AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Receivers, Amps, and Processors › Integra DHC-80.3
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Integra DHC-80.3

post #1 of 3703
9/17/11 at 4:54am
Thread Starter 
ebrochure & manual up at Integra web site:

http://www.integrahometheater.com/mo...eamplifier&p=i
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 3703
9/17/11 at 6:54am
Seems to have all bases covered, I just wish they hadn't jumped up several hundred since the initial press release.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 3703
9/20/11 at 6:42pm
Just ordered mine at a good price from my local dealer. Should be here next week. It will replace an Integra DHC-40.2, the best pre/pro I have owned to date.

How do we make this the "official" owner's thread? Can anybody start an official thread or just Pooh-bahs like moderators and senior members?
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 3703
9/20/11 at 7:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beto3645 View Post

Just ordered mine at a good price from my local dealer. Should be here next week. It will replace an Integra DHC-40.2, the best pre/pro I have owned to date.

How do we make this the "official" owner's thread? Can anybody start an official thread or just Pooh-bahs like moderators and senior members?


I'm looking to purchase the DHC-80.3. I live 2 hours from the closest dealer. I'm trying to decide if it's worth the trip or ordering it direct from Integra. Did you pay less then the MSRP for it?
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 3703
9/20/11 at 8:11pm
I may order one also. I just need to sell my 80.2
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 3703
9/20/11 at 9:55pm
That seems to have it all eh?

Too bad my DHC 40.1 still smells new. I only use it maybe 3-6 hours a week. Gotta spend more time watching some movies.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 3703
9/21/11 at 7:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SonnynNY View Post

Did you pay less then the MSRP for it?

Yes. Since price talk is frowned upon, any further discussion has to be via PMs.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 3703
9/21/11 at 9:03am
Thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 3703
9/22/11 at 12:44pm
I will buy one of these bad boys if reports from early adopters indicate the annoying clicking sound while watching cable/satellite TV is eliminated. Please report back with your findings.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 3703
9/23/11 at 9:30pm
I want one. But I'm honestly afraid to get one. It seems the first batch of Integras always have some issue. The DTC-9.8 had the HDMI problem and DTS-MA bomb, DHC-80.2 had defective volume knobs, etc.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 3703
9/24/11 at 7:45am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruined View Post

I want one. But I'm honestly afraid to get one. It seems the first batch of Integras always have some issue. The DTC-9.8 had the HDMI problem and DTS-MA bomb, DHC-80.2 had defective volume knobs, etc.


The 80.2's had defective volume knobs? First time I heard about this...
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 3703
9/24/11 at 8:08am
The unit arrived yesterday, much earlier than anticipated. I hooked it up quickly and ran the Audyssey calibration, just in time for my regular Friday night at the movies with my friends. We watched The Big Lebowski in Blu-ray. The video was superbit seemed extra sharp. The audio made me realized what a great musical soundtrack TBL has!

I forgot how to set it up so it defaults to the "native" sound signal, be it DTS Master Audio 5.1 or SACD multichannel, for example. I had it on my 40.2 but I cannot remember how I did it. A quick read of the manual did not yield the instructions. Anybody remember?

No annoying clicks or defective volume knob so far!
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 3703
9/24/11 at 8:29am
Can you give us more info on your set up thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 3703
9/24/11 at 9:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beto3645 View Post

No annoying clicks or defective volume knob so far!

The annoying clicks only occur when watching satellite TV (DirecTV), and from what I've read it also happens with cable TV. Do you subscribe to any of these?
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 3703
9/24/11 at 10:42am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beto3645 View Post

The unit arrived yesterday, much earlier than anticipated. I hooked it up quickly and ran the Audyssey calibration, just in time for my regular Friday night at the movies with my friends. We watched The Big Lebowski in Blu-ray. The video was superb—it seemed extra sharp. The audio made me realized what a great musical soundtrack TBL has!

I forgot how to set it up so it defaults to the "native" sound signal, be it DTS Master Audio 5.1 or SACD multichannel, for example. I had it on my 40.2 but I cannot remember how I did it. A quick read of the manual did not yield the instructions. Anybody remember?

No annoying clicks or defective volume knob so far!

Looks like it's page 58 from the manual. "Audio Adjust"> "Listening Mode"> "Straight Decode".

