What to choose between Denon X6700H and X4800H?

[Chrispy]

Substandard dsp implementations, mono subwoofer out, less good poweramps, less good Dac performance and pre amp performance . Avr:s are compromises. Biggest differences between Marantz and Denon nowadays seems to be a steeper dac filter in the Denon. They look almost the same inside and its the same company owner. With that said, better sound can probably be had with better speakers ,

A question to Gigicoltz : - what do you have ?
The THX standard says 3 identical closed box front speakers.

Still sounds like it's better than most 2ch integrated amps, at a competitive price with tons more features than a typical 2ch unit provides, tho.

Nothing wrong with a mono sub out, either, how many people employ "stereo" subs? Let alone how useful that actually is? How many units accommodate such?

In 2ch mode an avr's power supply and amp are usually quite sufficient in comparison to many 2ch units. Marantz and Denon are very similar of course having been under the same ownership for 20 years.

Plus you can play so much more thru an avr than you can a 2ch integrated amp/receiver....

 

[Tangband]

Still sounds like it's better than most 2ch integrated amps, at a competitive price with tons more features than a typical 2ch unit provides, tho.

Nothing wrong with a mono sub out, either, how many people employ "stereo" subs? Let alone how useful that actually is? How many units accommodate such?

In 2ch mode an avr's power supply and amp are usually quite sufficient in comparison to many 2ch units. Marantz and Denon are very similar of course having been under the same ownership for 20 years.

Plus you can play so much more thru an avr than you can a 2ch integrated amp/receiver....

Amirms reviews shows that AVRs performance generaly are very poor with very few exceptions regardless of price. Anyway - having three closed box identical LCR speakers at the front is much more important for the sound than buying a new AVR with ”the flavour of the month” finesse.

 

[Chrispy]

Amirms reviews shows that AVRs performance generaly are very poor with very few exceptions regardless of price. Anyway - having three closed box identical LCR speakers at the front is much more important for the sound than buying a new AVR or ”the flawor of the month”

They aren't poor particularly, they may not spec as high as some other gear, tho. It's not an audible issue in general. Depends on your setup/room as to whether a 3.0 setup would work well or not, but again outside the abilities of 2ch gear in general.

 

[Tangband]

They aren't poor particularly, they may not spec as high as some other gear, tho. It's not an audible issue in general. Depends on your setup/room as to whether a 3.0 setup would work well or not, but again outside the abilities of 2ch gear in general.

I would advice you to read Amirms reviews. The performance are usually not good, even for the money.

 

[Chrispy]

I would advice you to read Amirms reviews. An Aiyima a07 is ( many times ) a much better choice when listening to 2 channel material.

Just much less useful with no audible advantage IME, decided that years ago. I have no problem with using an avr for 2ch, do it in several systems, even run my ancient vinyl thru an avr and my ears haven't fallen off yet due low sinad. I do still have one 2ch system (separates, too), but rarely use it.

 

[Tangband]

They aren't poor particularly, they may not spec as high as some other gear, tho. It's not an audible issue in general. Depends on your setup/room as to whether a 3.0 setup would work well or not, but again outside the abilities of 2ch gear in general.

I wasnt talking about a 3.0 setup - a proper homecinema system should have 5.1 speakers with 3 identical frontspeakers that are closed. The surround speakers should be engineered for the purpose.
Without 3 identical frontspeakers, the cinema system will sound worse than a 2 channel stereo system when watching movies.

 

[Chrispy]

I wasnt talking about a 3.0 setup - a proper homecinema system should have 5.1 speakers with 3 identical frontspeakers that are closed. The surround speakers should be engineered for the purpose.

Proper in whose opinion?

 

[Tangband]

Proper in whose opinion?

You need to get this right to have the sound as the engineers made it, and the crossovers in AVRs are THX specified, ie only works with closed front speakers. ( 12 dB HP filters for the fronts and 24 dB LP filters for the subwoofer ).
The THX also specifies 3 identical closed front speakers, to get a seamless panning of stereo effects.

