Exclusive Denon AVR-3805 First Look!

[dsayed]

Faq

Readers of this forum may be interested to know that I've started an FAQ for this receiver. Much of the information has been collated from the long thread over at AVS Forum, but I look forward to incorporating information gleaned from other sources into the FAQ as time progresses and experience with the receiver increases.
In each case, I have tried to give credit to the original source of the answer to a particular question.
The PDF version is here and the Excel source file is here.

If there are questions and answers that you think would be a good addition, please send them my way and I'll try to keep this updated.

 

[Malice]

QUESTION
If the 3805 is a model destined fro both the US and European markets, does the unit have 110V/220V switching or is it "fixed" for the country in which it is to be sold/marketed?

 

[selfar]

As per the 3805's product sheet, the power supply is fixed based on the country it is sold in.

Power supply AC 120V, 60Hz (USA)
AC 230V, 50Hz (Europe)

 

[laurie]

Well to-day I just wanted to see how the auto setup works and how it adjusted the speakers compared to one done manually

1. the speaker configuration[small/large] was spot for all spkrs
2. the distance from front and from rear to listenering position almost spot on but for the sub way out e.*. spkrs 3.5m for all 3 fronts with sub in same position came up with 9m!!
3. it seems the Denon reference level came out as 75dB for a display reading of 0dB which turned my levels way to low
75dB=FL -.5dB FR -1.5dB C -.5dB SR -.5dB SL -.5dB SW +9dB
I set it for:
85dB=FL + 8dB FR + 7dB C + 6dB SR +10dB SL +9.5dB SW +10dB

now the white ants have left the house this thing has ample power I believe your ears will give out before the amp switches into protect mode awesome
cheers laurie

 

[Unregistered]

laurie,
Your post got me thinking , I was wondering why my 3805 had all my channels levels set like yours ( all negitive numbers). It must be because I have efficient Klipsch speakers , and thats what the receiver set them at so 0 would be reference at 75db. I was wondering why somepeoples 3805 would max out at +18 and others on +10.
Its cool to have a a/v friend thats a woman.I wish my wife would share my a/v enthusiasim(hooked on phonics works for me ).Take care
Shawners

 

[dsayed]

QUESTION
If the 3805 is a model destined fro both the US and European markets, does the unit have 110V/220V switching or is it "fixed" for the country in which it is to be sold/marketed?

The 3805 has different variants depending on where it is sold. I am not sure if there is a designation of this other than a label on the box (mine said "US".) Anyway, the fixed power supply is one difference and the inability of the US version to decode RDS is another. A third difference is that the US version does not come with the calibration microphone, whereas others do.

I am not sure how many different versions exist, but there is at least the US and European version. There may be an Asian (although this could be the European version with a different mains lead) and a Japanese version as well.

I wish manufacturers would stop doing this and sell a global model but I suspect the reason is the ability to charge different prices in different markets. I do have to wonder whether there is a way of enabling the RDS functionality in the US model.

 

[theguy]

Question for Hawke

Looking forward to your review in order to make a final decision re the 3805 versus the Yammie 2400 (in Canada, there is a significant price difference).

Can you include some sort of comparison of the two receivers so as to help with such a decision?

Thanks kindly

 

[laurie]

Hawke

You said the review will be released Thursday!! I live in Australia so we get thursday first by about 10hrs to the states so can I get my copy shortly
just kidding
cheers laurie

 

[Audioholics]

laurie,
Your post got me thinking , I was wondering why my 3805 had all my channels levels set like yours ( all negitive numbers). It must be because I have efficient Klipsch speakers , and thats what the receiver set them at so 0 would be reference at 75db. I was wondering why somepeoples 3805 would max out at +18 and others on +10.
Its cool to have a a/v friend thats a woman.I wish my wife would share my a/v enthusiasim(hooked on phonics works for me ).Take care
Shawners

It maxes out at +18 MINUS the maximum level (of any speaker) you added in the speaker level setup.

laurie: If you want to caibrate your speakers above 75 dB SPL, you can just raise the volume and then calibrate to 0 dB SPL (as opposed to setting levels at +8, +10, etc). Don't get too carried away as I'm sure the test tone Denon uses is meant for 75dB.

