with this reputable company.

Perhaps. And you indicate that Denon "took care of [you]." So you had what might have been a unique/unusual problem, Denon made you whole, and you come back here to tell everyone to stay away from their product. That seems to me to be a rather unscrupulous thing to do.

I like Shunyata, the big Shunyata's, for current hungry power amps and powered subs. For the detailed stuff Cardas Golden Ref does the trick. Tried many different power cords on my triode and subs for my Avantgardes. Shyunyata on bass or mammoth power amps. Your going to loose some mid and high stuff but oh that last two octaves with Shyunyata are fantastic................................Renmeister

I float my whole system. (To be done at the owners risk.) exceptions, power amps to self powered bass module's and power amps driving the bass only. The last 10 power cleaners I have tried altered something. I have tried Running Spring's considered by many the best in the audiophile world. Each has a had a sonic personality that I was able to put my finger on the signiture in 10 minutes or less. None were as good as floating the grounds. The ground acts as a huge antenna pulling in all kinds of RF and other junk in my home. The key to great video and audio are clocks and power supplies and a dedicated power line to your system. Europe doesn't run grounds and they're still standing.
.............................Renmeister

Gota like the ethics of racer guy and I also strongley agree. For the few of us who are trying to obtain the state of the art or darn close, try to remember the first C.D. players back in the early 80's. Terrible at best. Not only was the format flawed 16bit, the d/a converters were shrill flat and 2D, just awful. Mission and Meridian were the only reasonable choice of the day for something listen able. Then California Audio Labs owned by a guy by the name Art Paymer emerged on the scene with a player caled the Tempest. For the few who could afford it at the time, this player used vacuum tubes in the D/A converter and the rest is history. This simple medium, took 4 or 5 years before the trickle down of R&D took place for the masses and the rest is history. I suspect we have a bit of the same going on. I was thrilled when Denon replaced my DVD3800bdci with a new unit. I would have felt the same if it had been a repair. There was a time when some CD's could not be read and played. There was a time.............................Renmeister

I understand, just some nice left overs from my 2ch days. Gosh they're good. I think you could go much lower in the line and find many excellent choices for less then $250.00 new or $125.00 on Audiogon. I have never met a Cardas cable I didn't like, there are some I have liked a much more.
..............................Renmeister

I am not here to tell anyone to stay away from the 3800. The 3800 is a great player! It is one of the best in picture and sound. I was just wording my experience with the player that I had for almost a full year. Denon customer service was awesome. However I just decided to go for different player since there are larger choices of players at the same price range. As great of a player the Denon is my unit had to many issues so it was time to move on.

It appears that the power cord socket on the 3800 is somewhat shallow. When I plugged the IEC connector into it, it didn't feel like a solid connection. The stock cord seems to fit better. Has anyone had a problem with an insecure fit using an aftermarket power cord?

Is it the weight of the cord or the female input not being held snug?
...................................Renmeister

The female plug of the Shunyata Diamondback didn't seem like it was pushed in far enough. If you look at the plug of the stock cord, it's definitely shorter than standard IEC plugs I have on hand.

In my case it is the weight of the cable (including the weight of the female input). But Wireworld Electra power cords are very light and it seems to be a nice fit for Denon 3800. It is difficult to find a tight after market power cable when there is a two prong iec inlet.

Well, yesterday you wrote:

I've had a problem with insecure fit with a Wattgage IEC connector. Molded connectors seem to do better, not because they are shorter, but because of "stiction."

Same problem with a Schurter IEC connector.

Mark

About 3 to 4 years ago I bought an upgraded a/c wall outlet for my a/v system. Most recently I experienced a problem where I lost power to all my a/v equipment connected to my power conditioner that was plugged into that upgraded a/c wall outlet. I was able to get everything to come back on by pulling the plug from the wall just a bit I heard everything clicking back on. I figured I had a loose connection so I called an electrition and he replaced my upgraded a/c wall outlet with one that he charged me $1.00 of course there was $65.00 trip service/labor charge & so far so good. I am not entirely convinced that was the problem but Its working and I hesitate to jiggle with the plug again thats going into the wall. I had considered that the problem could be the power conditioner (Transparent 6) that I have used for the past 3 years.

