Denon AVR-4806 7.1 Channels Receiver

This past August my husband and I went full swing with our new A/V business. He had been in the business for years, but we felt it was time to start working for ourselves and our own future. With this new endeavor came new toys, MANY new toys. Our house had already been outfitted with a television in every room and very nice electronics.

We already had an older model Denon AVR-3805 receiver, which I thought worked just fine, but my husband insisted on us purchasing the AVR-4806 for our Theater. The current receiver didn't have all the bells and whistles needed for the multi-zone setup we had in mind.

~*~FEATURES IN A NUT-SHELL~*~

This receiver is not for the average Joe. It carries a pretty hefty MSRP of $3500 and a fairly heavy 50.5 lbs of weight. While this isn't the most expensive, nor the heaviest receiver around, it ranks pretty high up there.

The features that make this unit so unique are:

*THX Ultra2 Post Processing
*Audyssey MultEqxt Room Eq. with up to eight position setup
*XM Satellite Ready Connect & Play Capability
*Analog Video to HDMI Output Conversion
*Denon Link III for Digital Passing of DVD-A/SACD From Compatible Denon DVD Players.
*3 Source/3 Zone Capability
*Auto Setup Microphone Included

~*~AUDIO~*~

The back of this unit is insane! There are 12 sets of Analog inputs, 8 digital inputs - 5 Optical and 3 Coaxial, 2 IEEE 1394 (firewire / iLink / or whatever your manufacturer decides to call it), and with the new firmware an Ethernet port which can stream audio from a computer on your network or from internet radio stations. There is one set of 8 channel analog external inputs which allow you to connect a standard DVD-A/SACD player for High Resolution / Multi-Channel Music, or if you have a compatible Denon DVD player, you can hook it up digitally via the Denon Link connection to get Digital pass through of all formats including DVD-Audio and SACD. This can greatly reduce cable clutter, as you only need 1 cable instead of the 6 normally needed for Analog output of a SACD/DVD-A signal.

As for audio outputs, there are 3 optical connections for digital recording, 3 VCR output connections and 1 CDR/Tape output for analog recording. There is also a full compliment of 8 pre-amp outputs for use with an external amplifier, in case you have some insane speakers which require a dedicated amp (I doubt many people will need this as I pulled some ADA separates setup from a customer's house and replaced it with this unit and it sounded better!) There are audio outputs for Zone 2 and 3, both of which also have composite and S-Video outputs to go with them.

Power Capabilities are 140W x 7 Channels into 8 ohms or 160W x 7 into 6 ohms.

There are the new improved, 5-way, gold binding posts which Denon first used on the 5805. This provides for a more secure connection of speaker wires to the 9 available speaker outputs. While this is a 7.1 receiver, you have the option of hooking up both A and B surround speakers. This gives you the option of having a speaker placed correctly on the side for Movies/TV/Games as well as a pair at 45 degrees behind the listening position to create the "circle" used for multi-channel music, such as from a DVD-A or SACD.

In larger rooms, it is also possible to have 2 pairs of side speakers to help provide surround effects to multiple rows of listeners, though you are more likely to overdrive the amp this way due to both pairs of speakers sharing 1 amplifier channel.

Another nice feature of this receiver is its ability to configure the center, surround and surround back channels for other uses such as Bi-Wiring the fronts in a 5.1 setup or using the surround backs as a stereo Zone 2 and the center channel as a mono Zone 3. This added flexibility is useful only if this unit is being used solely as a multi-zone controller.

~*~VIDEO~*~

The AVR-4806 has a video up/down conversion function which allows the unit to be connected to the monitor via a single cable, regardless of the input signal's format. This is possible through the trans-coding of all analog signals to the single HDMI output; this can be turned off, should you not wish to use it. There are also 3 HDMI inputs and 1 DVI input, making this unit ready to handle your full digital theater needs.

There are 3 sets of component video inputs and 2 sets of component video outputs which are capable of simultaneous output. This allows for high picture quality on two monitors at the same time, and you don't need to change the settings each time you switch monitors. We are using this feature for our theater where one set of outputs feeds the Plasma display located in the game room and the other set feeds the projector in the theater. This makes it so that if someone needs to go to the restroom or get a drink they won't miss any of the action.

~*~WHAT REALLY SETS THIS UNIT APART FROM OTHERS?~*~

The real drawing point to this unit, in my mind, is the Audyssey MultEqxt Room Eq and Auto Setup routine. This function of the receiver will measure your room using the included mic in up to 8 locations. Find a way to make use of all 8 possible positions, even if it just means placing the mic around your seating.

The Audyssey MultEqxt is one of the best systems I have seen for equalization purposes in a retail option, short of buying a dedicated multi-channel EQ. The strange series of pings and pops that come out of your speakers during the auto-setup will provide the receiver with the measurements it needs to judge distance, channel levels and crossover points for each speaker. This will also provide the Audyssey Algorithm with the necessary info to attempt to create a flat response across the entire listening area.

Most of you who are new to Home Theater may actually be displeased with the flat response across the listening range, as you may e accustomed to peaks and nulls which can cause drastic changes to the sound that is actually heard. While at first it may seem to be that there is less bass or less surround activity, what most people will be hearing for the first time is the accurate interpretation of what the director/sound mixer intended.

The impact that Audyssey has will vary from user to user, as it actually is very dependent on room acoustics. Someone who has already spent lots of money on acoustical treatments will not get as much benefit as someone who has their Home Theater located in their tiled-floor family room with a full wall of sliding glass doors.

With that being said, in my dedicated theater the improvements of Audyssey were instantly noticeable. The sound stage simply jumped out beyond the speakers; sounds appeared to be coming from much farther out than where the speakers were actually located. Dialog instantly became more legible and the depth of the subwoofer wasn't so overpowering in the different seating locations (we have a three-seater in the front row and two, two-seat units in the rear of the theater). It was a more distributed sound that made for a more enjoyable experience for all users, not just one or two.

The other feature of interest is the unit's ability to convert all incoming video signals to HDMI output and provide switching for up to 3 HDMI and 1 DVI inputs. This enables a user to have 1 cable run to their display; there is one draw back to this currently. Denon, at this time, does not change the actual resolution of the video that is being trans-coded to the HDMI output. This means that if you send the receiver a 480i signal from your VCR or other SD device that it will simply move that signal over to HDMI and it will still be 480i. The problem with that situation is that some display devices will not accept a 480i signal over their HDMI input. This will result in either a jumbled screen or a total black screen.

~*~FINAL RECOMMENDATION~*~

Based on the price point alone, this receiver will not be for everyone. However, if this is in your price range (even if it's not try and fit it in) this is an excellent receiver with plenty of power, excellent features and the possibility of additional features through firmware updates.

This is not any easy unit to set up, so if you are a novice to Home Theater, I would suggest hiring a professional to integrate it into your system.

In case you were wondering, the rest of the components for our theater room include:

~AmPro 4600HD 9" CRT Projector
~Stewart Luxus Deluxe Studiotek130 Screen @114"
~Kef Q Series Speakers (Q1, iQ6C, Q2DS and QCompact)
~SVS PC-Ultra Subwoofer
~Hughes HTL-HD DirecTV HD Satellite Receiver (w/OTA-HD antenna)
~Microsoft X-Box 360 Premium
~Custom Built Home Theater PC with Separate Media Server
~Crestron Processor with Wireless PC Touchscreen Interface

If you would like to view pictures of our theater, they can be viewed on the following web page:

http://users.adelphia.net/~nholmes1/


Thanks for reading!

Staysee