The **OFFICIAL** DENON AVR-4520CI thread - Page 50

Room size 13 x 7meters with 3 walls concrete - I side is full french windows.
2nd sub later if required... Budget: $1-1.5K
WAF - managable LOL !

Thanks for your input !

I, too, have 1 side French Doors !!! So far, I'm just 5.1 -- with the surrounds on the floor. If I add wides in front of the glass doors, I may have to also purchase a few hours of a marriage counselor's time.

But if I don't do it, I'll obsess about what it would sound like.

13x7 meters?

So for the US folks, 42 x 22? That's a pretty massive room.

What's the height of the ceiling?

Going to need some SERIOUS power.

Was there a sudden loss of power to the unit at any point prior to this issue presenting as that has been known to cause setting changes on the 4311CI?

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1334369/the-official-denon-avr-xx12-model-owners-thread/0_100#user_L29

Ccotenj, can you assign unused amped speaker outs to Zone 4? I just got my 4520 but haven't hooked up yet. It will be doing 5.1 in main living area and my goal was that the 4520 could do HDMI passthrough to my porch TV and drive stereo speakers on the porch using the HDMI source audio when I want the speakers involved. If this doesn't work, my plan is to buy an HDMI in to HDMI and analog audio out box and let that separate the audio for outdoor speakers and send that to external amp, or maybe even Sonos Connect Amp line in. Any comments you can provide on this?

I do not think that is my issue, since these are not windows media files, but instead are mp3 and flac files, and my library is not large, I just put about 10 files in a folder to test the ability of the 4520 to play them.

Some of them do not have any artwork already.

It is not only having trouble playing them, but it does not even see them. When I go to the folder they are in, it reboots the whole network system.

I ran chkdsk on the hard drive, but it did not fix the issue either.

Thanks.

Nope ... my response was intended for Jerry only.

Zone 4 audio can only play via the Zone 4(HDMI) monitor output (ie. not via pre-outs or speaker posts) which must be connected to an HDMI sink (eg. either a TV or 2nd AVR).

batpig - I have 4 kids, ages 6,8,10,15, all with access to apple devices and love music.
They will play music while they play games/whatever on their/our iPad/iPhone/whatever devices.
Including exploring all buttons/options.

My point is there could be 1 more level of control - don't turn on via a apple devices call, as an option for the user to decide.
This way, that 10/100 4 port can still be used for active switching if one wants.
For now, I've turned off "network always on", that solves my issue.

On the left/right thing, I take it that is legacy from the early days when gear was up front and truly stage right/left applied.
Now, gear can be in any room/location, speaker wires are bundled together as they run thru conduit to their distant locations, etc, so it has less meaning, except legacy...

Who am I to change legacy, I've moved past that......mostly

Thanks It works as advertised. When you access Aux3-Aux7 it adds them to the input assign menu.

I am trying to use this as a workaround for getting analog signals to Zone 2 since the AVR will no longer
pass PCM to Zone 2.

The problem is if you look at the discrete IR Codes linked in post #1 the codes for Zone 2 inputs are the same as Zone 1.
I was able to learn some Z2 inputs from the remote but it will not help for Aux3-Aux7.

One thought was to use serial codes instead but there is no serial code to scroll inputs which is a feature I use all
the time.

Does anyone know if/when D&M will ever update these codes?

nope... zone 4 requires a hdmi sink... the avr does not do any processing for zone 4, the hdmi path is "switched" at the very front end...

a cheapo avr off of craigslist (should be able to find one with a hdmi input easily enough) in zone 4 will get you what you want... other than the sonos connect line in...

assuming all your sources and sinks play nice together, zone 4 is proving to be rather robust... since swmbo wants a tv out in her "sitting room" (better known as the front porch), i ran a quick test yesterday* and ran zone 4 into a 4x2 matrix switch... plugged in a 40' and a 20' cable to the matrix outputs... plugged those into two different sinks... bingo, picture and sound on both...

* re "a quick test"... most probably already know this, but BEFORE running hdmi cables to any remote location, test PRIOR to fishing the cables... this can save you hours of work (trust me on this one, i have learned this lesson the hard way )... and when you do fish them, tape up the head to protect it and CAREFULLY observe all bend radius restrictions...

@mike...

i hear you... again, this gets back to the "what's the most obvious thing the user might want to do" interface design... always keep in mind that (if the interface designer is doing his/her job) that "mass marketed equipment" needs to cater to the lowest, not the highest, of "thinkers"...

you could create a different subnet and restrict access by mac id... that's about the only "solution" i've been able to think of for this, as this ssue has been mentioned before (people playing tricks on each other)...

@irwin...

doubtful they'll update the codes... having gone through 3 different pieces of d&m equipment in recent times, the only changes to the serial control codeset have been to add in whatever "new features" pop up...

you could ask them to so it though... maybe they are feeling generous these days...

Thanks

Do you know if you can have a MSC400 send both serial and ir codes to the 4520?

a data point for zone 4 users (and potential users)... here is how my stuff is currently glued together... possibly this will be helpful to those thinking about using the feature...

avr has ps3, oppo, atv, mac mini and two fios boxes hooked to it...

main zone out goes to a HDbaseT hdmi extender... cat6 to HDbaseT receiver in theater... HDbaseT send hdmi out to radiance... radiance to a hdmi splitter... splitter to pj and little tv... i also tried sending one of the splitter outputs through the 3dbee and then to the pj (which was successful)... i need to find the 1x4 splitter that is somewhere in my shed to get this properly set up with the 2 inputs to the pj (straight from the radiance as well as through the 3dbee) and one to the little tv...

zone 4 goes to the hdmi matrix switch (a regular switch would likely do, but the matrix is what i had lying around)... switch goes out to 2 flat panels...

miraculously, all this "works"... hdmi interfacing has come a LONG way over the past 5 years... it used to be an effort just to get a simple 1x2 splitter to work...

the hardest part of all of it is coding your remote so that you are always controlling the fios box you want to be controlling... if you are not using instapreview, this is simplified greatly...

dunno... from the msc-400's standpoint, it wouldn't care, it would simply be set up as two different devices (one serial, one ir)...

for two reasons, i would "guess" that it would...

