Denon AVR-4810CI/AVR-4810 w/ 9.3ch, Dolby PLIIz/Audyssey DSX, October 09- - Page 52

I thought might be helpful to publish my configuration. Attached is a .pdf file of all my menu settings. If you want an excel file for your use, send me a pm. I would appreciate any feedback on my settings as I am no expert. I prepared this as I found that if I made a small change in one menu setting, I lost my height and/or wide channels. I am using an Emotiva xpa-3 amp for my front 3 channels. I recently upgraded from a Denon 4308 and added a 2nd subwoofer in addition to the extra 4 speakers (height's and wide's).

 

Dennis 4810 config 2009 12.pdf 19.0673828125k . file

Hi seattle,
As I have said many times before, you were instrumental in my purchase of the 4810.
A decision that I have been very grateful for. This is an Amazing Unit!

I just put one of my recliners in the center of my A/V room. I put on "Eagle Eye"
and switched back and forth several times with the heights engaged/disengaged and
then did the same with the wides.
The differences are audible but subtle. (It is a much more pronounced difference when listening to a CD in Multi Channel Stero. If you and you wife Ever Dance in your room to music, these height and wide speakers make a MUCH Greater difference in the sound and overall music enjoyment).
I, like you, believe the center channel is by far the most important speaker in the system. That is the reason I have my XPA-1 powering it and my XPA-2 for the mains
(I know you have 3 XPA-1's across the front and that is even better!).
With all of this being said, I think you would have a hard time telling the difference
between the Axioms and the B&W's.
But with your absolutely Awesome system, I also think you would rather have all
B&W speakers rather than wonder if it would have sounded better if you would have spent the extra 1000.00. Hey Man, Remember, you did not get the XPR-7 but went with the XPA-1/XPA-5, so you have a few dollars left over from your "budget" that you had originally?
Hope This Helps.
Blessings,
Brian

Well put me down as not being a fan of dynamic volume control. I have had my 4810 for about a month. My previous Integra receiver did have this functionality. The last week or so I have watched several blu ray movies and everything was just a hair "off". Mainly my center channel sounded boxy to me (I have Von Schweikert speakers) and the overall sounded wasn't very dynamic...even it parts of the movie that were quiet. I know my system well having owned these speakers for over 4 years. I went so far as to go look at Paradigm Signature speakers yesterday looking for a fix. Last night I watched Iron Man and during the movie looked through the receiver menu and remembered I had turned the dynamic volume to "auto" a little while ago. I turned it back to "off" and the magic was back. Everything sounded cleaner...even at parts of the movie that aren't high volume. I thought that the dynamic volume control would only keep the louder scenes from getting too crazy with the subwoofer but that doesn't appear to be the case from my observations. It made everything sound flatter and less articulate, even during scenes with normal volume levels. I am dissapointed in myself it took this long to realize the root cause. I understand the purpose of this feature but it is not for me. It will be off from now on.

Frohlich,

Dynamic Volume is very cool, if like me, you have little kids and want to watch a show late at night. If there are no kids and an understanding spouse; blast-o-way. It is much better. Also, if you have a reasonable spouse try adjusting the Dynamic Volume from "Midnight" (The default setting) to either "Evening" or "Day". "Midnight" squishes the bejeezus out of content. I suspect from your comments you had it on "Midnight" and got the signal mangled for sure. Keith has the Harmony codes for these features and I'm about to ask Harmony for his data. You can also quickly see if Dynamic Volume is on by staring at the front Green LED. Green means Volume on and squishing. Red mean Dynamic EQ only. I'm thinking you're all about the red.

Glock and others. You are all correct about my leanings' would like to save a few bucks but want everything to match. I probably want to cap off the heights with the final B&W's but will look for a used pair for near half the price. I picked up a sweet used B&W ASW2500 and will remain patient. In the mean time, after I wire for the heights in the next two weeks, I'll just borrow my speakers from work and finally get the Heights fired up.

hi all,
I am all lost as far as the configuring the video switching function of the 4810. I thot it is suppose to be a video switcher for 2 zones? here is my setup (and dilemma!)...