There are some select after market company's who upgrade the 3800bdci. The power supply ect. I know a guy up in Minnesota, part of the R&D team of Audio Research & Wadia, went on his own modifying power supplies ect. When your unit is out of warranty your problem is a quick fix. There is also a group that specializes in upgrading the Denon product line. I talked to them, have never had work done by them. If interested let me know, and I'll dig out the sites.................................Renmeister# we replace the inexpensive stock I-V op amps with the world's best amplifier solution, the Burson Audio discrete op amp module used in a dual configuration, using our special custom SMT to DIP adapters - 4 pcs. total.
# One discrete DEXA UWB 7805 series regulator replaces the inexpensive unit of the stock player. This is a dramatically lower impedance design than the stock regulator.
# 12 x BlackGate N, Std and FK-series output electrolytic capacitors are used in the power supply, output coupling and de-coupling locations.
# 2 x 1% polystyrene film and foil capacitors are used in the analog filter stage.
# 2 x RelCap TFT Teflon film and tin foil bypass coupling capacitors are added.
# 6 x Riken Ohm ½ and 1 watt signal path 1% carbon composition resistors with gold-plated leads are added.
# 8 x Audionote Tantalum film ½ and 1 watt signal path 1% tolerance resistors replace cheap parts in the stock player.
# 4 x International Rectifier Hexfred ultra-fast soft recovery diodes are added.
# 4 x Telefunken Fred-style soft recover diodes are installed in the power supply.
# 1 x Furutech Rhodium-plated IEC inlet connector replaces the cheap one in the stock player.
# 1 x $30 HiFi Tuning German-made pure silver element fuse replaces the stock fuse.
# 1 pair of WBT next gen 0210-Cu gold over copper female RCA jacks replace the cheap stamped jacks on the stock player.
# We install four large EAR brand compliant Sorbothane isolation feet with new mounting hardware.
# 1 sheet of Soundcoat chassis damping material is cut and applied where applicable to control chassis resonances.
# 4 pieces of DH Labs 99.999% pure solid-core long-grained silver output signal wires with foamed Teflon tape wrap dielectric.
# WBT high silver content (4%) solder used throughout.
# 11 hours labor are required to do the entire modification
# 1 year warranty on modification work, 90 days on entire machine

There are some select after market company's who upgrade the 3800bdci. The power supply ect. I know a guy up in Minnesota, part of the R&D team of Audio Research & Wadia, went on his own modifying power supplies ect. When your unit is out of warranty your problem is a quick fix. There is also a group that specializes in upgrading the Denon product line. Talked to them, have never had work done by them. If interested let me know, and I'll dig out the sites # we replace the inexpensive stock I-V op amps with the world's best amplifier solution, the Burson Audio discrete op amp module used in a dual configuration, using our special custom SMT to DIP adapters – 4 pcs. total.
# One discrete DEXA UWB 7805 series regulator replaces the inexpensive unit of the stock player. This is a dramatically lower impedance design than the stock regulator.
# 12 x BlackGate N, Std and FK-series output electrolytic capacitors are used in the power supply, output coupling and de-coupling locations.
# 2 x 1% polystyrene film and foil capacitors are used in the analog filter stage.
# 2 x RelCap TFT Teflon film and tin foil bypass coupling capacitors are added.
# 6 x Riken Ohm ½ and 1 watt signal path 1% carbon composition resistors with gold-plated leads are added.
# 8 x Audionote Tantalum film ½ and 1 watt signal path 1% tolerance resistors replace cheap parts in the stock player.
# 4 x International Rectifier Hexfred ultra-fast soft recovery diodes are added.
# 4 x Telefunken Fred-style soft recover diodes are installed in the power supply.
# 1 x Furutech Rhodium-plated IEC inlet connector replaces the cheap one in the stock player.
# 1 x $30 HiFi Tuning German-made pure silver element fuse replaces the stock fuse.
# 1 pair of WBT next gen 0210-Cu gold over copper female RCA jacks replace the cheap stamped jacks on the stock player.
# We install four large EAR brand compliant Sorbothane isolation feet with new mounting hardware.
# 1 sheet of Soundcoat chassis damping material is cut and applied where applicable to control chassis resonances.
# 4 pieces of DH Labs 99.999% pure solid-core long-grained silver output signal wires with foamed Teflon tape wrap dielectric.
# WBT high silver content (4%) solder used throughout.
# 11 hours labor are required to do the entire modification
# 1 year warranty on modification work, 90 days on entire machine.................................Renmeister

