The "Official" Denon AVR-4311CI/AVR-A100 thread [NO PRICE TALK] - Page 647

Chuck,

Does the 2809 have a channel level setting button on the remote? Or you could go into the menu to change the level of the sub as needed. That is the better way to do it then changing the subs gain level. As Chris mentioned if you change the gain at the sub you will alter the Audyssey LFE setting. That is unless you get real lucky and set the gain back where it was initially.

Bill

I use ATI 5570 video card in my HTPC with HDMI out to 4311 and foobar2K playing back all of my digital music including hirez stuff (up to 24 bit/192 kHz flac files & SACD PS3 ripped DSD ISO files converted to PCM 24/88.2kHz on the fly by foobar) stored on my media server.

Thanks for the advice folks,

One last question...
I've taken the advice and now actually set up my room around my speakers a bit more here is my description of how it is

\ | _. | /


. / | |.. \


FWL / L / C / R / FWR

SL / SBL / SBR / SR

(full stops are just to insert spaces as web page is removing bland spaces)

as you can see my SL is a tad closer to my seating position (which is directly between the SBL / SBR) due to a door entering the room from that corner.

It's as close as I can get it to being like the pictures show...

Now,
My question is.. Should I toe in the rear surrounds.

Currently I toe in all the speakers except the C and the SBL+SBR.

Should the SBL+SBR actually be toed I toward the seating area or should they be left firing straight ahead (directly firing speakers)

Any advice,
Again, sport for my English, I'm no longer using the translate and am doing my self from learning
Edited by Ian Beale - 9/18/12 at 4:28pm

 

IMO, if the speakers are monopoles, they should be aimed at the primary listening point (all speakers, including wides, surrounds, and surround backs).

What exactly is the "widescreen" mode? What does it do?

Ciao AJ,

I currently toe all my speakers except the C and the SBL + SBR ... So you think I should also toe the SBL+SBR to point directly at the sweet spot?

Will this not be to noticeable sound? Dolby website only says to have a 60 degree selection but not toe, they are monopole so you think this will be best for me?

Do you toe your rear surrounds?

Do you think. My new config is ok?

this is an ancient Denon DSP mode that supposedly "recreates the effects of the multi surround speakers in movie theaters" and "achieves the atmosphere like that of a movie theater with a large screen". The assumption is that it adds some reverb/delay to make the room seem larger than it is, much like the Yamaha's "enhanced" surround modes. IMHO all of those special DSP modes (like Jazz Club or Rock Arena) are pretty much obsolete and should be avoided, although you are welcome to give it a shot!

I toe in and aim the rear surrounds down at the MLP. Of course, if you make this change, you should re-run the Audyssey calibration. The rear surrounds are the least used speakers in a 9.1 setup, so toeing in or not is not likely to have a huge difference in the sound.

As far as your configuration, it is difficult to assess, given the diagram you provided. Pictures would be more useful.

As shown on the Audyssey website, ideally all speakers on a circle around the main listening position.

Whether you toe in or not also depends on your speakers as I do not toe in. I use Radio Shack LX5II's and you get a better freq response
out of them not toed in, toed.

Matter of fact I did a a mark with a sharpie pen for that purpose. Furthermore, now I'm getting more & more used to listen to music on Direct mode, which disables de SW though.

I posted this on the marantz 7701 thread, also wanted to post here. I've owned Denon 3300 in past, liked it, currently looking to replace an Integra preo/pro DHC 9.9 with a new pre/pro or receiver acting as a pre/pro...

I have read a number of people on AVS say that when they replaced a Denon piece with a Marantz they noticed a positive difference sonically. Assume that is true, would a sonically inferior Denon with XT32 sound better than a sonically superior Marantz with XT (like the marantz 7701 or 7005)?

Or just take out the Denon and Marantz brands and the debatable argument that the marantz is sonically superior to Denon. Lets say its something like a top of the line $7000 processor with just XT versus say a low end piece but with with XT32...

Does XT32 make up that much for sonic inferiority such that the $1200 XT32 piece sounds better than the $7000 XT piece in terms of bringing a soundtrack alive?
Edited by Mark Lem - 9/19/12 at 9:19am

Keep in mind if you change the sub setting to LFE+Main, you'll enable the sub in DIRECT mode.

I'm busy right now, but I will post some thoughts on this in a bit.... I have owned all 3 units in question, as well as a 7000 dollar avr...

one quick note though... the assumed sonic superiority of marantz vs. denon is, ummm, a faulty assumption...

+ 1 million

@ Mark Lem -- the key thing to understand is that current Marantz models ARE Denon receivers, they are simply rebadged / repackaged.