- Video Inputs
On hdmi (Bluray and PCH c200)
On component with digital audio (Bluray, PCH c200 and nintendo WII)
On composite (Sat TV)

- Video output (zone 1)
Plasma TV on hdmi 1 and Projector on hdmi 2
LCD TV on component zone 1

- Video output (zone 2)
LCD TV on component zone 2
LCD TV on composite zone 2

How do I route my inputs to the TVs? Been trying to do this via web control as nothing comes out on the TVs! Please help and I am pulling my hair!!

tq!

SeattleHTguy, I do have kids....they just sleep like bricks :-) My HT room is in the family room which is an addition off the back of the house. Makes it nice because not that much volume travels upstairs. I like my movies fairly loud but like I said the kids seem to sleep right through it. I only turned the dynamic volume on because I was playing in the menu system trying to see what all the options were and forgot to turn it back off but as I said, it seemed to box my speakers in sound wise even on low level material. I thought it would only really engage on parts of the movie where the volume got beyond a certain level.

Why don't you try Dynamic Volume again, as I said, try the less smushed setting of "Evening" or "Day". You can get to this screen by going to Audio Setup. When Dynamic Volume is set to on, you get three additional levels. "Midnight" (The Default), "Evening" and "Day".

Play with these settings and then, if you still can't stand any of them, then just put this option out of your head for good and you'll be happy. I suspect though, you don't like it at all because "Midnight" really smooths everything out, hihgs, lows, louds, soft, and is pervasive on everything.

I'm still learning, but from your initial comment, I'm pretty sure you had it set to midnight all this time and every comment you made would be 100% accurate. Let us all know what you think of the less invasive settings should you try it again.

Cool too that you have kids who sleep well; mine....... not so much...

Has anyone had any luck playing back lossless FLAC files on the 4810?

With me, its seems to be a bit hit-or-miss... As best as I can tell, files encoded with version 1.2.0 of the FLAC codec play beautifully but files from version 1.2.1 won't play at all!! $@%*!! :-(

Is Denon using an old codec or it is something else entirely that I am missing?


Edit: Ran some more tests and the problem only seems to occur with 24bit files encoded with FLAC 1.2.1

HI,has anyone noticed an improvent of picture quality by running directv dvr to receiver and use their receivers abt conversion? Does it upconvert to 1080p?
Thanks.

I have upconverted from 1080i from my Tivo 3 to 1080p via the Denon's video set. I can tell the difference. It's not mindblowing but improved. I would have liked to have the Tivo stay in whatever resolution it's signal was receiving but that caused me to lose the GUI when I switched channels or went to the DVR funtions of the Tivo. This is a known issue with Denon's and Tivo's.

I don't know the direct satellite system but if possible, you'd be best served by letting the Denon do all the upconversion. It seems to me to be very good at this... Others have stated or implied the same.

Looks like you've figured out the narrower issue, but to answer your initial question, I've played FLAC files without issue. I don't know what version was involved though. I tend to hear very little difference with FLAC versus decent MP3s, so I always assume I'm doing something wrong anyway!

I've emailed Denon and sent them some samples made with both codecs... we'll see.



houseofg, if you're listening to regular 44.1/16 files, there won't be much/any difference there, I suppose. But once you get into the higher resolutions, it gets pretty interesting.

Some bands like "Nine Inch Nails" often release their music online in a variety of formats such as 96/24 FLAC. (Get their latest album for free here: http://nin.com )

I've also did a quick A/B compare with the new 44.1/24 Beatles USB remasters that came out last week and there IS a difference!

Thanks for the heads up on the free NIN album! You downloaded the 96/24 FLAC and not the much larger 96/24 wav, right? The b*ttorrent for the latter is way slow. (I can't believe it asterisked out that word when I fully spelled it!)

So, you're saying most MP3s to date are 44.1/16 (which I guess are entirely different parameters than the 128, 192, 320, etc. bitrate numbers that you usually see..?). Does that mean that my recent tweaking of my Macbook Pro to output to the toslink at 96 instead of 44.1 has no real effect except with these slowly improving formats?

