Denon Preamp model AVP-A1HDCI Pictures & Info- - Page 43

Can those of you with this new pre/pro mention what specific amp you're using also? I was thinking about pairing it with the 7 channel Earthquake Cinenova.

Thoughts?

Bish

If you read the last few pages, many folks have posted exactly what they have.

Hey Franin
Yep enjoying it a lot.
A friend came over yesterday with a well respected local 2ch preamp ($4.5K)and we did an A/B on several tracks/cds trying to pick the difference on 2ch cd only, pure direct mode. It was very difficult to pick between the two. I recall a couple of comments - the denon sounded a bit phasey on vocals on one track (vbut not others) and had a fuller bass on another track (but not others). I felt the testing was inconclusive either way, so will do more testing before I decide to give away the 2ch pre idea.
I was surprised it was close at all tbh

Thanks Norpus, it will be good to hear your thoughts after more testing is done.

Well, 11 pairs of AVP and POA entered the UK in the first batch and here is my pair.


Boxes - 100Kg!


The silver finish is great but I still really like the black.






A bit of help from the girls


No stand yet so using some granite and cork to isolate the kit from the floor




Setting up. Notice my mobile phone being cooked on top of the AVP!


Ashley enjoying the sound!

Mark, congratulations! The whole setup (and kids!) look great! Ashley is adorable.

What do you think of the sound so far? I too have the 802s and am very curious as to the sound of the AVP and POA combination.

Chris

No kidding, congrats.
The pair of units make a mean duo.
I love the silver (sniff). Gives a nice slightly retro look.

Tim.... we all know you'll be going slightly retro after you try out the Pioneer

Thank you Chris. Ashley is a little git, like his mum! No, he is great - a real mini-me!

I have the POA set to balanced bridged mode and although the 802Ds, AVP and POA are all brand new and therefore not at their best yet, all I can say is effortless, warm, deep and chrystal clear. SACD through the PS3 (hardly high end audio) is incredible.

Congrats mate, I still love the black and the transport looks great with the AVP!

WOWZERS!!!! That setup is freakin' awesome! Everything looks amazing. Congratulations on that very classy setup. Has the sound quality lived up to your expectations? Thanks for sharing the pix.


Seth

Thanks Mark. At first I was a bit bummed that Silver was not available here, but now that I actually have it installed I love the way the black looks. So I'm happy.


Seth

Hehe, I felt the same but opposite
Swap you my silver for your black anyday. Pity we don't live in same town or continent or hemisphere of the planet!

Great looking setup there MarkB. I used to run 802d also - I was biamping passively with similar power - lovely piece of furniture those 802d - my wife still scolds me for moving them on hehe
I've gone active now so don't need the amps - the POA certainly does look great though! I always like the McIntosh power meters on their amps and this POA has that same look

As an aside, recently I listened in HK to some Kef Muons powered by a bridged pair of McIntosh MC402 - now that was pure silver sex. The 4 needles bouncing into the 400 zone on the Sheffield drum track was a truly awe inspiring sound experience

Agreed, but Denon has been sticking VU meters on its amps as long as any manufacturer! but you are right - it is great listning to some superb music and watching the meters!

That's true , but these pics are making it harder and harder not to go to the Denon dark side.

You cant swap the chassis because the black and silver AVP button layout is different!

You know you want to..! lol. You owe it to yourself!

Mark, you are a very mean person (but I appreciate the dark/dark side motif)

Hey you are right, hadn't noticed the black US one has 4 buttons and silver has 3. What is the extra button ohyeah32?

Yes something draws me to those meters
Better than watching a ratshack spl meter thats for sure
I prefer the meters which are labelled watts rather than dB - just a personal preference even if they mean the same thing
http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mcprod/s...&product=MC207

Tuning Preset

MarkB they look very impressive! Congraulations mate.All I can say is your all lucky buggers! It's not fair!

For anyone interested here are some of my thoughts.



It does a great job on both HT and 2ch duties, and I’m now on the lookout to purchase the Audyssey installers kit so I can have more options available to me.

When I plugged the unit it, my first thoughts were okay this doesn’t sound very good, the Rotel 1098 sounded much better. I then tried 2ch in Stereo, Direct & Pure Direct modes and again I thought wow for all the hype this thing is pretty average.

The next night after getting home from work I decided to start playing with some of the settings. The unit has a GUI which shows on the screen if you happen to have it running, also the options show up on the display on the front of the processor. Being the lazy bloke that I am, I decided to go the easy route, and connected the unit to my LAN. Now this is how life should be…I can sit back and relax and play to my hearts content.







One thing I noticed the second night the system sounded much sweeter, whether this was because I was becoming accustomed to the sound or maybe it’s because the unit was settling in, either way I was now happy with my purchase.