Yeah I'm not greatly knowledgable in this area. Also don't want to start a marantz/denon war. I need a new processor and am trying to figure out how big or small an effect XT32 makes. Does XT32 make a noticeable difference such that the 4311 would be preferable over say the avp-a1 with XT?

Hey JD,

thanks for the reminder, but in my case I doubt this gonna happen though, as I always set my speakers to small

All other things being equal, XT32 represents an improvement over XT. If other things are not equal, how can anyone draw a conclusion? This is like saying, any XT32 AVR will outperform any AVR that only has XT. Not sure that would be a true statement.

In DIRECT mode, SMALL does not apply.

not to pick on mark- as it's really not his fault, but this post is filled with so much conjecture and hearsay it gave me a headache just to read the half dozen sentences. Man alive, if you could select one "genre" of posts on this forum to eradicate forever, would it be anything besides these Denon vs Marantz /Integra vs Onkyo posts or the even more intellectually hideous: "this amp sounds better than the other" bees-nests?

I'm going to go lie down now, I guess I'm too high strung today.

$hit, I'm at work. Guess I'll lie later.

James

Most thinking, rational, humans would say yes, the uptick of XT 32 over XT will almost certainly have a more beneficial effect on the sound than any other variant in most rooms.

But I will almost assure you that someone will spend the balance of their Wednesday hyping torodial x-formers, DAC bit-number, sheer mass, and iron feet trying to prove me wrong.


James
Edited by mastermaybe - 9/19/12 at 11:48am

I was in agreement with you until you mentioned iron feet. They make a big difference and if your AVR doesn't have them, you clearly aren't qualified to discuss it

j/k (hopefully obviously) - to the OP, another vote for XT32 being worth it for the vast majority.

I have a 4310, which has XT, and I am running it with a SVS AS-EQ1, which does the same thing in equalizing the sub that XT32 does. I can tell you that there is a marked improvement in bass tightness and clarity with XT on when I switch on the SVS unit. So I would say yes, that XT32 adds significant improvement in the bass compared to XT. XT32 offers higher resolution in room correction for the non-subs compared to XT, but I don't have the equipment to see if the difference is audible.

JD,

my bad and thanks once again for correcting me

Just trying to keep your sub pumping!

You may not realize it, but there's a firmware update for your Sony.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?upd_id=6525&mdl=KDL32XBR9

@ farkem thanks I appreciate your reply and the link
I am going to update soon

I can't get my 4311 to output to both monitor HDMI's.

I have an X3 projector in HDM out 1 and TV in HDMI out 2. I have BD player in HDMI input 1 (optical audio) and a Divco STB/HDD in HDMI input 2 with the audio in Coax-1.

With Monitor 1 selected, the BD player works fine to the projector. If I swap to Monitor 2, I get nothing out of HDMI 2, regardless of what the setting is, ie: Monitor 2 or Auto (both). With the Divco input source selected I can get sound but no pic, but only if Monitor 1 is selected (which I don't understand). If I select Mon 2 or Auto, I get nothing, no sound or pic. Everything works fine in either output (by swapping cables) with the BD player and projector, but I cannot get any video on the TV, regardless of which input device selected, or which cables are connected to which output.

When I was running my old pre-HDMI AVP-AV1, the HDMI connections from the BD and Divco were switched through an external box and both projector and TV worked fine as monitors. Why this new 'sophisticated' beast can't is beyond me. Any and all help/advice is most welcome. I have tried reading the manual (several timers) and can't seem to decrypt the info to a form that is intelligible or makes sense.

I appreciate it that this monster of an amp is almost infinitely configurable, but I was hoping that the simple things would be more automatic.

I too discovered that the menu system becomes inoperable from the remote control while watching a Blue-ray.

BTW.. The Setup button works when in FM radio mode.

^^^

possible handshake issue due to unacceptable resolution being sent to one of the displays... i.e. it sounds like you have a the i/p scaling turned on in the denon, passing 1080p, and one of the sinks won't take it, which is causjng the handshake to fail...

to check on this possibility, go check to see if you have the i/p scaler turned on... if so, turn it off and see what happens...

I had my first scare yesterday. While operating in stereo mode on rather low volume (around -30) the protection circuit suddenly kicked in. The thing is, it was neither 0.5 second flashes nor 2 second flashes, more like 1 second flashes. Anyway, the unit would turn itself on again without problem. It didn't feel warm (plenty of free space around it).

I checked all the wire connections and did notice one thing - there was a "loose fit" on the front left speaker, i.e. the binding posts needed to be tightened. I assume they'd loosened a bit due to vibrations. Could that have been it? I'm hoping it was. Today the receiver has been running fine.

(The speakers are Canton bookshelves, crossed over at 120Hz, and a subwoofer.)