Why a Denon x3600 but no x4600 or x6600 or x8600?

[Good4it]

There is a x3500, x4500, s6500 and x8500.

 

[lovinthehd]

They appear to be reserving some for 2020 release from what I've read. Don't think there'd be an 8600/flagship model for another year or more after that based on their last few flagship releases.

 

[Good4it]

This time last year everyone had announced their new products.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You're not thinking about buying another AVR so soon, are you?

 

[lovinthehd]

This time last year everyone had announced their new products.

Denon doesn't always release a new product each year for every spot in it's lineup....

 

[AltecBX]

Is the 3600 better than the 4500?

 

[PENG]

Is the 3600 better than the 4500?

No, but it's 2019 model so may have some newer gadgets.

 

[KEW]

I know here on AH we have seen an embrace of buying last years model at a deep discount because almost invariably, the improvements between each year are pretty small as compared to the savings.
Perhaps Denon is also looking at it and decided it would make sense to provide two years worth of additional features before adding the costs of retooling.
Also a consideration that Onkyo/Pioneer are no longer proper competitors although I fail to understand how that might influence this decision.
I'm sure it costs a lot of money to retool every year and being able to run a two year cycle off of each redesign should reduce costs.
I believe Yamaha is redesigning on an annual basis. Yamaha has traditionally been more expensive than Denon and perhaps Denon decided to reduce their costs and further increase their value so as to make their cost advantage over the Yamaha AVR's more dramatic.
As far as market position, Marantz is marketed as a premium product which pits it more squarely against Yamaha, so it will be interesting to see what Marantz does.

Edit: for newb readers, do not read my above statement as saying that Marantz is clearly a premium product over Denon. The differences are very small and mostly include Marantz's HDAM module (which is of dubious consequence) and historically Marantz has offered a little more analog connectivity. It is generally more about branding and image than actual capability (and I do think the Marantz display port is kind of cool).

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Is the 3600 better than the 4500?

X3600: HDMI 2.1, 9Ch Amps, 11CH Processing, Audyssey XT32, and a few gimmick video features like IMAX Enhanced, Dolby Vision, and HDR10.

I didn’t hear anything about 8K video pass-through.

 

[snakeeyes]

I know here on AH we have seen an embrace of buying last years model at a deep discount because almost invariably, the improvements between each year are pretty small as compared to the savings.
Perhaps Denon is also looking at it and decided it would make sense to provide two years worth of additional features before adding the costs of retooling.
Also a consideration that Onkyo/Pioneer are no longer proper competitors although I fail to understand how that might influence this decision.
I'm sure it costs a lot of money to retool every year and being able to run a two year cycle off of each redesign should reduce costs.
I believe Yamaha is redesigning on an annual basis. Yamaha has traditionally been more expensive than Denon and perhaps Denon decided to reduce their costs and further increase their value so as to make their cost advantage over the Yamaha AVR's more dramatic.
As far as market position, Marantz is marketed as a premium product which pits it more squarely against Yamaha, so it will be interesting to see what Marantz does.

Edit: for newb readers, do not read my above statement as saying that Marantz is clearly a premium product over Denon. The differences are very small and mostly include Marantz's HDAM module (which is of dubious consequence) and historically Marantz has offered a little more analog connectivity. It is generally more about branding and image than actual capability (and I do think the Marantz display port is kind of cool).

Usually Yamaha is every year but I read that Yamaha is not releasing anything in 2019 and summer 2020 is the next release of AVRs. HDMI 2.1 testing is probably part of it.

As far as redesign, the 2010 chassis isn’t much different than the 2018 chassis but important features have been added every year. I’m not clear if they would be redesigning the Adventege chassis anytime soon.

 

[Good4it]

X3600: HDMI 2.1, 9Ch Amps, 11CH Processing, Audyssey XT32, and a few gimmick video features like IMAX Enhanced, Dolby Vision, and HDR10.

I didn’t hear anything about 8K video pass-through.

Then is the difference in 3xxx and 4xxx only in amp output?

 

[PENG]

Then is the difference in 3xxx and 4xxx only in amp output?

In addition to the difference in amp output, there are other differences that may or may not be important to you. Below are some examples:

4X00 series has lower THD specs, same as the Marantz SR701X, just no HDAM and 7.1 analog in.

On the digital side, 4X00 has Denon link, D.D.S.C. HD, and AL32 processing.

On the video side, 4X00 has Auro-3D.

On the Denon website there is a comparison chart option for a side by side features and specs comparison, though it would typically contain a few errors. For some reasons they seemed unable to get it right for even once.

 

[snakeeyes]

In addition to the difference in amp output, there are other differences that may or may not be important to you. Below are some examples:

4X00 series has lower THD specs, same as the Marantz SR701X, just no HDAM and 7.1 analog in.

On the digital side, 4X00 has Denon link, D.D.S.C. HD, and AL32 processing.

On the video side, 4X00 has Auro-3D.

On the Denon website there is a comparison chart option for a side by side features and specs comparison, though it would typically contain a few errors. For some reasons they seemed unable to get it right for even once.

Think most people choosing Denon have HDMI Blu-ray players and most people with Marantz are using the 7.1 analog inputs. Otherwise they are basically the same other than the faceplates

 

[AltecBX]

From my understanding, the 3600 has 9.2, HDCP 2.3, eARC out the box, Auro-3D, HDMI 2.1, etc..

So others than higher wattage, AL32, and DDSC, what dos the 4500 have better than the 3600?
Like PENG said above, Denon website is not the best when comparing.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Then is the difference in 3xxx and 4xxx only in amp output?

For most people, pretty much. And even then, they won’t notice any difference in amp output.

.....Unless you actually care about what PENG mentioned, like the totally dead Auro3D that has about absolutely ZERO contents in the USA and very little contents in Europe.

The lines between the X3000 and X4000 series are really blurry.

In the past, when I was all Denon, it was either the 3000 series or the top flagship series.

 

[AltecBX]

I thought the 3600H has Auro-3D and Imax Enhanced..?

PS - Can these AVR simulate Auro-3D on other formats. So if I have a 7.1 movie, can the AVR up-mix it to Auro-3D so I can experience a center speaker in the ceiling if I install a speaker there?

 

[PENG]

I thought the 3600H has Auro-3D and Imax Enhanced..?

PS - Can these AVR simulate Auro-3D on other formats. So if I have a 7.1 movie, can the AVR up-mix it to Auro-3D so I can experience a center speaker in the ceiling if I install a speaker there?

No Auro-3D. Only the D4000 series and M7000 series (paid upgradable for the x4300h and SR7011 iirc) have Auro-3D.

The website info is not 100% error free but the Owner's manuals are usually quite accurate, so I downloaded and read the manuals before I listed some of the differences between the 3600 and 4500.

IMO, for $400 less, the AVR-X3600H is a much better value unless you must have Auro-3D. The approx 15% output power difference is negligible.

 

[snakeeyes]

Also Dolby doesn’t allow anything with a Dolby source to use anything other than Dolby upmixers anymore. Think that started at the beginning of 2018?

 

[KEW]

IMO, for $400 less, the AVR-X3600H is a much better value unless you must have Auro-3D. The approx 15% output power difference is negligible.

The problem with this statement is 15% sounds significant until we make clear that 15% represents well below one dB iincrease!
I've been away from math and, especially, logs for too long to figure out the equation to be precise!

 

[lovinthehd]

The problem with this statement is 15% sounds significant until we make clear that 15% represents well below one dB iincrease!
I've been away from math and, especially, logs for too long to figure out the equation to be precise!

Maybe bookmark this page https://www.crownaudio.com/en/tools/calculators