The "Official" Denon AVR-4311CI/AVR-A100 thread [NO PRICE TALK] - Page 560

I dont like long HDMI runs through the walls that can be a pain in the ass if something goes wrong. You have to pull it out completely and replace.

Hey guys, I'm looking at picking up a used 4311. Two questions:

1) Assuming there's still some time left on the manufacturer's warranty, will it transfer to me as the new owner? The current owner has the original receipt from the store where he bought the unit.

2) I'd like to start with a "fresh" unit, so I'm thinking I want to do a firmware download and whatever "resets" you'd recommend. Can anyone suggest a course of action and sequence, i.e. step 1: plug in ethernet cable and download latest firmware, step 2: do a hard reset, step 3: do a network reset, etc? I'd like to do all that before I place the receiver in my media unit and make all the connections.

Thanks!

^^
1. Although the 4311CI has a 3 year warranty and has only been out for about 1.5 years, generally the warranty will not transfer if his name is on the receipt (if not, you're likely good to go).

2. Step 1: If there is firmware to update, then update the unit. Step 2: Microprocessor reset (p. 138). Step 3: AUTO SETUP (Audyssey)

^^^

iirc, technically the warrantee isn't transferable, but if you have a copy of the original receipt, is unlikely to be too much of an issue...

first thing i'd do is a hard reset... then if firmware is available, update that...

edit: jd beat me to it, as usual... although i'd still do the reset before the firmware update, he is the "authority"...

Thanks for the quick reply! For the warranty, I suppose if I needed service I could ask the guy to bring the unit into the dealer for me (I'm buying it from a local guy).

Forgot to ask about Airplay -- does that upgrade come as part of the firmware download? Or do I need to go on a website and "sign up" for the Airplay upgrade separately?

^^
Oh yeh ... sure, if you can get him to bring it in for you. Keep in mind though, that if he purchased it with a credit card, his card provider may add an additional year making it 4 years (Amex will do this for sure).

Also, you must register for the Airplay upgrade before you can download it.

http://usa.denon.com/us/Airplayus/index.html

You could probably get away with having the original owner provide a copy of the sales invoice.

If nothing has changed since I did the Airplay upgrade, you will need to go to the Denon web site and register for it, which will make it available in the feature updates.

Man JD, it's hard to beat you to the info

Just to confirm -- performing the processor reset AFTER doing the firmware and Airplay upgrades will NOT wipe out either, correct? But the processor reset DOES wipe out any old settings (amp assignments, Audyssey settings, input renaming, etc)?

correct, resets do not revert firmware, they just wipe out settings.

Hi guys.

I'm planning to change my X-Fi Platinum soundcard, with an X-Fi Titanium HD.

I'm confused... via optical, will both soundcard sound equal in my A100?

Would I get an improve in stereo sound quality if I connect the Titanium HD via RCA compared with te optical connection?

Thank you!

Here's my plan -- any issues or suggestions? Should I do a network card reset somewhere in there?

1. Plug 4311 into TV via HDMI
2. Perform microprocessor reset
3. Download latest firmware (http://shop.denon.com/AVR4311A100_up...ons.pdf#page=1 )
4. Obtain serial number, MAC address, and upgrade ID (http://shop.denon.com/AVR4311A100_up...ons.pdf#page=1 )
5. Register for Airplay and then download the upgrade (http://shop.denon.com/Airplay-Upgrade-W4.aspx )
6. Perform microprocessor reset
7. Proceed to Audyssey setup

^^
Doesn't matter, although you could certainly just do the network reset as it also incorporates the micro reset as well.

No inline amps or active. Just the cables and couplings. Could still be anything in the chain though. Just because my 4311 and Oppo are fine doesn't mean yours are. I could have been lucky and got units that were high in the tolerance side while you unfortunately, got ones that were on the low side.


Well, I'd rather have the wires running hidden in my walls, ceilings and floors rather than a ginormous bundle (4 HDMI, 4 Cat6, 1 Composite RCA, 1 Opt, 4 Mono RCAs, and 1 RG6) running across my room. Trick is to test all the cables before running them and to use 2" conduit. I even left a few pull cables in there in case I need to pull something else from my closet to my display.