- the ir "eye" isn't disabled when you connect a serial cable... which makes sense, the avr would have no way of "knowing" that you were hooking up a remote control device on the other end...

- i had an issue similar to this on my old susano (pioneer vs. denon here, but likely is consistent)... they never created a serial command for "setup menu", and i had to use the ir for that while using serial for everything else...

it's worth a shot... set up a second device as ir (make sure you rename it to something different than the serial decice name), import it to the msc, and alias to the ir commands you need... edit: don't forget you'll also need to run an ir flasher from the msc to the avr...

I changed hard drives connected to the router, and the new hard drive had the same effect in the 4520, causing it to reset the network connection when it accesses the folders, so the problem has to be either the 4520, or the router.

 

@JD:  using the tip at the link you provided, I was able to remove the "Not Authorized".

 

@Tachy:  when I try to access a folder on the 4520, the network is reset, taking me back to the top-level menu (Favorites, etc.).  Is this the issue you are facing?  I was unable to actually access anything on the PC.

I currently own the Marantz AV7005 and have been thinking about upgrading to either the Denon AVR4520 or the Marantz AV8801. I am interested in Audyssey XT32 and was wondering how much improvement the XT32 will be over the XT in my 7005. Has anyone compared the 4520 to the 8801 (not sure if anyone has their hands on one of these yet). I can swing the 4520 now but it will take a while to upgrade to the 8801. I first would like to upgrade to dual subs and will be ordering soon and then get the 4520 or wait and get the 8801 next summer but if the sound quality is pretty much the same I would like to save the $1100 and get the 4520.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Yes, exactly. Clicking on any folder on my hard drive, makes the system pause, then reset its network connection, with nothing being played. My files I have saved in favorites as well, come back with a "file not found" response.

It does seem to me, that these started about the time of the firmware update. I listened last Saturday with no problem.

Looking at the front of the 4520, the words "empty" is seen. Whereby last week, there were several music files there that all played.

Got a 4520 on the way from Mike at AVS. Great price!

Finally replacing my Denon 4800. Sad to see it go. Can't wait to see what Audyssey XT32 will do for me.

Seeing the same problem. I may need to learn to wait on software updates.

Keep in mind that firmware updates may not occur unless a sufficient number of you owners report any unresolved issues directly to Denon .... (ie. don't expect a firmware update to just show up because it doesn't seem to be working correctly).

Your logic would work, I'm kinda lazy to do that just now....

The other interface issue, if an device(AVR, whatever) is powered on by some action, it should be able to be powered off by another action from the originating signal sender.
IMO that is common sense.

With airplay turning on your AVR, how can airplay turn off your AVR?

Sure, if I had iRule or even the Denon iPhone app I could do that(on all our devices) , but my point is within airplay when you stop/exit it should return the AVR to its prior state......my 0.02...
(now its Christmas decorating time @ our home, my wife said "hobby time is over")

[edit]
I posted some Q's on DenonUSA facebook page, I wonder their response...http://www.facebook.com/denonusa?fref=ts

I would be glad to report the issue to Denon.  However, since I don't use this capability (I am a happy Sonos user), it is a low priority.  Besides, I can't be sure that it isn't something other than the Denon.  Tachy, it doesn't sound like it is something you use very often either, or am I wrong?

 

There is a wealth of information in the Audyssey thread, and the overwhelming consensus is that XT32 provides significant sonic improvements over XT.  A major difference is that XT32 focuses its filter power on the lower frequencies, where EQ is needed the most, more than on the high frequencies.  Also, as you probably know, XT32 includes Sub EQ HT, which allows distances and trims for two subs to be determined separately, which can also provide for a more effective low-end EQ for those who have multiple subs.  IMO, the upgrade to two subs is an equally important step.  The sonic differences between the 4520 and the 8801 are likely to be more subtle.

Well then please report this issue to Denon. I did yesterday.

This problem did not seem to exist until the firmware update. They kinda fixed Pandora, but then made the music server not work at all.

Pandora is fixed enough to work, but they have done nothing to fix the prior Pandora issues, where tracks randomly have buttons to skip to the next track or not allow this feature. Tracks still randomly allow you to save to favorites folder, with many tracks not allowing this feature.

I pay for pandora one to allow increased skips, but the Denon app does not allow 90% of the files to be skipped. About 10% of the time the skip button shows up. Similarly, about 90% don't allow you to rate the song, perhaps about 10% the menu choice shows up.

I agree, there are better modes of media streaming out there like Sonos, etc, but when you pay this much for a receiver, would be nice if most of these things at least worked.

@mike...

yea, i don't disagree at all... the thing is... if using the "apple remote" to access a shared library (this is what i do, my itunes library lives on the mac mini and is shared by all decices), the airplay stream is no longer from the handheld device... the handheld device is simply acting as a remote at that point... and since itunes would still be "active" on the mini, there wouldn't be any way to do a "logical" shutdown...

decorating here is done... that's her job anyway...

Exactly the reason I don't step in and report some of these more esoteric issues (as I don't own the unit and therefore cannot confirm) as it may be limited to a small number of units or caused by other equipment in one's setup. When multiple owners can confirm and replicate the issue, you hold more clout when reporting. This is why it's important for the individual owner to work it out with Denon if we cannot resolve it in this forum.