Ofcorse anything goes, If one like a worse sound one could use any speaker …

 

[Chrispy]

You need to get this right to have the sound as the engineers made it, and the crossovers in AVRs are THX specified, ie only works with closed front speakers. ( 12 dB HP filters for the fronts and 24 dB LP filters for the subwoofer ).

Ofcorse anything goes, If one like a worse sound one could use any speaker …

Uh huh.

 

[polmuaddib]

I would advice you to read Amirms reviews. The performance are usually not good, even for the money.

Which doesn't translate automatically into audible difference between the best measuring preamp, amp and AVR.
Take any Topping, SMSL, Benchmark, whatever has SINAD over 100 dB and average AVR with 80dB SINAD (but flat bandwidth) and even with the poor AVR performance, you would likely fail to differentiate them in a blind test.
Maybe with some demanding material with very high dynamic range, where you would know what to look for, you might find subtle differences, but with regular music, not likely.
So, IMHO, no! OP would not suffer from 2ch playback with average AVR.

 

[Tangband]

Uh huh.

Im just saying that one should get the speakers right in a home cinema before wasting money on a new AVR. This would gain real sound improvements, much greater than the latest dolby atmos finesse.

 

[Chrispy]

Im just saying that one should get the speakers right in a home cinema before wasting money on a new AVR. This would gain real improvements, much greater than the latest dolby atmos.

So you're still aspiring to this level, still using an Aiyima 07 for now?

 

[Tangband]

So you're still aspiring to this level, still using an Aiyima 07 for now?

No, nowadays I have active fronts. I have bought and have had a lot of AVRs ( even some denons ) and home cinema setups before in my life - it gets very expensive to get a system that sounds really good both with cinema and 2 channel sound. It will be compromises.

 

[Chrispy]

No, nowadays I have active fronts. I have bought and have had a lot of AVRs ( even some denons ) and home cinema setups before in my life - it gets very expensive to get a system that sounds really good both with cinema and 2 channel sound. It gonna be compromises.

Hard to know what your issues were, yes, expense is part of the game, just as it is for 2ch. Why knock 2ch performance of an avr just because you failed to make it work well in multich and gave up? Active fronts means what particularly?

 

[wseroyer]

Hi to all!
I'm thinking of changing my Marantz SR6012R with one of the above mentioned. What will be the wisest choice? Thank you a lot!

X6700H all day long, I have a x4700h wish I had gotten the X6700H because it has 11amps and processes 13 channels. Unless you really need 4 sub outs and HDMI 2.1 on all ports and don't need 11 amps and 13 channels then I'd get the X3800H, to me the X4800H is a pointless product it's got 20 more watts, extra trigger, composite and component video in, extra zone of audio and one more HDMI port for $700 more, get a external amp for that $700 if you need more power, 20w will make maybe 1db of extra output.

 

[Gigicoltz]

X6700H all day long, I have a x4700h wish I had gotten the X6700H because it has 11amps and processes 13 channels. Unless you really need 4 sub outs and HDMI 2.1 on all ports and don't need 11 amps and 13 channels then I'd get the X3800H, to me the X4800H is a pointless product it's got 20 more watts, extra trigger, composite and component video in, extra zone of audio and one more HDMI port for $700 more, get a external amp for that $700 if you need more power, 20w will make maybe 1db of extra output.

Ok, got one x6700h! Thanks!

 

[Gigicoltz]

Ok , so not any loudspeakers ?

Well, it's a 7.1.2 , Indiana Line

 

[ArturoKiwi]

Well, of your list of choices, only the X6700H has 11 channels of amplification. But you're giving up a lot (Dirac, HDMI 2.1) just for two barely used height channels...

But I saw the stiker 8k on a X6700H. Isn't it hdmi 2.1?

 

[theBruce]

But I saw the stiker 8k on a X6700H. Isn't it hdmi 2.1?

no.

 

[bob5200]

But I saw the stiker 8k on a X6700H. Isn't it hdmi 2.1?

Yes. Per Denon specs "One 8K input and 2 outputs allow for 8K/60Hz and select 4K/120Hz* pass-through. 8K upscaling is available on all 8 HDMI inputs"