I hear ya on running thru the walls, its a little more expensive but the best way to go is to run the cat5 and make that into an hdmi with extenders. Cheap ones you need two cat 5's the more pricey ones you only need one cat5! its a beautiful thing. If you have issue you dont have to pull it all out like you do with a hdmi cable thats a pain in the ass especially with long cable runs.

Please don't laugh, as I need an honest answer! Assuming I buy the 4311 tonight, I'm going to be short one HDMI cable to connect my components. Since I need (want?) one tonight that rules out Monoprice or some other mail order. I'm guessing Best Buy is overpriced, so what do you all think about buying an HDMI cable from Lowes or Home Depot? Any other big-box options you'd recommend? Just looking for a basic six-footer to connect the 4311 to my Samsung LED LCD...

Your best bet is Walmart.

The sound cards should sound identical via optical.

If you use an RCA analog connection to the AVR, the DAC in your sound card will be doing the conversion. Is it better than the 4311's DAC? I don't know. But you cannot use the Audyssey room correction system with analog sources. So you lose the benefits of MutilEQ XT32 if you use RCA analog.

Yeh .. Walmart will be fine as Sam suggests. My 6' no-name cables only cost 75cents each and they work fine.

$.75? From WalMart? Cheapest I saw on their website was around $15 -- am I missing something? lol

^^
Sorry. Didn't get them from Walmart ... rather via internet. Point is the quality from Walmart or Radio Shack for a 6' High Speed cable should be fine.

FML. Seller backed out last minute cuz his WIFE didn't want to sell!

That sucks. How good was the price?

Bill

IIRC, a Class AB amplifier has a quiescent current through the transistor collectors of about 20 mA to minimize crossover distortion. Even if this is 100 mA, multiplied by 10 channels, it's only drawing 1 amp at maybe 40 Vcc when disconnected (assuming its inputs are actually disconnected by relays...not how I would do it). So less than 50 watts, worst case assumptions. Big whoop.

Besides, I own a lot of stock in energy companies and want them to sell as much product as possible.

just grab some "rohs certified" and if not go for AQ

If you have your Denon set up for A-DSX, by all means get a copy of "The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Concerts" on blu ray. The effects with A-DSX turned on are outstanding, especially with 11.x.

Music ain't half bad, either (Think U2 and Jagger on stage together; the Simon and Garfunkel mini-concert is worth the price of the discs alone.)

Yea, running thick HDMI cables through walls and conduit are not the most fun things to do. When I was looking into my wiring all I could find were active Cat5 HDMI extenders that required DC power on each end. That would have required additional wiring for power. I see passive units are much more readily available now though.

^^ I could be wrong, but I believe asynchronous HDMI over ethernet requires cat6. To be safe though I ran 4 cat6 lines into my theater.

I believe the minimum is Cat5E, but Cat 6 STP is recommended.

^^ Thanks for the clarification.

The minimum cable requirements really depend on the HDMI extender that's being used, but CAT6 should be a safe bet no matter which one you use.

If anyone is looking for recommendations on a specific extender, I can highly recommend the Transformative Engineering HD-1 (MSRP is $600) - I've been using 2 of these for 9 months or so without any issues at all. My CAT6 cables are terminated at wall plates and then CAT6 jumper cables are used from the wall to the HD-1 transmitter and receiver. Before purchasing, I had a few questions that were answered quickly by the president of the company and the company happens to be based about 45 minutes away from me. The parent company in the same building is also a high end audio dealer, a custom installer, and the authorized Denon repair center that did the recent hardware upgrade to my Denon AVP-A1HDCI. They're developing their HDMI products to fix problems they've run into during installs and based on my experience so far, they're doing a great job. At this time, I probably wouldn't consider anything that doesn't use HDBaseT - I had tried a different extender from Laird a while back and had really bad luck with it. They're also working on a matrix switch that works in conjunction with their extenders, but last I heard it was going to be pretty pricey.