*Official* Denon 5308 Thread - Page 155

Ok, dropped off the receiver today for an upgrade. The kit not in stock but will may get it by Friday. The guy at the shop said I can add 2 additional front wide speakers , higher. Currently, I have the Dali mk 800 as the fronts, should I get some good bookshelf speakers or no need for additional speakers. Thanks

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Correct. Part of the upgrade is Audyssey DSX which adds both front wide and front height capability. Ideally the front wides should match the front mains, although good bookshelves on stands would suffice as well.

so i need 4 speakers or will 2 more will be sufficient enough...(most likely will get bookshelves for sure - mainly for more clean look, i will put them on top of cabinet...i'll post the pic of the cabinet)

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Depends on whether you want to add just front wides or also front heights. Audyssey suggests front wides over front heights or rear surrounds.

I have a nice setup 7.1 all definitive speakers my fronts are tower with sub built in and center with sub built in. I am thinking about adding high fronts or wide's. Has anyone used the orbs speakers and will they get up with the fronts . I am using the Denon 5308ci with the upgrade.

Ok, got the receiver back today; after the upgrade (5308). I have few questions:
so there is only one connection for the front wides/front highs; which was added, does this mean i can only use one or the other (high or wides). I have wide speakers, already; haven''t purchased the highs, yet but that was the plan, using both. So, will the front high require a separate amp?

Also, i have zone 2 speakers (about 10 pair of speakers around the house), which are connected to the Audio Plex MS speaker selector and than to 5308 receiver; they all work fine.
Now, does it make more sense to invest in cheap separate amp to connect the front highs and the zone 2 speakers, to less the load of the receiver? Don't know if i can add another Denon receiver to use it as a amp? Any recommendations? (my highs will basically be bookshelf type speakers or 2 center speakers which i will use horizontally; since they will be put on top of cabinet)

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You can use either the Front Height "or" the Front Wide, but not both sets simultaneously. Additionally in a 9.X configuration, you will need to externally power either the Front Height or Front Wide speakers.

thanks jdsmoothie;
so should i invest in additional amp or save the money; if it ain't going to make a huge difference. Also, will it make more sense to use the zone 2 speakers on the additional amp? And any recommendations on cheap amp to do this job? (i also asked this question on the forum, as well)

I went for a 1U four channel amp to do my FH and SB speakers, leaving me the chance to bi-amp my mains.
You could do similar to drive your zone2 and wides, my room couldn't really fit wides so I went for heights.
I use an Art SLA4, seems to work well but I did have to mod the cooling fan setup as the stock was too noisy for my room.

It's personal preference really. Some say Front Heights add to the setup while others say not so much. Audyssey recommends Front Wides over Front Heights. Regarding how to power Zone 2 really depends on whether you want a 9.1 setup in the main zone or not.

ok, cool. I'll just keep an eye out for a cheap amp for the front high (bookshelf speakers).
Will any inexpensive 2 channel amp be fine for the front high's; since they are just bookshelf..should i look for specific watts?

SO, the Zone 2 after upgrade is not working... I connected the front wides to the fw/fh/ amp assign 2 connection and the zone 2 speaker selector to amp assign. And when I turn zone 2 on, the front wides start playing.
So, now what, should i just invest in a 4 channel amp; this way i could get the highs to work, as well?

But have no clue where to start and what connections i need to use to accomplish this. Any help will be appreciated. Any help in choosing a 4 channel amp will be appreciated (budget around 300-400)?

So, at this point i am thinking i will need a amp to drive the front highs and zone 2 speakers (10 pairs of speakers around the house, which are all connected to speaker selector - which will i am assuming will be connected to the new amp and from the amp to the 5308 and where would i put the rca from the amp to the 5308 for the zone 2).

Second connection will be for the front highs which i will connect to the new amp as well, and where will this connection go it, i noticed in the new manual, it has pre-out for the front highs

will something the ART SLA4 do the job, as this is the one that ailean is using to run his FH's and SB's? (really don't need rack mount, though)

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Can't really help with amp suggestions, but note that your experience with the Zone 2 speaker audio playing to the Front Wide speakers is by design as you have AMP ASSIGN currently set. Take a look in your 5308 Upgrade manual at the charts starting at p. 61 and you'll note that if you want to use the on board amps to power Zone 2, you'll need an external amp to power either the Front Height or Front Wide speakers, otherwise Zone 2 plays through the FH/FW/AmpAssign2 speaker posts. Also note, that you only have the option of using the Front Wide "OR" the Front Height one set at a time, not both simultaneously, regardless of whether you use an external amp or not (p. 7).