As I'm considering this unit, I would appreciate if you could post further impressions and also your setup info.

Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 3703
9/24/11 at 12:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Craven More View Post

The annoying clicks only occur when watching satellite TV (DirecTV), and from what I've read it also happens with cable TV. Do you subscribe to any of these?

Okay, I was able to reproduce the clicks. I subscribe to Cox cable TV and the cable box is a Scientific Atlanta 8240HDC. The clicks do not happen all the time. They seem to occur when one is flipping through several channels very quickly, but not always. The cable box lags behind and then you can hear the clicks right before the sound comes on.

If you simply punch in a channel number there is no click. If you change one channel up or down by pressing the channel button most of the time there is no click; once in a while there is a click.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 3703
9/24/11 at 1:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TL5 View Post

Looks like it's page 58 from the manual. "Audio Adjust"> "Listening Mode"> "Straight Decode".

As I'm considering this unit, I would appreciate if you could post further impressions and also your setup info.

Thanks

Thank you! Strangely, when I turned on the unit this morning it was doing straight decoding without me having to go into the setup menu. Yesterday, after the Audyssey calibration, I could not get it to go into "Straight Decode." I was probably looking at the Stereo Inputs and not at the Multichannel Inputs in the Sound Program Edit menu.

Further impressions (I've only had it for a few hours): the sound is more refined and sound effects are better defined compared to the Integra DHC-40.2 (my previous unit). Video processing seems to be very good. It processes DSD from SACD's without the occasional dropouts that plagued the 40.2.

Regarding setup: in general, I prefer Straight Decode in audio and I am using the default modes (usually Auto) for video settings.
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 3703
9/24/11 at 2:48pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beto3645 View Post

Thank you! Strangely, when I turned on the unit this morning it was doing straight decoding without me having to go into the setup menu. Yesterday, after the Audyssey calibration, I could not get it to go into "Straight Decode." I was probably looking at the Stereo Inputs and not at the Multichannel Inputs in the Sound Program Edit menu.

Further impressions (I've only had it for a few hours): the sound is more refined and sound effects are better defined compared to the Integra DHC-40.2 (my previous unit). Video processing seems to be very good. It processes DSD from SACD's without the occasional dropouts that plagued the 40.2.

Regarding setup: in general, I prefer Straight Decode in audio and I am using the default modes (usually Auto) for video settings.

What amp(s) are you using? How many channels are you running? Are you connected using the RCA's or XLR's?
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 3703
9/24/11 at 3:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TL5 View Post

What amp(s) are you using? How many channels are you running? Are you connected using the RCA's or XLR's?

I use a Pass Labs XA-30.5 amplifier for left & right, a Coda 10.5 for center, and a Pass Aleph 5 for surrounds. At the moment only the XA-30.5 is connected via XLR's. I am waiting for more XLR cables to arrive. When they do, all my amps except the sub and the rear surrounds will be connected with XLR's.

I am running 7.1 channels but for the most part only 5.1 are active because there is very little content with 7.1 discrete channels.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 3703
9/24/11 at 3:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beto3645 View Post

Okay, I was able to reproduce the clicks. I subscribe to Cox cable TV and the cable box is a Scientific Atlanta 8240HDC. The clicks do not happen all the time. They seem to occur when one is flipping through several channels very quickly, but not always. The cable box lags behind and then you can hear the clicks right before the sound comes on.

If you simply punch in a channel number there is no click. If you change one channel up or down by pressing the channel button most of the time there is no click; once in a while there is a click.

Thanks for your reply. But the clicks I'm referring to are the ones that occur on their own while watching a program. It'll happen randomly every 10 minutes or so where it seems like the processor loses the audio stream and finds it again which results in the clicking sound. It'll be interesting to know if you can watch an entire movie on a channel like HBO without this occurring. Any feedback would be great!
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 3703
9/24/11 at 3:44pm
Every Onkyo product has that garbage clicking sound when it switches from 5.1 to stereo. I can't understand why they haven't fixed it yet.
Reply
Reply
post #22 of 3703
9/24/11 at 3:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by N8DOGG View Post

Every Onkyo product has that garbage clicking sound when it switches from 5.1 to stereo. I can't understand why they haven't fixed it yet.