# we replace the inexpensive stock I-V op amps with the world's best amplifier solution, the Burson Audio discrete op amp module used in a dual configuration, using our special custom SMT to DIP adapters - 4 pcs. total.
# One discrete DEXA UWB 7805 series regulator replaces the inexpensive unit of the stock player. This is a dramatically lower impedance design than the stock regulator.
# 12 x BlackGate N, Std and FK-series output electrolytic capacitors are used in the power supply, output coupling and de-coupling locations.
# 2 x 1% polystyrene film and foil capacitors are used in the analog filter stage.
# 2 x RelCap TFT Teflon film and tin foil bypass coupling capacitors are added.
# 6 x Riken Ohm ½ and 1 watt signal path 1% carbon composition resistors with gold-plated leads are added.
# 8 x Audionote Tantalum film ½ and 1 watt signal path 1% tolerance resistors replace cheap parts in the stock player.
# 4 x International Rectifier Hexfred ultra-fast soft recovery diodes are added.
# 4 x Telefunken Fred-style soft recover diodes are installed in the power supply.
# 1 x Furutech Rhodium-plated IEC inlet connector replaces the cheap one in the stock player.
# 1 x $30 HiFi Tuning German-made pure silver element fuse replaces the stock fuse.
# 1 pair of WBT next gen 0210-Cu gold over copper female RCA jacks replace the cheap stamped jacks on the stock player.
# We install four large EAR brand compliant Sorbothane isolation feet with new mounting hardware.
# 1 sheet of Soundcoat chassis damping material is cut and applied where applicable to control chassis resonances.
# 4 pieces of DH Labs 99.999% pure solid-core long-grained silver output signal wires with foamed Teflon tape wrap dielectric.
# WBT high silver content (4%) solder used throughout.
# 11 hours labor are required to do the entire modification
# 1 year warranty on modification work, 90 days on entire machine

Wow, it'd be interesting to get feedback from someone who's had this done or any type of mod to the 3800.

I have and it's like a 3800bdci on steroids. Bass is tight w/weight and authority, mid to upper mid bass snaps with tempo and the mids have texture & the highs soar. Spacial cues are enhanced with zero sibilance. Silky sweet. No fatigue. All subject to related components. Bull$hit in bull$hit out. Blackgate caps are no longer produced. One of the best caps in the world. Get them while you can. The video section deals with clocks. The unit I saw had a heavy upgrade. The audio used was 5 Avantegarde Solo's with two Rel Sentors handeling bass. A Meridian G68? Processing. A Wolf Cinema DCX-501 projector with a Stewart fixed screen. One of the best theaters I have ever seen or heard.............................Renmeister

See www.underwoodhifi.com/mod_denon.html I herd this system partnered with 5 Avantgarde Solo's, a pair of Rel Stentors, a Wolf Cinema DCX-501 projector with Wolf Cinema processing, and a modified Denon DVD3800bdci. The Audio processing was done with Meridian. All the interconnects were Cardas. As well as assorted power cables....................Renmeister

I'm the guy doing the 2500BTCI, and I can confirm that when I loaded UK 1119 firmware into my US machine a few minutes ago, it played region B BDs and region 2 DVDs that it wouldn't play before. Not only that, those DVDs are PAL, not NTSC.

This was too easy, not to mention too cheap. Great result, and thanks again Andy.

I'm probably going to get a 3800 now, as I think the analogue outputs are so good.

And if anyone is thinking about getting their 3800 modded, I would go to David Schulte at The Upgrade Company. I know someone who's done this and it really delivers.

Nick

Would changing the IEC inlet void your warranty on the 3800 BDCI (I've a 4 year insurance on my 3800 from BB)?

Also, Furutech IEC inlet is not the exact match and in order to fit that IEC inlet requires filing the bracket (I've upgraded my Denon 3808 IEC inlet to a Furutech Gold and 3800BDCI has the exact same IEC inlet opening as the 3808).

Great news that the 2500 firmware mod also works

FOR MULTI REGION BLU RAY USE and DVD's


A USA guy (anon for now) is also trying the 3800 out, So thats another believer to add to the flock .


For mains I use Kimber Weave mains cables, Interconnects are all Kimber Select KS1030, 1130, 1036 or 1136 . Speaker cables are five pairs KS3038, 3033 for the rears, XL for bass in stereo system. 14 BRYSTON amps . Currently Tannoy Speakers , Waiting my new PMC speaker delivery (Sorry just gotta tell someone !!!)


IF YOU are going to change the mains inlet point I would suggest you remove it and hard wire........ONE less connection, loss of ease of use with an IEC but if its always in the same place then hard wire the unit in my opinion.

All the best,

Andy. H.

Wow after checking out this mod company link, I'm thinking this would be money better spent, since I am already enjoying the 3800 as is. Re-watched std dvd "Roxy Music Live At The Apollo" picture looked very good for not being blu-ray and the audio DTS soundtrack also sounded good.

This is a risky BD player. Many people had problems with this player and had to send it back to Denon for repairs or upgrades. Hard wiring this player is outta question for warranty reasons. Unfortunately.

Possible. Call and have them email you with there response. Print it and save it.......................................Renmeister