Over the last couple of days I’ve done some comparisons between the Denon and the Moon P-5 on 2ch out of the CD player. IMO the Denon does a great job, I’ve tried the different options of Stereo, Direct, and Pure Direct, utilising the LFE sub, and disabling it, utilising Audyssey and disabling it. The Moon pre just does things better, the music sounds more real and has those nice subtleties that you don’t realise are there until you compare different products and realise what you are missing out on.

Moon P-5




The Denon can also stream music from NAS drives, etc, it can also access internet radio. I’ve not at a play with these as yet other than go into the menu and have a peek, it even recognises the Sonos and when accessed, lists all the albums and tracks available on the NAS drive.

Currently I have the Sonos connected via digital into the Denon, so it can use the Denon’s DAC’s, having the Audyssey invoked I can’t recall hearing the Sonos sound so good on my system, it is very close to CD quality IMO. I've compared before and after results, and so far utilising the smarts built into the Denon, I very happy with the results.

Somehow I don’t believe it to be in the same calibre as the Moon for 2ch duties from a CD player/Transport, however the results are very good, and since most of my listening these days is via streamed the use of the CD player and 2ch pre is limited to when I get visitors, which is not very often these days.

Moving forward I also want to try some more of the smarts of the Denon including the ability to control 3 subwoofers, these can be configured in different ways but the way I’m looking at is L/R/LFE, so I’m hoping this will eliminate the external crossover I’m using to integrate my 2subs for 2ch listening. Of course some of this will depend if I can sell some of my gear, since while I still own it I may as well use it. I’m afraid the cupboards are becoming rather full of good equipment from days gone by.

So there you go you all now know just as much as me…

Rotel 1098

Thanks. Very appreciated.

Spearment, Mark and others:

First thanks for the pictures. These units are gorgeous.

Spearment: Thanks for your thoughts on the stereo side of things. I mean no disrespect to any of you that own or are going to purchase these units. They are beauiful to look at and a technical force to reckon with. It's just I cannot get out of mind the Denon's I have heard with music in their AVR's. I have never been impressed and I know we are comparing apples and oranges here but it is unfortunately my preconceived opinion. I need to go listen to these units and form an honest opinion. I wonder if they tried to cram too much into one unit? I know these units are a tweekers paradise but I have always been of the mind-set that less is better if trying to combine a HT/Stereo set-up. I am sure for a killer HT set-up these are fantastic.

I currently have the lowly NAD Master Series separates that can't touch these Denons for pure technical options and tweeking but I wonder how they would compare in 2ch music?

What did you all own before deciding on the Denon unit?

They are beautiful and keep us posted with info on these units. It's an exciting time to be a HT junkie for sure.

PS: I love the GUI.

Regards-
Rick

For me the HT side of things was a given, I'd owned Denon AVR's before the Rotel so I had a good idea on their sound and performance, and this Pre is no exception. For HT duties it does it very well and the versatility of it makes it totally configurable for most setups including my 9.3 well actually .4. I guess I was hoping for better 2ch performance than what I've experience with previous Denon AVR's and although this does do a great job it still has the AVR' coloration/constriction of the sound and sound stage.

As for streamed music I find it an excellent performer, and this is where 90+% of my listening is done these days, if however you are heavily into Vinyl, CD's or SACD's then a dedicated pre will still be required to get the best out of the source IMO.

The Audyssey is great, this is my first real exposure to it, and hopefully when combined with the Installers kit, I'll get performance close to the stand alone unit, although I do miss out on the versatility of the stand alone unit.

So in a nut shell if you're after a great HT processor with plenty of versatility then the Denon should be high on your auditioning list, like wise if you're also interested in good quality 2ch the Denon will do that as well, on the other hand if you're after excellent 2ch performance then a 2ch pre is still the way to go IMO.

Hi Rick I have the NAD M25 power amp which I adore.From reading some of these reviews it seems the denon is handling the the 2ch quite well.

Question for you all that also own and are using your AVP's. When listening to CD's (via analog, optical, or HDMI) are you getting bass from your sub when using Direct and Pure Direct? I get excellent bass from my subs in stereo mode but once I select Direct and Pure Direct the bass quits. What do I need to do to get my subs to output bass when listening to Direct and Pure Direct?

The sound quality is excellent in these modes I just want some bass. Just so you know I have a Martin Logan Decent sub connected to the AVP via XLR and the second sub (an ADS MS3) feeding off the Descent via RCA. I know that the subs are indeed working, as movie soundtracks really give the subs a workout, especially TrueHD and DTS-HD MA.

Any help you guys can give will be most appreciated.

You'll be joining in on the fun soon, hang in there!