[aweinman]

I am trying to decide if I need to spend the extra money on the 3802. I do not think I need the extra power. (Room is only 13x17) But I do not want to lose out on sound quality or features. I know that the 2802 has only one amp for the rear center speaker, compared to two for the 3802. But are there any other differences that can lead to differences in sound quality, and did anybody do a sound comparison test?


Thanks.

 

[aweinman]

bump up. Any one out there do a comparison?

 

[Juan]

aweinman,


What I did was, I went to crutchfield.com and compared them side by side. The 3802 has more features but they might not be as important to you.

 

[jamin]

Reading the manuals is very painful.

Understanding the manuals is, for me, impossible.


I nearly went with the 1802? just to get something going.


I decided that if half the contradictory info in the 3802 manual was true then I would see a benefit. If not now then within a year.


I found a local dealer willing to deal and went for the 3802 over the 2802 and split the price difference.


The 4 inch spacing on all sides requirements is a bit stiff. I use it as a pre/pro so I'm not pushing it.


Had some volume control "clicking" but it vanished and am content so far.


Remote is cryptic on 3802 and you can't set the main balance levels without invoking it's own internal blasted noise generator.


Actual roll-off rate for the LFE xover freq is also a mystery.


Am sure most of these "features" are replicated in the 2802. Once you "play" with it a while, the stress level drops.


By the way if anybody ever gets the DD "indicator" lamp on the RIGHT side of the unit to light up, tell me how!


Still convinced Denon is Bang for the buck leader.

 

[HAN]

jamin: A couple of thoughts for your difficulties...


The levels can be adjusted on the fly. When the remote is in receiver mode, press the "ENTER" button. This will show an individual speaker level on screen. You can adjust it up and down via the arrow keys. If you keep pressing the "ENTER", you can scroll thru the rest of the levels (and also adjust the Fade function.)


LFE roll-off is based on whatever the crossover freq. you chosen in the setup menu. (The rate is 24db/octave above your choice.)


Yes, the manual is not the best and it does have a couple of wrong things. For eg., you cannot store different individual volume levels for ALL soundfields. Just most of them...


The right side DD light is not functional. I don't know why they have it on there unless the display is used in another country (or something.)

 

[jamin]

Han,


Thanks. Where did you find the 24 Db/Octave rate?

Glad to hear bout the indicator-thought I was going nuts!

 

[HAN]

jamin: Denon has followed the THX-style approved crossover slopes for several years. Various tests in audio/video magazines have verified the 12 db/octave highpass and 24 db/octave lowpass slopes.


Until the introduction of the xx02 series, Denon always used 80 Hz (again the choice of THX) as the crossover frequency. Now Denon is finally starting to offer more than one frequency (although the choices are still one-size-fits-all.)

 

[jamin]

Han,

Many thanks.