The **Official** Denon 3311CI/ 991 Owner's Thread NO PRICE TALK - Page 260

Sorry.....what/who is MHT?

^^^

magnolia home theater...

Great thanx for that info, jdsmoothie! I'm in a similar situation to Chixdiggit: I just ordered a 3311 from electronics-expo ("new" in open box for just under $750 total shipped), which will be my first AVR. I currently have a 20-year-old HK stereo receiver with A/B/A+B speaker connections in my L-shaped living/dining room. I want to go 5.1 in the living room and retain 2.0 in the dining room so that we can enjoy music or TV audio in both spaces (in other words, I have no need for separate sources).

If I understand your advice correctly, by setting AMP ASSIGN for zone 2 to "Front B" I will get the same output on my (quasi-)zone 2 stereo speakers that I get on my zone 1 front L/R speakers without the need for duplicate digital/analog source connections and I will not need to separately select inputs for each zone. Is that correct or have I misinterpreted your advice?

And BTW, a big shout-out to you guys (especially batpig and you, jdsmoothie) for all the great input you have provided on this thread. It has proven immensely helpful to me in navigating the shark-infested waters of today's AVR market. Mille grazie!

Do you have RCA audio out on the device you will be using as the source (ie cable box, cd player)? If so, just run an RCA audio cable to the same input as the HDMI. This will give you the results you are looking for as well without having to listen at the same levels.

Oh wait, maybe I am misunderstanding. You don't want to have 2 zones or do you?

I want to emulate my current A/B/A+B stereo speaker arrangement in 5.1/2.0; it's one medium-size L-shaped room, so dual-sourced audio would be rather irritating (and, for us, entirely unneccesary). We just want to be able to hear the same music or TV audio on the dining room stereo speakers that is playing in the living room without having to select or change the source each time for each zone. We primarily listen to classical/jazz music via FM radio, Pandora, CD's and LP's; plus DVD and TV audio.

Here's my current equipment set-up:

Sony KDL-46XBR5 HDTV
TiVo HD DVR w/COMCAST multistream CableCard and wireless adapter
Sony BDP-S570 BRP w/wireless connectivity
Sony SCD-CE595 SACD Changer (analog/digital output)
Samsung DVD-VR330 VCR/DVD Recorder (analog/digital output)
Sansui P-L95R Automatic Turntable (analog output only)
Harman Kardon HK3500 Stereo Receiver (to be replaced by Denon AVR-3311ci)
(2) Technics SB-5000 floorstanding speakers (to be replaced by Polk Audio RM705 5.1 home theater system)
(2) Kenwood KL333D bookshelf speakers (in dining room)

I was intending to go for the AVR-1911 and make do with a separate phono pre-amp for my turntable, but the very attractive price at electronics-expo lured me up to the 3311. It's more feature-rich and has more power than I feel I need at this time, but the plethora of legacy inputs is quite attractive to me. I visited an MHT showroom on Sunday to check it out first-hand and was impressed with the look and sound of the 3311; however, MHT was unwilling to budge appreciably from their 1K asking price so I purchased on-line instead.

Any further suggestions or great thoughts regarding my set-up would be appreciated by this AVR neophyte.

Thanks and yes, you are correct .. go the Front "B" route as long as the same volume on both sets of speakers works for you (although you could likely apply a volume switch to the dining room speakers if they are too loud.

Excellent! Thank you so much for the clarification. I had gotten conflicting answers from different retailer CSR's and was still more confused when I tried to suss it out in the on-line user's manual. Ancora mille grazie!

Like Best Buy's Magnolia? If so, do you guys just look on the BB website? Or this another company/website? I don't even see the 3311 listed on BB.com anymore. Help? Thanks.

It's on clearance in store, you'll have to call around.

See also my post #7775 above regarding 3311's at MHT. Best Buy B&M stores often have different sale pricing from BestBuy.com's website based on local factors such as inventory and competitive pricing (I live in Atlanta, GA). They obviously were not motivated in my location to offer any meaningful discounts.

On the other hand, I purchased a Mitsubishi WD-73738 DLP HDTV at MHT in May for $1199.98 (plus tax but with free delivery) while the website listed the same set for $2100. The sale price was not advertised AFAIK; I just talked to the CSR at the store and asked for his best price.

Good luck and happy shopping!

Yes. Magnolia is a department in some Best Buy stores. You can find them listed on Best Buy's website and if the store has a Magnolia it will say "Magnolia" under the Services section of the store. Magnolia generally will carry the mid/upper level models while all Best Buy stores generally carry the 3 digit models and lower 4 digit models. The website generally will not list items that are on clearance, rather you must call the stores in your area and find out if they have any inventory left and the clearance price for that store which can vary by several hundred $$$ in some cases even with stores in the same city. So best to call all stores as far out as you're willing to drive.

Thanks for the help. I do have 2CH speakers but was hoping to split the audio.
I'm also reading that I can't send HDMI video to Zone 2? I'm confused what the second HDMI out is for then? Is this only to mirror what is on the first HDMI out? The manual is unclear and I don't have a long enough cord (one on order) to try it out.