Ok, sorry for many questions; but definitely needed the help to get it running correctly; so thanks allot.
So, I just picked up an amplifier Harmon Kardon PA5800 (used off craigslist). It is a 5 channel amp (around 80 watts or so). Hopefully, this will also take some load off the receiver.
Now, which speakers should i hook up to the amp. I am planing to hook the front wides.
and the others i have are
front: dali 800's
center: paradigm cc690
surround side and backs: in ceiling klipsch CDT-2800-C
Subwoofer - 2 x Emotiva 12" Ultra 12
zone 2: 10 pair of in ceiling speakers
And lastly, how to bi-amps the fronts; now that i have external amp?
thanks.Mac

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I'd connect the Zone 2 speaker selector and skip the bi-amping as it's not likely to add any real benefit.

Got it. So just I get this right. Connect the Harmon kardon amp using RCA plugs to pre/out plugs on the denon receiver - zone 2 pre -out and FH/fw pre out. And connect the front wide's and the speaker selector to the Harmon kardon amp. With all done, run the audyssey to do all the rest of the work. Any other settings I should pay close attention and adjust.
I'm setting all this at my folks, so I'll be back there tomorrow again to continue this; hopefully, somewhat get it all running......

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Yup. Sounds right. Also set the Extension Channel setting (p. 28) to "Front Wide."

I have Sennheiser wireless headphones here is my question,is the headphone jack on the front of the 5308 with 5.1 better than using the digital optical or coax on the back.I have no clue.

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Not sure, but "Dolby Headphone" is only available when using the headphone jack.

The headphone jack in front is a two channel analog output as you would expect. The digital optical and coax are multichannel outputs. Can your Sennheisers handle that?

For my Sennheisers I use zone 3 analog line level outputs (in the back).

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I understand the convenience of using the analog out jacks, but did you try Dolby Volume via the front jack? Any real difference noted?

Sennhesiser I have is hdr180 that hookup to the front jack. I am thinking about getting the Sennhesiser hdr220 that are digital with optical and coax hookups. will I have a better sound quality with digital. And thank you all for getting back so fast.

I'll give that a try. Only reason for using zone 3 was because I usually have something different playing on the headphones than on the main outs. But, it's good to try new things...

I just looked up the datasheet on the 220s and it states that all inputs must be PCM. So any attempt to send Dolby Digital or DTS over the digital inputs will not produce music (don't know if you'll get silence or noise instead).

I have to believe with high quality DACs in the AVR-5308 and unknown quality in the 220 base unit the sound quality would be better with the analog inputs although I don't know if it would be noticibly better.

Ok, so made some process. got it all hooked up; the wiring is not that great; as you can see the from the pic. Also, I setup the xbmc (eden - intel) htpc, to the devon via hdmi, as well (silver one).

I have not started the auto setup; nor i have setup the audyssey, yet. The biggest problem, as you might have guessed it, is running the zone 2 speakers from xbmc, since htpc is hooked up using hdmi and it looks like 5308 is not linking the audio to zone 2 via hdmi. Is there any good solution for this problem; seems, like its a big one; i'll also hunt around xbmc forum, as well.

Oh and any way to passthrough hdmi cable through 5308 without turing the 5308 on (using htpc without turning 5308 on) and any danger (heat) of all that stuff in the cabinet?
thanks

Try turning "HDMI control" to ON.

1. HDMI to Zone 2 is not possible, so you'll need to either also connect an optical/digital coax (to pass PCM 2.0 only) or an analog cable from the HTPC which will then pass to Zone 2.

2. As Shamus notes, set HDMI Control to "ON" to pass the last HDMI source selected through the AVR while it's in Standby mode.

3. Hard to tell from the photo whether the holes in the back of the cabinet are large enough to effectively exhaust the heat buildup so you may want to enlarge them if possible and also consider adding a USB PC fan or two that you can connect to the rear USB jack on the AVR.

ok, those holes basically lead in the wall; but i was planing to leave them open...usb fan seems like a good idea. i'll look into it. optical was connected but doesn't work from xbmc...i'll ask around on the xbmc forum and will get back...thanks

Hi guys, I have 5308 set up in a entertainment cabinet I opened up the back to let some of the heat out and I am thinking about putting a small fan in it. Now I need your help. Were is the best placement for the small fan. Front, back, on top, .

Top. The HQV video processor is what really heats up, and it vents out the top.