Denon AVR-X3600H AV Receiver Review

[GeorgeWalk]

Hi Amir and members, thanks for the review and the posts. Great website, new to all this. I am in the market for buying a receiver for good quality stereo music listening and occasional HT use. I am no audiophile but do appreciate good quality sound for music. From your review, my understanding (new to all this) is that the pre-amp L/R front quality is really good in this price range. I however intend to use the amp for L/R channel for music. Are there any measurements that you posted help with objectively concluding that? If not, what is your feel for the sound quality of the amp when used for front L/R music listening? I do plan to heavily use Airplay and perhaps all this dosent matter as the bottleneck would be the source? Thanks.

I have X3600h for my home theater system. It sounds great. I mostly use use for TV/HT stuff. I do occasionally just listen to music. I have a pair of Klipsch Heresy's as my L/R front channels. To me, it sounds as good as my main listening system in my home office.

 

[rccarguy]

Thanks! However, my question was - how does it compare when not using an external amp for 2 ch Music? Maybe I am not using the right terminology. I do not intend to have an external amp.

Avr are generally classed as poor for hifi 2ch sound.

My stereo analogue pre and dac outclass the £4500 av pre

 

[Sagnet]

Oh. The amplifier is also above average for an AVR:

It should also have plenty of power for most people. So definitely use it and only if you run out of power, resort to an external one.

This is a rookie question, so apologize for that: How can you tell if you're running out of power? Is it something you can hear (speakers or amp clipping), or does it have something to do with how loud you have to set the output of the AVR (like +5 relative dB) to get to the desired volume?

 

[peng]

This is a rookie question, so apologize for that: How can you tell if you're running out of power? Is it something you can hear (speakers or amp clipping), or does it have something to do with how loud you have to set the output of the AVR (like +5 relative dB) to get to the desired volume?

Both are good indicators. You an also do some calculations of how much power output you need, and then do some projection to give you a pretty good idea of when you may get close to the limit. You will need to know:
- seating distance
- speaker sensitivity specs
- spl you need, average, and maximum

Combined with the measurements we already have for the X3600H, some quick calculations should get you in the ball park.

 

[jamtinge]

Please help out a noob here. I currently have a denon 3600 with 7.1.2 configuration and am planning to expand to 7.1.4 which will require an addition of power amplifier. Instead of 2ch power amp i'd like to add 3ch hypex amp if this could improve the sound quality of centre speaker. ( Fronts are Emotiva T2+ and C2+ which are both 4ohm speakers ).
Me being a noob, i don't know if I am fully understanding the great work of Amir has done here.
Because of clean voltage issue, does it make sense to go with hypex 500w for LR and 250w for C channel?
The possible combination could be
1. Hypex 502mp & 250mp
2. Hypex 502mp & 252mp (maybe biamp centre?)
3. Hypex 502mp & 500mp ( will this combo even work with 1.5v volt? )
4. Hypex 250w module for all 3?
5. Emotiva XPA3 Gen3 which could work with 1.5v.
My main usage is 60 movie / 40 music...
Any help would be appreciated. this will be my first power amp purchase and i am so lost.
Thank you very much.

 

[peng]

Please help out a noob here. I currently have a denon 3600 with 7.1.2 configuration and am planning to expand to 7.1.4 which will require an addition of power amplifier. Instead of 2ch power amp i'd like to add 3ch hypex amp if this could improve the sound quality of centre speaker. ( Fronts are Emotiva T2+ and C2+ which are both 4ohm speakers ).
Me being a noob, i don't know if I am fully understanding the great work of Amir has done here.
Because of clean voltage issue, does it make sense to go with hypex 500w for LR and 250w for C channel?
The possible combination could be
1. Hypex 502mp & 250mp
2. Hypex 502mp & 252mp (maybe biamp centre?)
3. Hypex 502mp & 500mp ( will this combo even work with 1.5v volt? )
4. Hypex 250w module for all 3?
5. Emotiva XPA3 Gen3 which could work with 1.5v.
My main usage is 60 movie / 40 music...
Any help would be appreciated. this will be my first power amp purchase and i am so lost.
Thank you very much.

I don't know about those specific Hypex models that have not been reviewed by ASR. I looked at their power specs and they look vague, something like 100 W continuous, is it the one below?

The Monolith 200WX2 would seem like a good match for your Denon in terms of input sensitivity. There is always the option of 3X Outlaw M2200.

For Hypex, if it is the one I am thinking, you may need to add an external stage to boost the gain a little, if you want to take advantage of the "Max" output, assuming you would actually crank the volume up that high.

 

[jamtinge]

I don't know about those specific Hypex models that have not been reviewed by ASR. I looked at their power specs and they look vague, something like 100 W continuous, is it the one below?

The Monolith 200WX2 would seem like a good match for your Denon in terms of input sensitivity. There is always the option of 3X Outlaw M2200.

For Hypex, if it is the one I am thinking, you may need to add an external stage to boost the gain a little, if you want to take advantage of the "Max" output, assuming you would actually crank the volume up that high.