What happened when you switched it out? I have a 4810 and the black Comcast box (3425) and have the same problem. Comcast is clueless and Denon tells me Comcast needs to update the "flag repeater." Comcast says they can't update anything until next firmware comes out and then everyone gets it at the same time. I guess I will run seperate HDMI from STB to TV and optical (for audio) from STB to reciever. It kind of defeats the idea of all sources via hdmi to AVR and then a single HDMI to TV.

I really wish this HDCP error thing would go away!

Has anyone fixed this problem and if so how?

FYI to the Harmony owners - looks like Logitech is finally supporting the 4810, at least per their website compatibility search.

EDIT: Confirmed in the Logitech software, though I'm not sure how to (at least efficiently) switch out the devices and don't know what the effect will be on my batpig/Keith codes...

EDIT, part deux: Wow...seriously weak selection of commands. Not a good effort on their part, despite even being spoon fed the good stuff!

I have a fair-sized iTunes database (over 200GB with more than 15,000 tracks). Does anyone know if this receiver can access iTunes via ethernet on my Netgear ReadyNAS with streaming set up on it? If so, does it permit scrolling through the music by IDTag information like composer, conductor, orchestra, artist, or genre?

(I was also looking at the higher end Onkyo, but an Onkyo rep told me that it does not work with Macs.)

Thank you for any information you can provide.

I don't think it will integrate seamlessly with iTunes, certainly not without some monkeying around with 3rd-party software. Do you already have an iphone or ipod touch? If so, I much smarter bet is getting an Airport Express (or Apple TV if you want the extra functionality) and using that as your streaming portal, controlled via the "remote" app. It is really slick and a much more pleasurable interface as it is seamless integration within the apple "universe".

batpig,

I have an older Airport Express and use that now for iTunes in my living room – and you’re right that using my iPod touch is a slick way to control everything. My concern was about multiple DA and AD conversions from my server to the AE to the final audio processor.

Reading your thoughtful response made me remember that the AE output is TOSlink so my current preamp-processor does the DA conversion, not the AE. This, of course (duh!), would not change if I replace my 10+ year-old Proceed with a new receiver.

Thank you for helping to clear out some brain cobwebs.

(Now, if I could just get the Denon 4810 for the price of the Onkyo 5007…)

Regards,
musical

Hi musical - I've been following this recent discussion closely because I have a 4810 and MBP with a significant (though more like only 80 gigs) library as well.

I'm not sure what was meant when someone told you that the 5007 doesn't work with Macs. I mean, it's all about networking, and I believe both receivers are UPnP/DLNA compatible. Anyway, I've had no problems with the 4810 recognizing my MBP on the network via third party UPnP software, like some of these.

But I'm not digging the much slower menu access to songs than if using itunes directly. Interestingly, some of these UpnP apps will allow searching via alphabet while other do not. And the search criteria vary as well. I guess the Denon doesn't dictate the menu system, which is interesting (and probably for the best).

So, nothing has blown me away yet on that front. I've thus far been going toslink to the 4810 and just using my mac (or iphone) as the interface. I'd love a wireless solution (even with a richer interface on the macbook instead of a denon/monitor menu - which I fear will always be limited), but it isn't a huge deal since I typically keep them near each other.

I have a D-Link router, not an Airport Express, but I'll have to look into the potential Apple TV solution, especially if it's a step toward my ultimate (probably Mac Mini) media server solution.

From what I read, MP3 cannot go any higher than 48/16... the bitrate itself (128, 192, 320 kbps) refers indirectly to the compression level of the file but it still remains a 44.1kHz/16bit file (in the case of a track from a CD)

The thing you have to keep in mind is that when/if your macbook does the upconversion from 44.1 to 96kHz, the 4810 is not the one doing it. So you then have to decide which one does a better job in this situation, the mac or the 4810?

Just wanted to thank everyone who has been contributing to this thread...our 4810ci was delivered today. It's going to be difficult waiting until Christmas day to open...but so be it.

I've been spending a lot of time considering various options, some much more expensive. In the end the Denon seemed like the best solution for our needs at this time. I was a little nervous about buying without seeing / hearing, so the input from everyone here was an important factor in the decision.