^^
This is correct .... only "analog" and PCM 2.0 over optical/coax can go to Zone 2. The 2nd HDMI Monitor Out is to connect to a 2nd TV to pass the HDMI source selected in the main zone only. You can choose either HDMI Monitor #1 Out or #2 Out but cannot pass video through both simultaneously. The most common use for these dual HDMI outs is when an HDTV and projector are located in the same room.

Thanks for the help JD. Pretty disappointing news though. I can still make use of it, just not how I was hoping. Is there a receiver that will distribute HDMI audio and video to multiple zones?

The only AVRs currently on the market today AFAIK that can distribute HDMI audio to Zone 2 are the Yamaha Adventage A1000, A2000, and A3000.

to add to your statement
The stores often differ in clearance pricing on a couple of fronts
For example there are three stores within 80 miles of me...but they fall into 2 different sales zones
I have found their pricing to be different..on clearance items and even slightly on regular priced items
Or sometimes one item is clearance in one zone and not in the other

Or..to throw another monkey wrench in...the specific store manager can offer "discretionary" discounts to sell items. This does seem to happen more in the regular store and not in Magnolia though

Case in point my closest store marked their remaining Pioneer SC25's to $449 after Thanksgiving 2010. The other stores were $300 more

And..if a particular store has already sold out of the clearance item and say one gets returned to that store...don't be surprised if the item is marked up again, to the pricing level, to where that store sold the its last remaining unit

I have fought this one though by having them look up what other MHT have sold the item for
Corporately...they do their price changes on Sundays( including clearance changes etc). At the store level the Mgr can take action anytime though


Warren

Interesting...
I have an A3000 and didn't know it could do that

Not sure I would ever use it...but good to know none the less


Warren

FYI - the Yamaha's don't have "true" Zone 2 output for HDMI audio, rather they have a "party mode" in which the same audio is broadcast to all speakers (including other zones). So you couldn't watch a movie in Main Zone while streaming an HDMI audio source to Zone 2... that would require two separate HDMI decoders operating simultaneously, which no receiver has.

I just got my unit back from a complete HDMI board failure, too. Good thing it was under warranty, as the part itself was about 500. Works like a charm now. Thank goodness for the 3- yr warranty as i definately would have dumped it if I had to pay for that myself. I'll have to check whether the FW was updated, too, I forgot to ask them to do that at the time.

What was the turn around time?

The repair seems to be fairly common these days...among just about all brands.
Though I have to say I have heard any Pioneer related stories

I have had two different brand receivers, neither of them Denon, have the same issue
Both under warranty

I would say, from my understanding,if the Denon part was $500 it is a less expensive part than other brands are charging

But in any case...I agree with you..a repair like this "bricks" a unit for sure


Warren

You should also consider calling the web sellers with links on Denon's site.
I just got my 991 for about half of the msrp. You HAVE to call and try haggling a bit to get the lowest price.

Well, I live about 1/2 hour from a repair center so I dropped it off and picked it up myself. Total time was under a week.

The 500 was parts only, NOT including labor, so it prolly would've been about 700. That's what I paid for the unit so I may have decided to jump ship if I had to pay for it.

Hi to everyone,
I just purchased a 3311 Recevier and hooked it up.
I did not set up the speakers yet as I am still waiting for a rear speaker that was returned. I am running with 5.1 with CM9 BW's so I can't wait wait to listen to F1 this weekend!

I wanted to hook up my wireless headphones to the receiver.

They come with a red/white (rca) cable but I did not understand the explanations here s I can hook them up.

Here is my setup; I have one TV and one Epson projector but I ONLY NEED TO BE ABLE TO PLAY THE SOUND OF THE TV THRUOGH THE HEADPHONES, NOT THE PROJECTOR.

TV----------HDMI-----Denon
Projector----HDMI-----Denon

1) I wanted to know where to hook up the white/red RCA cables at the back of the Denon
2) I think I have to buy another cable to plug from the output of the tv to the input of the Denon as the HDMI gives priority to the sound, is that it?

3) Which inputs should I select to listen TV with headphones once it is hooked up

Thanks to all,
Fred

That total is about the going rate for an HDMI board replacement
The shop that fixed mine, under warranty, told me if I had had to pay for the repair it would have been more than I paid for the unit itself

In fact..I would say your part price was a little below the average for one of these( inclusive of other brands)

Trust me there are a lot of "bricked" Onkyo receivers from 2007-2008 models for this very reason


Warren

If you don't have a cable/sat box connected to the 3311, then just connect the headphones to the TV analog outputs. If you do have a cable/sat box, then in addition to the HDMI cable from the box to the 3311, also connect an analog cable to the same labeled analog inputs on the 3311 as you have the HDMI cable assigned to (eg. SAT/CBL). Then connect the headphones to the DVR analog OUT jacks. When you select the SAT/CBL source you'll get audio from both speakers and headphones.

I'm pretty sure you may be able to get stereo sound out of your tv. I plan on hooking up a set of PX5's through the optical so I can use the headphones on any input the 3311 is on.

^^
If you mean connecting the headphones to the 3311 OPT2 Out, there is no difference using the optical output in this respect ... just as you must have analog cable connections from sources you want to listen to via the analog output ... so to must you have optical input(s) to OPT2 IN (only) in order to listen via the OPT2 Out.

I assume that if there is audio passed via hdmi from the avr to the tv, that if I plug the optical cable out of the tv into the headphone base station i would be good to go.....again, remember what happened last time I assumed......