View attachment 75841

Thank you very much for your suggestion! i will look into Monolith and Outlaw you mentioned.
I guess the hypex amp isn't a good match for AVRs due to the low input sensitivity.

 

[peng]

Thank you very much for your suggestion! i will look into Monolith and Outlaw you mentioned.
I guess the hypex amp isn't a good match for AVRs due to the low input sensitivity.

Not necessarily as it depends on your need. You can do your own calculations, see info linked below:

https://www.hypex.nl/faq/

Apparently you can buy an input buffer that could boost the gain too, or you can go with ATI's AT52xNC that requires only 1.6 V for the rated 250 W output (8 ohms).

 

[Zoide]

9ch amped, 11ch processing.

Does that mean that you can't power a 5.1.4 system (2 front + 1 center + 2 rear / 1 sub / 4 up-firing Atmos heights) with the X3600H? Because that adds up to 10 channels...

Would you need an extra amp for that?

Thanks

 

[waynel]

Does that mean that you can't power a 5.1.4 system (2 front + 1 center + 2 rear / 1 sub / 4 up-firing Atmos heights) with the X3600H? Because that adds up to 10 channels...

Would you need an extra amp for that?

Thanks

You can do 5.1.4 as without an extra amp. Your sub needs to be powered for any receiver.

 

[Zoide]

You can do 5.1.4 as without an extra amp. Your sub needs to be powered for any receiver.

Ah! Of course, thank you

 

[Zoide]

Does anyone know if the X2600H has similar sound quality to the X3600H (inferior Audyssey and fewer channels notwithstanding)?

Thanks

 

[John Galt]

Does anyone know if the X2600H has similar sound quality to the X3600H (inferior Audyssey and fewer channels notwithstanding)?

Thanks

To me Audyssey XT vs Audyssey XT 32 is a apples to oranges comparison. I'll never buy a receiver with less than XT 32.

 

[rccarguy]

To me Audyssey XT vs Audyssey XT 32 is a apples to oranges comparison. I'll never buy a receiver with less than XT 32.

What if you don't like room eq at all?

 

[tecnogadget]

What if you don't like room eq at all?

What if somebody doesn't like room eq at all? Then that dude must be bananas since Room Eq is pretty much A MUST if that person pursuits reference sound quality. This is not something I've come up with, unless we are talking speakers like Dutch&Dutch 8C or Kii Audio which have some sort of Room EQ built in their design (cardioid bass dispersion, etc) any speaker regardless of price or quality will suffer Modal Room Modes/Standing waves, its pure physics.

John Galt's comment if I'm not mistaken is about the vast superiority of XT 32 vs standard version, more possibilities and higher filter resolution

 

[rccarguy]

What if somebody doesn't like room eq at all? Then that dude must be bananas since Room Eq is pretty much A MUST if that person pursuits reference sound quality. This is not something I've come up with, unless we are talking speakers like Dutch&Dutch 8C or Kii Audio which have some sort of Room EQ built in their design (cardioid bass dispersion, etc) any speaker regardless of price or quality will suffer Modal Room Modes/Standing waves, its pure physics.

John Galt's comment if I'm not mistaken is about the vast superiority of XT 32 vs standard version, more possibilities and higher filter resolution

I have no room eq bar antimode. Av pre is non hdmi with no room eq.

 

[Zoide]

@amirm What about the X4500H? Is it a safe bet that it has the same great measurable audio performance as the X3600H?

I ask because it's hard to find a new/refurbished/used X3600H for a good price in Europe, but if the search can be expanded to include the X4500H there's a a higher chance of finding a good deal.

I also considered other comparable AVRs with MultEQ XT32 like the Marantz SR6013/SR6014, but the terrible review for the SR6014 here scared me straight...

Thanks

 

[peng]

@amirm

I also considered other comparable AVRs with MultEQ XT32 like the Marantz SR6013/SR6014, but the terrible review for the SR6014 here scared me straight...

Thanks

The SR6014's review wasn't that terrible, just have higher distortions than Denon's, but better than the more expensive Arcams and a few separates.

 

[Zoide]

The SR6014's review wasn't that terrible, just have higher distortions than Denon's, but better than the more expensive Arcams and a few separates.

Are you sure? Amir said:

"Distortion is so high that it is dwarfing noise. Notice the third harmonic peaking up to -80 dB. This is whopping 16 dB higher than noise floor of CD format!

The Denon AVR-X3600 is all the way to the left, achieving the best performance I have measured in an AVR. The Marantz is dead in the middle of the "red" (poor) region. Considering that these are sister products with nearly identical functionality, you can appreciate my disappointment in this regression in the name of value add in Marantz.

Among all products with a DAC, the Marantz falls so far behind the rest that it is not funny.

There are probably 200+ DACs I have tested with better performance!"

(https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/marantz-sr6014-avr-review.14615/)

 

[Laserjock]

Waiting on the 8500 review as I need (Want) the analog inputs For the Oppo 205 for MCH DVD-A/SACD