denon 3808 yamaha 3900 or emotiva xpa-5 and umc prosser

[gary p]

Im thinking of up gradeing my denon 2805 avr to something that will give me the new HD sound. I have sony ps3 which has dolby hd decoder but dts is linear pcm.Emotiva seems to good to be true compared to other high end amps etc price wise.I had yamaha's little better power wise but the denon sound fuller I have klipsch legends 20 (mains) ref 62 (center) ss-1 surrounds.polk 505 sub. thanks gp

 

[Chopin_Guy]

Your PS3 send everything via PCM....it decodes all the codecs internally and does not have the ability to bitstream the HD codecs. This has been discussed quite a bit here and there is no quantifiable difference in sound whether your AVR does the decoding or the player. The only thing you gain is your AVR reading out "tru-HD" or what-have-you. You will have to buy a new AVR *and* a new player that bitstreams the HD codecs if you want the gratification of having the AVR read out whatever HD codec is being passed to it.

Now if you want to upgrade your AVR to gain more current technology and better sound quality that is one thing, but don't upgrade it thinking you are going to gain "the new HD sound"...

With that being said, I have my PS3 going through my 3808ci and it does a wonderful job. But I would be interested to see a review of the new Emo pre-amp as it looks very interesting. And this is a personal preference but I have never big on the Yammy gear. More important than this is what I said at the beginning of this post....you have to make the choice to upgrade based on the right information...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

We all know how you feel about upgrading because we all have this UpgradItis sickness.

But from my experience, Dolby TrueHD isn't any better than Dolby Digital and DTS-HD isn't any better than DTS - as long as they both came from the SAME original source.

As far as Denon 3808 (or 3810) vs Yamaha 3900 vs Emotiva, it doesn't really matter as far as sound or picture quality.

It all depends on what features you like, how big of the on-screen display you want, and that separates vs receiver status.

Personally, I would go with the Emotiva pre-pro + amp. But that's just personal.

 

[lsiberian]

We all know how you feel about upgrading because we all have this UpgradItis sickness.

But from my experience, Dolby TrueHD isn't any better than Dolby Digital and DTS-HD isn't any better than DTS - as long as they both came from the SAME original source.

As far as Denon 3808 (or 3810) vs Yamaha 3900 vs Emotiva, it doesn't really matter as far as sound or picture quality.

It all depends on what features you like, how big of the on-screen display you want, and that separates vs receiver status.

Personally, I would go with the Emotiva pre-pro + amp. But that's just personal.

Well it usually is a better mastering job, but that's not because of the format. The difference on great sound films is so menial it doesn't really matter IMO. PQ is what Blu-ray really brings. I suggest you add another sub to your system. That would be a true upgrade.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Denon AVR-3808ci will be my choice.

All the power you need for your Klipsch speakers.
Plus Denon and Klipsch is a very good match, sound wise.
Plus the Denon has Audyssey MultEQ XT, Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Volume.
Plus the AVR-3808ci is at a very good discount right now (below $999), and will further drop in price too, because of the new arrival from Denon 2009 receiver's models.

You don't need to spend more money than that.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[gary p]

yes I appreciate all your opinions

yes i appreciate all your opinions.gp

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Plus the Denon has Audyssey MultEQ XT, Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Volume.

Just for the heck of it, I just tried the Audyssey MultEQ XT & Dynamic EQ again this weekend, but this time with 8 different positions.

My conclusion: I can't tell the difference at all between Audyssey vs No Audyssey! Music, movies, Audyssey Flat, Audyssey, Dynamic EQ, Direct modes, etc. I could not tell the difference at all. So I turned Audyssey off completely.

 

[Lordoftherings]

Just for the heck of it, I just tried the Audyssey MultEQ XT & Dynamic EQ again this weekend, but this time with 8 different positions.

My conclusion: I can't tell the difference at all between Audyssey vs No Audyssey! Music, movies, Audyssey Flat, Audyssey, Dynamic EQ, Direct modes, etc. I could not tell the difference at all. So I turned Audyssey off completely.

You must have a perfect room.

I found out that by running Audyssey several times (always 8 positions), with some small variations on mic positioning reveals some very happy results.

This:

................................6.............................
.................4..............................5.............
.....................3..........1...........2.................
..........................8............7......................

Or:

................4...............5................6............
...................3............1.............2...............
..........................8............7.......................

Or:

................................5..............................
...............4.......3.......1........2........6...........
............................8........7.........................

Or:

...........................5.........6..........................
..............4.......3........1........2.......7.............
................................8...............................

Or:

...........................4......5...........................
................6........3....1....2........7...............
...............................8..............................

* ^Just tighter mic spacing than the previous graph.

* Also, the main line (with the #1,2 & 3) always at ear level.
* The outside (from #1,2 & 3), of the same line, try a bit lower for the mic positions (say about 3" lower or so).
* The first line, close to the center channel, about 1 to 2" lower than your ears.
* The last line, at the rear, about 6" higher than ear level.

--> Position's experimentation is the key for perfect harmony.
Check it out, don't be afraid to rerun Audyssey several times, you'll be very surprised with the pleasant results you'll be obtaining.

LOTR