Denon X4400H

[Ras777]

I agree but at $300 I am that much closer to the price of the X6400H. Tough choice.

 

[lovinthehd]

Maybe instead of $300 try this for half that https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-apa150-150w-power-amplifier--300-812

 

[Ras777]

Thanks lovinthehd I will take a look at that.

 

[PENG]

I agree but at $300 I am that much closer to the price of the X6400H. Tough choice.

I know, and I am not one who believe amps make much difference in SQ as long as it is on the right side of the point of diminishing return, but I don't think that Russound amp has passed that point.

 

[PENG]

@Ras777 , before you do anything, please explore the amp assign menu and if you have the speakers, try connecting them to make sure it works. If it does, and now I believe it most likely will, then I owe you guys an apology as it would mean that I understood the manual and the other forum posts incorrectly. The manual is confusing too, there is no doubt about that because it seemed to show that for 11.1, you have to connect a 2 channel external amp to the pre-outs for the height channels only. They actually showed several examples of 11.1 but none indicated the use of pre-outs for the FL and FR. However, if you go to the set up menu, select amp assign, select 11.1ch, you will see that for each of the height layout, you have the option to select pre-outs for the "Front", or one of the different set of "Height/or Top" channels, to complete a total of 11 channels.

So again, I apologize for inadvertently spreading false information based on my previous understanding, or unfortunately, misunderstanding.. I hope I understand it correctly this time, but please try it.

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Ah yes! This sounds familiar. Pretty sure this is what I did during setup. It will ask you which speakers to use for the pre-outs and fronts was an option.

Call denon and ask them directly. I tried to do a chat for you but they are not answering in there.

201-762-6665

 

[lovinthehd]

I've seen this (about the limited amp assign) from other than Peng about these newer Denons. I am curious because my 4520 is very flexible in amp assign and if they could do that for the 4520....

 

[Drunkpenguin]

IIRC it works like this. There are speaker binding posts for all 11 channels on the back of the receiver. But only 9 of them can work, so during the setup assistant you have 3 options to choose for the pre-outs, fronts, heights, or zone 2. If you choose fronts then all speaker binding posts will work except for the 2 fronts. You can still use whatever remaining preouts you want from that point. So in your case the front 3.

This is all coming back to me, this should work for you! The manual does suck tho, but call Denon and confirm. They are pretty good to talk to over there.

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Watch this video and it will answer all of your questions!

 

[PENG]

I've seen this (about the limited amp assign) from other than Peng about these newer Denons. I am curious because my 4520 is very flexible in amp assign and if they could do that for the 4520....

The 4520 is a flag ship, so like the 7200 and 8500, they have the custom assign feature that let you re-purpose any amp channels except the center channel. The non flagship models such as the 4400 and 6400 can only assign amps according to templates, the paper manuals are confusing, but the onscreen menu does show the "Front" channels (except the center) can be re-purposed for the heigh/Atmos channels.

 

[PENG]

IIRC it works like this. There are speaker binding posts for all 11 channels on the back of the receiver. But only 9 of them can work, so during the setup assistant you have 3 options to choose for the pre-outs, fronts, heights, or zone 2. If you choose fronts then all speaker binding posts will work except for the 2 fronts. You can still use whatever remaining preouts you want from that point. So in your case the front 3.

This is all coming back to me, this should work for you! The manual does suck tho, but call Denon and confirm. They are pretty good to talk to over there.

That's what I thought after studying the onscreen amp assign menu, thanks.

 

[Drunkpenguin]

It was only a couple of months ago that I went through all this, cant believe I already forgot how it works lol. Hopefully OP comes back to read all this before making a rash decision.

 

[lovinthehd]

The 4520 is a flag ship, so like the 7200 and 8500, they have the custom assign feature that let you re-purpose any amp channels except the center channel. The non flagship models such as the 4400 and 6400 can only assign amps according to templates, the paper manuals are confusing, but the onscreen menu does show the "Front" channels (except the center) can be re-purposed for the heigh/Atmos channels.

Yes, the 4520 in amp assign has several preset formats (9.1, 7.1 + zone2; 5.1 + zone 2/3; 7.1 + zone 2/3-mono; 7.1 bi-amp; 5.1 biamp + zone 2; 9.1/2ch front; 7.1/2ch front biamp; 7.1 + front B; 11.1; pre-amp and Custom. I assume similar formats on the newer models except for the custom option? FWIW customs does include the center options.

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Watch the video above, it explains it all. Basically on the 4400 the amp assign only works between front 2 or 2 height channels. If you set the amp assign to front then OP can do exactly what hes wanting to do. The flagship models (6400) have more flexibility beyond that.

 

[lovinthehd]

Watch the video above, it explains it all. Basically on the 4400 the amp assign only works between front 2 or 2 height channels. If you set the amp assign to front then OP can do exactly what hes wanting to do. The flagship models (6400) have more flexibility beyond that.

I normally don't do videos myself (they're mostly just annoying especially when they're just some dude calling themselves Techno Dad!), nor do I have any particular questions . Thanks for the offer, tho

I assume your 4400 lacks the "custom" option in the setup menu? Wonder if this is just a "feature" that's firmware enabled to limit the option to the flagship or not...

 

[Drunkpenguin]

Someone with more knowledge than myself could answer that question, but wouldnt it be a hardware issue? To divert amp assignments from one output to another would have to have some circuitry to do that I would imagine.

 

[lovinthehd]

Someone with more knowledge than myself could answer that question, but wouldnt it be a hardware issue? To divert amp assignments from one output to another would have to have some circuitry to do that I would imagine.

That's what I'm curious about, whether it's simply firmware or actual hardware limitation....Seems if they could do it in the 4520 they could do it in later models easily enough....

 

[PENG]

Ah yes! This sounds familiar. Pretty sure this is what I did during setup. It will ask you which speakers to use for the pre-outs and fronts was an option.

Call denon and ask them directly. I tried to do a chat for you but they are not answering in there.

201-762-6665

Thanks for that, but there is no need. After I studied the onscreen menu for amp assign, I got that figured out but posted on AVSF to get jdsmoothie to confirm, and he did. For something like that, I trust jd more than I trust Denon/Marantz's front line customer support.

 

[PENG]

Someone with more knowledge than myself could answer that question, but wouldnt it be a hardware issue? To divert amp assignments from one output to another would have to have some circuitry to do that I would imagine.

Actually it is both, it involves hardware because of the use of both IC switches and relays. I just read the schematics so I know, just wonder why I didn't do it in the first place lol... The answers are basically there, just by following the schematics.

 

[PENG]

Watch the video above, it explains it all. Basically on the 4400 the amp assign only works between front 2 or 2 height channels. If you set the amp assign to front then OP can do exactly what hes wanting to do. The flagship models (6400) have more flexibility beyond that.

Only because it has two more amp channels, the 4520, 7200 and 8500 are the ones that allows for almost 100% flexibility.