 

[Audioholics]

Surprise!

I got it completed a day early for everyone. Enjoy!

Denon AVR-3805 Receiver Review

It ended up being only 13 pages online, much better than the 20 pages it took up in MS Word!

I'll follow up with an addendum or two if people post their questions here about the receiver. That way I can post it all as a large FAQ list instead of answering all the emails and post individually.

I may not have time to visit AVS and all the other threads, so be sure to post all questions here if you want them included in the FAQ document.

Thanks for being patient - now you know why it took so long.

 

[laurie]

Thanks a million hawke Australia got it FIRST
just kidding
cheers laurie

 

[m1abrams]

Got a correction for you already.

You have a Con listed as having only 1 digitial Coax Input, just looking at the back picture I see 2 digital Coax Input.

 

[mwc]

Hawke,

Question fot the FAQ:

How do I get a video source to display while the receiver is in CD mode (listening to music)?

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

When I saw the bit about bi-amping the front speakers I nearly started drooling: for $1200 I can get near state-of-the-art digital processing AND biamping! Woohoo! No separate pre-pro and power amps! Nirvana, here I come! But, if I read it correctly, you can't biamp with an active x-over between the preamp and power amp stages on the Denon -- or use an active x-over in any event. Drat! Tell me I'm wrong, please!

 

[Audioholics]

Got a correction for you already.

You have a Con listed as having only 1 digitial Coax Input, just looking at the back picture I see 2 digital Coax Input.

Oops. Fixed that just now - thanks a bunch.

 

[Audioholics]

Hawke,

Question fot the FAQ:

How do I get a video source to display while the receiver is in CD mode (listening to music)?

Hit the 'Video Select' button on the receiver (not available on the remote) and spin the function knob to select the video source you want with the current audio.

 

[jeffsg4mac]

I too was interested in more info on the biamping part, I have a 2803 that has surround back and zone2, I could biamp mine too the same as the 3803, correct? But is it really biamping when it is being done after the amp instead of before, would you really have 240 watts per channel or just 120 to the tweeters and 120 to the woofers, Would there really be an advantage to doing it or any sonic value? maybe a good question for Dan B.

 

[Audioholics]

When I saw the bit about bi-amping the front speakers I nearly started drooling: for $1200 I can get near state-of-the-art digital processing AND biamping! Woohoo! No separate pre-pro and power amps! Nirvana, here I come! But, if I read it correctly, you can't biamp with an active x-over between the preamp and power amp stages on the Denon -- or use an active x-over in any event. Drat! Tell me I'm wrong, please!

Rip, we don't recommend that because you could only do it in Large mode (with the crossover bypassed) and even then you can't take advantage of the low frequency output of the crossover due to the fact that you have no direct preamp couplers on the Denon. It doesn't really work with this receiver and to be honest it's probably more than most people would want to mess with on a $1200 receiver.

 

[gene]

But is it really biamping when it is being done after the amp instead of before, would you really have 240 watts per channel or just 120 to the tweeters and 120 to the woofers, Would there really be an advantage to doing it or any sonic value? maybe a good question for Dan B.

Jeff;

Of course true biamping is when you bypass the crossovers in the speakers in favor of active line level ones. So no, the method utilized in the receiver does not realize the full potential of biamping. However, it does provide an advantage to those powering speakers that need a little extra oomph.

Some advantages:
1) Extra 3dB of margin (2x power to speaker now)
2) As you know, the amps in most receivers are not as robust as dedicated amps, thus it will help them out to break off the speaker load to separate amps within the receiver, rather than to one amp in the receiver. For 2-way bookself speakers there is probably little advantage of doing this, but for Clints case where he had side firing 12" woofers, it is a pretty significant advantage.
3) You can boast to your friends that your biamping on a receiver
4) Why leave those channels unused in a 5.1 system? You paid for them
5) You can now tweak the sound of the speaker by altering the level of Zone2 (Which I recommend to be used for the low end of the speaker) so you can either add or reduce bass levels.

 

[mwc]

Too bad my Magnepans don't allow for bi-amping