The **OFFICIAL** DENON AVR-4520CI thread - Page 113

I am.

Try a re-cal?
No issue with my 4520 and XPA - 3. In fact it was too much gain IMO.

Im using a 1000w x 3 for my front stage and Im up around 60 to get any decent volume

All my speakers are set at 75db

Thanks. That is good to hear and very helpful.

I'm considering upgrading to the 4520CI from my 3308CI. In an effort to save money, I saw that Crutchfield have open box and scratch and dent units available for $250 and $375 less than retail respectively. These both have a 60-day return period with a $7 return shipping charge (important for a large heavy item) and the 3 year factory warranty. There is also a Denon factory refurbished unit from Accessories4Less that is $800 less than retail but only has a 1-year warranty (extendable to 3 years for $85). Furthermore, it has a 30-day return policy with a 15% restocking fee plus whatever costs they incurred to ship and my costs to ship back (I can see this being $80 each way).
What are the thoughts on these options?

Contact Mike Garret (AVS Sales) for price of a new unit. You may be pleasantly surprised!

I see a lot of long time Onkyo owners of many years( in this thread) swinging on the Denon bandwagen......

I havent made the switch yet...but contemplating joining the D&M side of the fence

Though quite frankly that Marantz 8801 is the one that has my eyes open

to use Bill's analogy...I will wait until the Marantz hits $1800...then I am good with getting rid of the 5508 and that "farking" clicking..as well some inconsistent HDMI issues that seem to happen occasionally

guess I would keep the Onkyo receivers...they were either
A. fire sale price
B. a warranty replacement from Onkyo



Warren

Any particular advantage you like about the 8801 over the 4520?

Bummer!
I decided to pull the trigger on the 4520 yesterday and I went to BB to buy it. When I got there I measured the face and it is a full 7.75" high. My shelf only has 7.5" of clearance before it hits the support brace for the shelf above it.
So my options are: get a new TV stand which is harder than it sounds due to aesthetics, WAF, and finding a stand that has the room necessary for my components, change brands (Pioneer SC-68?) or get a 4311 and give up DTS Neo:X which is one of the main reasons for the upgrade.

Don't forget that you also need quite a few inches of clearance above any receiver for cooling. A fan is an alternative if that much space isn't available.

In other words, you need to consider replacement shelving, unless you can set the receiver on the top, open to the air.

Any suggestions on fans to use? Can the fan be temp controlled or power controlled?

Yes, there's a support bar that's 7.5" above the shelf but there's another 1.5" past that bar so I actually have 9" except for where the bar runs across. So I have 1.5" clearance above the top of my receiver and I also use a little USB powered 4" fan that cools the back of the AVR.

ellisR63,
Search USB powered fans at Amazon, there's a bunch to choose from.

Refurb or new purchase?
Would you buy a return from an authorized Denon return online reseller? The 4520 is significantly less as a refurb
purchase. Is a three year warranty that important?

Hello mo0sic-speaking from personal experience, I would go new, if at all possible. I have gone refurb on two units:one was great and one had the dreaded "intermittent" problem-not to mention a shortened warranty period. Though units, returned to Denon for problems, are tested, if an intermittent problem was the cause of the return, it could very well slip through a second time-and then the trials and tribulations begin. Secondly, a full warranty period (in this case 3 years) gives much more protection, in case of an HDMI board failure-they are in the 550 and up range, not including labor. You might give Mike Garret, at AVS science, a call and get a price over the phone, on a new unit-you might be pleasantly surprised

You were right. I called and spoke to Mike and placed an order with him. Got a great price considering the refurb price + extended warranty is.

What fans do others use? There are a lot on Amazon but I have no idea which ones are noisy or unreliable.

Try www.rackfans.com-and once on the site, look at the AV fans; I use them and they are a great application for my system.

http://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-Powered-Desktop-SY-ACC65055/dp/B006L6ZL8I/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1363052690&sr=1-3&keywords=usb+fans


I'm pretty sure this is the one I bought and it's worked fine for a few months.

I'm thinking the Procool AV280t should be enough... My rack is open on all four sides but I only have a inch or 2 for clearance above the 4520.

Thanks but I need something that can be mounted or sit right above the 4520 in my rack. I should have been more clear in my needs. :-)

It looks like my 4520 is updating its firmware now.
10 minutes update it says...

I have the AVR Remote installed on my phone, it looks like it has control of individual channels!

Where is the information for the remote commands? I wonder if I can set it up on my harmony. All I ever do is adjust the Center or Subs...

This is the fan that I use. It's plugged into the 4520's rear USB port and turns on when the receiver powers on. I just lay the fan over the warmest spot on the receiver's top and the receiver stays nice and lukewarm. You can direct the exhaust air in the direction that is most appropriate for your setup. The fan is pretty quiet but it can be heard once you get within a couple of feet of it. I never had a problem with the receiver overheating, in fact this Denon runs much, much cooler than my previous Onkyo 705, but I figured this fan would give me some cheap piece of mind.

So I finished the latest firmware update. It took much more than ten minutes.
I noticed my manual speaker levels defaulted back to Audyssey’s.

Note: Before I did the update, the HDMI output didn’t work when I powered my system this evening until I did the unplugging routine. Then it did and it showed the new available firmware ready to download.

I'm a current 4311 user and very satisfied but have a chance to upgrade to the 4520 at a decent price so looking for opinions from anyone who has upgraded from the 4311 and what they think. Is it worth doing now or wait for the next generation or the price to come down a bit. Would you do it again if given the chance? Are the differences that great to make it worthwhile?

TIA,
pmh

^My impression (from reading, not as a 4520 owner) is that irt SQ it is pretty close. There may be subtle improvements for high-end systems when critical "audiphile" listening of very well-recorded material. Mebbe not. For the vast majority of 4311 owners I don't think this model is a breakthru must-have.

As to whether it's worth the expense and trouble, it more or less comes down to the new features (vs loss of a few features) and what matters to you. I suggest you consult the first post for the exact list of differences as listed by batpig.

You could then "search this thread" for "4311" ranked by most recent and read thru the posts. You'll find several that cover the topic from various personal perspectives. If you have the speakers, Neo:X seems to be well regarded.

For me, the AVR2809 was a very worthwhile improvement over the 2808 because of DEQ/DVol. The 4310 was simply a crazy good deal at under $700 with DSX wides and networking, both very cool features. The 4311 was a must-have improvement over the 4310 because of MultEQXT32.
Edited by SoundofMind - 3/12/13 at 4:01am

Thanks, I am going to run over to Frys and see if they have it in stock.