The Official Integra DHC-80.2 Pre/Pro Thread - Page 116

Did you recently upgrade from MultEQ XT to MultEQ Xt 32?

This isn't super helpful.
Care to add any color?

Well I pulled the trigger. Should be getting it this week. Can't wait to see what x32 does in my room

Pls post your experiences. If you have any Audyssey problems, pls post on the Audyssey thread.

Thanks, will do

I have a 5507 with MultiEQ XT and a 3008 with MultiEQ XT32 operating at opposite ends of the same room. I could swap them out and check the difference it makes, but why would anyone else want to use whatever difference I may hear? Their room will not be the same as mine. Their experience with the difference it makes will not be the same as my room, or a dealers showroom as well. Does XT32 sound better than XT in my room? Yes. Do I want to spend the money to upgrade my 5507? No. YMMV.

There are some who bought all the units in the series, 885 - 886 - 5507 - 5508 or 9.8 - 9.9 - 80.1 - 80.2. I don't buy new gear every time a new model comes out. I went from 885 to 5508, and consider that a no-brainer. If you catch me in a sarcastic moment, I would say upgrading from a 5507 to a 5508 is a no-brainer as well ... but for a different reason. No offense meant to anyone who did that.

Jeff

I set up my 80.2 a few days ago. I sat and did some extended 2 channel listening today. I dont know is it is the x32 alone or that combined with other changes from the 80.1 but there is a definit improvement in sound quality. I made almost no changes to what audyssey set everything at. The stereo soundstage is holographic like nothing I've ever heard before. Thanks to those of you who said it was worth the upgrade, you were absolutely right.

Glad your happy with it. I know I'm loving my 80.2...

I was a hard core Onkyo user for a few years and snagged a Denon 4310 during BB blowout last Dec. Sold my 885 and have been somewhat statisfied.

Fast forward, I really wanted a Denon 4311, for reasons I cannot rationalize, and purchased one 4 weeks ago NIB.

Well, after listening I see no real differences that knock my socks off like I remember from the 885. I was smitten with the sound I got when I first heard the 885 and have never been impressed with the Denons.

I'm selling the 4311 and moving back into the Onkyo / Integra family. In my system I do think this is the best match.

The Denons are too laid back and my Aerials sing better with the Onkyo forward sound. I also think Onkyo/Integra control bass better.

Cannot wait to sell the 4311 and get a 80.2.

I'm curious reading your post...was the 4311 being use as a pre/pro? Are you going to be keeping the same amp for use with the 80.2? I'd think that the amp would influence these characteristics more than than the processor.

I am using the same amps.

Classe DR9 - 2 channel 100 watt high current
Parasound HCA-35000 - 2 channel 350 watt high current
Parasound HCA-2205a - 5 channel 220 watt

I swap out the 2 channel amps for my fronts.

Fronts - Aerial 8's not the b's
Center - Aerial CC3
Sides - Alon IV's
Rears - Aerial 7's not the b's
Sub - Mirage BPS-400 - a monster

All speakers are full range. The Aerial 8's are very hungry speakers and will suck up whatever is thrown at them.

I here what you are saying and thought the same thing. I drive them direct most of the time but there is something missing with the Denon in the highs and mid-range that I never thought when I had the Onkyo 885. The 80.2 is from what I've heard a much better pre-amp than the 885 which I was very pleased with.

The bass is just down right sloppy with the 4311. Not tight and defined, just boomy.

I have calibrated the 4311 many times.

I also like the Onkyo / Integra sound modes better as well although I rarely use them.

There is an 80.3 now.some of the 80.2s had a bad IDE cable. If you buy an 80.2 make sure this issue has been addressed.

The 80.2/5508 is a far better pre/pro than the 885, and mine has me listening to CD's on my main system again. And as much I am an Onkyo/Integra fan, I really don't think that the 4311 is the cause of sloppy bass.

Jeff

I'm sure many will be interested in your comparison - I know many people who have thought about one of the 4XXX series Denon receivers as an alternative to the Integra 80.2/3 - though as Pepar said, I know a lot of people who are really happy with the Denon running as a pre. I'm surprised your experience has been so negative. Personally, I wonder if Marantz is ever going to bother updating the now defunct 8003 (with an 8005 presumably). I always thought the 8003 sounded really good. It's unfortunate that DM hasn't refreshed that unit. The 7005 sounds good, but the lack of XT32 is a tough compromise with the results that one feature can give in the 80.2.

Note: This'll be fixed by Integra/Onkyo regardless of warranty status - so if you do come across a 80.2 at a great price, while inconvenient, Onkyo will fix this problem regardless of where you procured the unit.

80.3 has its own thread. Not much of a practical difference between the two units.

This is very odd. I too went from a 4310 to a 4311 (the A!00 version). I was rewarded with obviously improved (tighter, smoother, more impactful) bass. And that is one of the most consistently reported improvements of XT32 over XT regardless of brand or model. You have not posted on this problem in the 4311 thread, but I encourage you to do so. There are several possible explanations and we'd need to troubleshoot in detail, if you're interested.

As to the overall timbre of Onkyo vs Denon, my guess is that, like with most decent solid state amps, they are far more alike than different.

But reset to Small after autosetup, correct?

I'm really liking my 80.2 so far. I have a question, I think what I'm doing makes the most sense but tell me if I'm wrong. I have 4 different subs. I have the 2 nearfield subs that are at the sides of seating area paired to sub 1 (an epik phoenix and an earthquake supernova mkIV12) and the sub under my screen and along the rear wall paired to sub 2 (svs pb12+2 and an svs 25-31 pci) I know having 4 different subs is far from ideal but did the pairings I choose make the most sense?

I just posted a reply to a very similar question in the 80.3 thread.

If anyone is interested in my 80.2 PM me.

For those of you using an oppo 93/95, are you letting the 80.2 process the video or setting it to "through?" Just curious

I've completely disabled the video processing in my Integra. I let the Oppo do any video processing to DVDs (I rarely watch them anymore) and have my display scale my other source (TiVo).

I set it to through just recently as I now have a video processor after the 80.2. But before I got it, I had the Oppo do the up conversion of regular DVD's to 1080P and loved the image.

Note that "through" isn't really through. In order to disable the video processing in the Integra you need to follow the instructions on page 23 of the manual.
The issue this avoids is detailed in this review of the Onkyo 5508:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/surro...r.html?start=4
You can argue whether it affects real world viewing, but you can clearly see the effects in a test pattern.
I have Oppo 95 -> 80.2 -> Lumagen XS. I run the Integra with video processing totally disabled.

Also note that in the 80.3, this option is now accessible from the main menu's.

I need to turn this off then since I use "through" with my Radiance XS. That article says:

There is no option to disable this in the menu system, but there is a hidden menu option you can access from the front panel to turn Video Convert to Off. This affects all of the inputs, but it only turns off the video conversion from 8 bit to 10 bit.

But where do I find this hidden menu on the front panel and who has done this?

Post above yours ..

You are correct. The lumagen should be fed as unaltered a signal as possible

New Firmware is available as of today..

What does it do?

I'm trying to find that out too, I cant see it on their website but often it seems to be days after the announcement.