The "Official" Denon AVR-4311CI/AVR-A100 thread [NO PRICE TALK] - Page 558

Thanks! And thanks to you Chris as well! I think the "enter" button is mapped incorrectly as well because the "ok" button on my Harmony does nothing. It should correspond with the Denon's "enter" button you would think.

Whenever I add a device to my Harmony profile I always go check the button assignments for "device mode" and clean them up. They usually dump a gazillion commands into the "soft button" area so there's like 10 pages of command on the LCD screen, and often the default hard button assignments are goofy too.

So my first step is to go through, clean it up, and get it to the point where I have a nice facsimile of the OEM remote with only 2-3 pages of LCD commands for 'extras'.

^^^

yea, that's a good suggestion for people to follow... clean out all those pages of soft buttons you'll never use... arrange the ones you keep in a logical manner....

a little bit of time up front makes your remote a lot more user friendly...

Looks like I will have a replacement here tomorrow.

new phils and a 4311... somebody is gonna be happy...

projector

I am awaiting the arrival of my 4311-I have been looking throught the manual, that I downloaded, and have the following question: can some of the preamp outs be used, with an external amp for the LCR, while using internal amps for the side and back surrounds? I have extremely large, low efficiency, 4ohm speakers across the front. As I read the manual, preamp function is either on, or off, and all internal amps are either on or off-is that correct? I am coming from a Denon 990, which allows for some extermal, and some internal amplification, at the same time, if one chooses. Am I out of luck? All informational input will be appreciated.

Whether or not you are using the pre outs, your 990 does not shut down any of the internal amps. In that regard, the 4311CI can function the same way as your 990.

AJ

I read in the advanced section of the 4311 manual, that if you select the preamp setting-all internal amplifiers are shut off-does that mean if I select normal-that the internal amps are operationg along with the preamp outputs?

^^
Correct, you can then mix preamp and speaker post connections at will just as with the 990.

Thank you very much, JD-I have to say the 4311 manual is about 300% better than the 990 book, but still has some, shall I say "vague" entries?

yes...

although in pre-amp mode, they are still idling along...

You mean the internal amps don't really turn off in pre-amp mode?

Another question: Is there any option for Airplay audio in Zone2?

^^
Correct and Airplay will play to Zone 2 as long as it's also selected in the main zone (although this limitation has been removed in the XX13 models and presumably in the 4520CI as well).

OK, so just select Airplay in Main Zone, turn on Zone 2, and I'll have the option for Airplay as one of the Z2 sources?

I know better than try to interpret the Denon manuals on some of this stuff, user experience can be key here

I'm strongly considering the 4311CI, but it would only be for stereo + Zone 2 use.

^^
Again, correct. The on board audio services to include Airplay, Pandora, Rhapsody, and internet radio stations can be passed to Zone 2 (with Airplay being only exception that cannot play independently to Zone 2).

Thank you jdsmoothie.

^^
The XT32 upgrade on your AVP got you wanting the same in an AVR huh?

^^^

well, if he wants to trade his avp for an a100, the line starts with me...

AVP is in a dedicated room. I "kind of" need a new AVR in the living room. Current one does not support HDMI switching, but the workaround is not too painful. That room would definitely benefit from XT32. It's just a bit hard to justify (especially to the wife) a 4311CI as a "secondary" receiver. Airplay integration is a definite bonus.

All the other cool kids are getting 4311CI's as secondary receivers to go with their AVP's (well, at least I did...).

I am thinking I might want a dedicated separate stereo pre-amp in addition to using this for my HT surround needs.

Does this receiver have a pass-through mode that will allow a signal from a stereo device to passed directly through to a dedicated stereo preamp and then out the speakers?

Or do I have it back to front, do I need to put the stereo reciever in teh chain first?

That might be hard, though. I have an Oppo BDP-95, I was wanting to use it for both HT surround and my dedicated stereo setup. If I need to connect it directly to the receiver, how can it know whether I am wanting it to play stereo music or surround for movies?