I don't mind if the clicking sound occurs while I'm changing channels, but it does irritate me when it randomly happens by itself.
Reply
Reply
post #23 of 3703
9/24/11 at 4:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Craven More View Post

... the clicks I'm referring to are the ones that occur on their own while watching a program. It'll happen randomly every 10 minutes or so where it seems like the processor loses the audio stream and finds it again which results in the clicking sound. It'll be interesting to know if you can watch an entire movie on a channel like HBO without this occurring. Any feedback would be great!

I have not had random clicks yet, but I have only watched a couple of hours of TV since the unit arrived. I will post if it happens...
Reply
Reply
post #24 of 3703
9/24/11 at 5:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beto3645 View Post

The unit arrived yesterday, much earlier than anticipated. I hooked it up quickly and ran the Audyssey calibration, just in time for my regular Friday night at the movies with my friends. We watched The Big Lebowski in Blu-ray. The video was superbit seemed extra sharp. The audio made me realized what a great musical soundtrack TBL has!

I forgot how to set it up so it defaults to the "native" sound signal, be it DTS Master Audio 5.1 or SACD multichannel, for example. I had it on my 40.2 but I cannot remember how I did it. A quick read of the manual did not yield the instructions. Anybody remember?

No annoying clicks or defective volume knob so far!

You mentioned the video was "superb". Did the Integra do anything to modify the original video signal? In other words, did the Integra make the original Blu-ray signal look even better?

Michaelmorio
Reply
Reply
post #25 of 3703
9/24/11 at 7:09pm
When your sending 1080p what is the video processor actually doing?

Isn't just passing it through?
Reply
Reply
post #26 of 3703
9/24/11 at 8:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michaelmorio View Post

You mentioned the video was "superb". Did the Integra do anything to modify the original video signal? In other words, did the Integra make the original Blu-ray signal look even better?

Michaelmorio

Quote:
Originally Posted by Warpdrv View Post

When your sending 1080p what is the video processor actually doing?

Isn't just passing it through?

You're right. When my Oppo Blu-ray player is sending a 1080p/60 signal the Integra is simply passing it through. I should be more careful about how I phrase my comments, given that so many knowledgeable people lurk around here! I was simply reflecting the impression I had while watching The Big Lebowski that the video was very sharp; the credit should go to the Blu-ray transfer as opposed to the video processor of the Integra.
Reply
Reply
post #27 of 3703
9/24/11 at 8:20pm
great that it is out - just flipped email over to Audyssey to see when can
expect software update to MultEQ Pro calibration for support of this unit.
will post response
Reply
Reply
post #28 of 3703
9/24/11 at 8:54pm
Beto - just been cooking over this unit myself and I just come up with questions about what I'm really needing, I only have 2 sources - both HDMI, one is a Dish Sat, and the other is my HTPC serving up my music & movies & Pics. This unit is pretty much total overkill but I want the XLR's to drive my amps to the fullest. RCA's always seem to neuter the full potential.. I could honestly care less about all the gimicks they continue to build into these products, but the price / features are pretty impressive.

What I really like in the latest AVR's/Preamps is the full Android Network Control abilities...
Reply
Reply
post #29 of 3703
9/24/11 at 9:17pm
Yeah, I wish they offered a pre/pro without all the legacy connectors. The unit is physically a monster and the rear panel is cluttered.
Reply
Reply
post #30 of 3703
9/25/11 at 7:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beto3645 View Post

You're right. When my Oppo Blu-ray player is sending a 1080p/60 signal the Integra is simply passing it through. I should be more careful about how I phrase my comments, given that so many knowledgeable people lurk around here! I was simply reflecting the impression I had while watching The Big Lebowski that the video was very sharp; the credit should go to the Blu-ray transfer as opposed to the video processor of the Integra.

Beto3645,

Thanks for your clarification.
But I am curious if the Integra does a good job of reducing any video noise on even 1080P video source from your Oppo. A good video processor such as Genum VPX (version 2/secnod gen) seems to make a difference, I heard. If you have a time to play around with the Integra's video processor on this don't forget to report it back to us here.

Thank you.

Best regards,
Michaelmorio
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Receivers, Amps, and Processors

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Receivers, Amps, and Processors › Integra DHC-80.3