One question - based on a quick scan of the manual, it appears this AVR's primary focus is audio. I didn't see a lot of video stuff, like test patterns etc. Is this a fair observation or is there more to the video side that I'm just not seeing in the manual. Not sure I really care too much about video processing, but was just wondering.

Next up will be figuring out what do to for surrounds and center speaker...

Dave

The receiver has excellent video processing capabilities, but exactly what do you expect to be in the manual about it? There are some tweaks you can do, and you can enable or disable it, but that's really about all receivers provide.

I was also considering an Anthem D2V and just assumed that all these products (pre/pros and AVRs) had similar features. Probably a bad assumption given the different price points. It's no big deal as I was not planning to use the video processing anyway...just wondering if there was more there than what's in the manual.

I'd use the video processing. It may be bell and whistle-less but there isn't , much out there that does better. Recommendation is to have the unit up-convert everything to 1080p; that is if you have a 1080p Projector/TV.

The video twaeks are minor but the video chip is powerful.

You should check out some of the UPnP controller apps. On Windows I use Cidero Media Controller (a mac version exists, but I haven't tried it). This allows me to navigate my media library in a sane, quick way, and queue up the tracks to be sent to my Denon (4310, but same idea). It definitely beats using the denon interface. It does have the disadvantage that you have to be in front of your computer to do it... however, I believe similar apps exist for the iPhone, among other things.

I currently own the Marantz SR-8002 but am looking to upgrade to the 4810. Has anyone gone from Marantz to Denon?? I quite like all the feature the Denon has but really enjoy the sound of my Marantz.
I am about 75% home theater and 25% music.
I have a SVS 7.1 speaker set-up, SCS-01's for my mains and center and SBS-01's for surrounds.
Will I be losing anything by making the switch. My Marantz is great for music but as you can see movies are my main focus.
Any thoughts or opinions are greatly appreciated.

OK folks helping out a friend to set up a complete system. I want bore you too much with the details but suffice it to say I started out with the Yamaha RX-Z11in mind. Did some further research, found out about the video card not being that good and the recent price drop (Half off price from $4999 to roughly around $2500) kind of made me re-think the selection as I want to be able to get him the best option for his $. No one can argue that the Z11 is an awesome piece of equipment, and I love Yamaha as I have owned many of their products, but they missed the target with this one, my opinion of course.

Then, oh man, look at the Onkyo TX-NR5007, it has it all, but it also has a ton of bugs and we all know about their customer service. Sorry cant do it.

Nothing in the Pioneer line excites me for the same price range.

The 4810-CI seems to be THE TICKET I can recommend with confidence. I have tried for the last several days to download the manual from their site and it will only load about the first six pages. Has anyone gat an actual accurate link? Also could those of you using the unit currently comment on the musical fidelity of the internet radio, Rhapsody, for me.

If all goes to plan we will most likely be putting this together with a set of Ascend Acoustics 340 SE's CBM-170's and the DIY Elemental Designs A7S-650 sub, anybody running something similar that they would care to comment on?

This receiver seems to just be the sweet spot for EVERYTHING available at the moment in this price range without stepping up in price BIG TIME. All the other ones with the exception of the RX-Z7 has some funky issues it would appear, and the Z-7 only has 7 channels. They want to do a 5.1 in their family room and still have 4 other speakers for music outside so....................... this seems to be THE ONE!!!!

Hi,

Does some on you are using the 4810 as preamplifier only, with separate amplifiers ?

S.

Interesting. My answer would have to be the 4810, but I didn't think choosing 96 meant that the MBP would upconvert. I was more concerned that anything below 96 would be...down-converted...? Or somehow throttled? I also didn't realize that the 4810 might do some upconverting of what it receives via toslink, but I suppose the internal DAC could do just that. I guess I'll just have to do some A/B comparisons to see if I can tell any difference.

Thanks, ascl. I'll definitely check out Cidero. If it's a UPnP solution that allows control on the computer/server side, I'm all for it. Being in front of my receiver usually means being in front of my computer, so I'm not too concerned about that part. Plus, if I can then further control via iphone in another room or out back...perfect solution!