Am I making any sense at all? Am I jsut being dumb, and there's a little switch on it somewhere that I manually set?

^^^

i think you should not bother, as any conceivable "improvement" by doing what you want to do (and i don't think i want to go down that rabbit hole) will be dwarfed by the ability to use room correction...

just hook up your disk spinner hdmi to the 4311 and call it a day... use audyssey for everything, it's pointless not to...

Trust me, you don't need a dedicated stereo pre-amp. I have the BDP-95, and use it with my AVP-A1HDCI.

You could run HDMI as one input, for your movies, etc. Then run the dedicated L/R inputs into the CD input of the 4311CI and use Pure Direct as your sound mode.

Ha! Depending on the day of the week, I'm either trying to talk myself into one, or out of one.

After running Audyssey the 4311 set my L/C/R to "large" "full band". I changed them to "small" and have been undecided on a 60Hz or 80Hz XO setting. The mains are rated -3dB 48Hz anechoric and the center is -3dB 41Hz anechoric. Any reason not to use the 60Hz XO?

^^
Whichever you prefer really .....

First off, I agree with the other responses that it's probably not worth considering this, but...

The whole point of getting a dedicated stereo preamp would be to take the "weak" link in the chain (which would presumably be the 4311CI) out of the loop. So how it would be wired up is:

1) Connect the front left/right preamp outputs on the 4311CI to the bypass input on the 2 channel preamp. Preamps that are designed for this purpose will either have a dedicated bypass input or a switch to put the preamp into bypass mode. Bypass basically disables the volume control and other settings on the preamp turning it into a passthrough device.

2) Connect the left/right outputs on the 2 channel preamp to external amplification and then connect your front left/right speakers to the outputs on the external amp(s).

3) Connect the rest of your speakers to the appropriate speaker outputs on the 4311CI (or use the preamp outputs for those speakers on the 4311CI to additional external amplification).

4) Connect your best analog sources (phono preamp outputs, the dedicated 2 channel outputs on an Oppo BDP-95, etc.) to inputs on the 2 channel preamp.

When you want to listen to sources on the the 4311CI, you set the 2 channel preamp to the bypass input and pretend it isn't there. So volume control, input source selection, etc. would all happen on the 4311CI.

When you want the "best" sound (we'll ignore the benefits of Audyssey for this discussion ) for your 2 channel audio, you would select the appropriate input on the 2 channel preamp and the 4311CI can be turned off.

Unless you have really high end speakers, excellent amplification, and a room with excellent acoustics, it really isn't worth even thinking about this as the money you would need to spend to get a 2 channel preamp that's enough better than the 4311CI would be better spent on room treatments, better speakers, more music / movies, etc.

the only important reason not to use 60Hz would be because a different setting provides for a flatter overall response at the crossover. But you could only really determine that with measuring gear.

so, in other words, just use your ears. It will probably be very difficult to assess with multich content, so maybe put on some good stereo 2ch music with good bass and play with xover freq's until you find the one that gives the smoothest, most pleasing bass response.

just out of curiosity... and not because i'm ready to convince myself that i really need an avp... sadly, my a/v cash bucket is empty...

but you never know when a killer deal might pop up on one... so...

if someone took away your avp tomorrow, would you be content using the 4311 in place of it, or would you seek out another avp?

i agree with batpig, the best way to tell would be to measure, the second best would be to listen...

i tend to err towards 80hz, personally... for a few reasons:

- higher crossover is kinder to the avr's power supply...

- even though the speakers are "rated" that low, it is likely that the subwoofer will produce those frequencies with more authority... that's it's only purpose in life...

- the scenario that we've been beating around in the audyssey pro thread for the last several days... the most "damaging" room modes tend to occur below 80hz in most home environments, and these are more easily dealt with by positioning of the subwoofer/eq of the subwoofer/tweaking of the subwoofer...

edit: i know it's tempting for people to cross as low as possible, because they want to "get the most out of their speakers"...

instead, look at it as "getting more out of your subwoofer, and the most out of your system"...