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Denon AVR-X3700H AVR Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
Lol, no it's not that new.
Is it "better" than the internal amps of the X3700... well it's more powerful, so if you need additional power/current because of your speakers or your room, then it will sound better.
If you don't need additional power or current - then it will probably sound the same.
If it is at a really good price - grab it, do the experiment, and then decide whether to keep it, or resell it... you may even make some money on the deal.
I took that chance about 11 years ago with a pair of Crown XLS2500's - got them for $250 each... I can sell them for double that today... but they are now enthroned in my system.... They did a better job than my previous 2 AVR's and still do a better job than my current AVR. (also do a better job than some spare Quad 606 power amps I have).
Ultimately you cannot tell until you try it out in your system... - go for it!
If you don't need additional power or current - then it will probably sound the same.
If it is at a really good price - grab it, do the experiment, and then decide whether to keep it, or resell it... you may even make some money on the deal.
I took that chance about 11 years ago with a pair of Crown XLS2500's - got them for $250 each... I can sell them for double that today... but they are now enthroned in my system.... They did a better job than my previous 2 AVR's and still do a better job than my current AVR. (also do a better job than some spare Quad 606 power amps I have).
Ultimately you cannot tell until you try it out in your system... - go for it!
It doesnt seem to be the bargain I thought it was, I found dollar prices upto 5K but then the UK price was 2k and its just under £900 which seems to be the going rate.
Can anyone tell me if the 3700 shows "THX" on screen when its REF level is reached like my old 709? I will probably hold off until I see how loud the 3700 is at that point tomorrow.
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No. It just says M. Vol: -0.
So Its all up and running, here are my initial thoughts: Really happy watching movies, the channel steering and separation is way better than the old 709, I sit very close to my rears, cant help that but the 3700 does an excellent job with EQ compared to my old amp.
Music is where its going to need work, It does beat the Onkyo hands down but I couldn't listen to that even in Pure mode so Its a step up but no cigar yet. I made 2 preset curves, one is restricted to 500hz and has the low end flattened out as much as i could using the app, the other is the default curve, I wont be listening to that one.
There is one annoying thing about the 3700 for me, I love Roger Waters Amused To Death, its recorded in Q Sound for anyone that's not heard it. The effects have gone, track 6 has a dripping tap at the left rear corner of the room, I haven't moved my front speakers so its just the Denon, even in Pure Direct the tap is front mid centre but in Stereo it jumps over to the right of the room, something is very off. I will hook a stereo amp up to the preouts tomorrow and see what happens, Its most likely a speaker distance issue though, getting the best from Q sound recordings involves the speakers been measured exactly to the listening position. Overall I am super happy with the 3700, Im sure I can sort this little glitch with some time and learning.
One thing I'm missing, used to be able to just have the centre chanel on for watching TV in the morning, wife gets up early, has to be stereo I think for the 3700.
Music is where its going to need work, It does beat the Onkyo hands down but I couldn't listen to that even in Pure mode so Its a step up but no cigar yet. I made 2 preset curves, one is restricted to 500hz and has the low end flattened out as much as i could using the app, the other is the default curve, I wont be listening to that one.
There is one annoying thing about the 3700 for me, I love Roger Waters Amused To Death, its recorded in Q Sound for anyone that's not heard it. The effects have gone, track 6 has a dripping tap at the left rear corner of the room, I haven't moved my front speakers so its just the Denon, even in Pure Direct the tap is front mid centre but in Stereo it jumps over to the right of the room, something is very off. I will hook a stereo amp up to the preouts tomorrow and see what happens, Its most likely a speaker distance issue though, getting the best from Q sound recordings involves the speakers been measured exactly to the listening position. Overall I am super happy with the 3700, Im sure I can sort this little glitch with some time and learning.
One thing I'm missing, used to be able to just have the centre chanel on for watching TV in the morning, wife gets up early, has to be stereo I think for the 3700.
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I don't think you should be messing with the target curve to flatten the bass. Just try match your room response until you get something you like, and if you think your MLP could use more correction, try a tighter measurement pattern around the MLP (don't measure other seats).
Regarding surround, try test tones / white noise from REW for each of the channels and see how that works. Then also make sure your recording is being played with the correct format (use the info button on the Denon remote). Click "direct" button 3 times to change back to "auto" mode, setting the mode to something else manually can make a mess when you start playing something else in a different format (if you pick mode manually you should generally re-select it every time you play something with a different format).
Regarding surround, try test tones / white noise from REW for each of the channels and see how that works. Then also make sure your recording is being played with the correct format (use the info button on the Denon remote). Click "direct" button 3 times to change back to "auto" mode, setting the mode to something else manually can make a mess when you start playing something else in a different format (if you pick mode manually you should generally re-select it every time you play something with a different format).
Thanks for the heads up, the surround is excellent, the Q Sound recording is 2 channel, when it doesnt sound like you have rear speakers it usually means the speakers aren't aligned correctly, I will be looking into distances for the FL/FR tomorrow. I used a single seat measurement with 20 inch bubble as recommended in an Audiohollics tute.
DrStranger
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May I ask, does anyone know the HDMI specs on the HDMI-in’s (port 1-6) n the 3700? Are they all 4K 120, full 10 color bit and 4:4:4 HDR chroma?
Propheticus
Senior Member
Well the flyer says: "All HDMI inputs feature 4:4:4 Pure Color sub sampling, HDR10, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG), and BT.2020 pass-through support for exceptional color, clarity and contrast."
The whole input section is labelled 4K. So the only remaining question is whether they all support 120Hz.
The marketing text in some places can be read as if this is only available in the one 8K input.
However all 4k inputs are labelled HDCP2.3, so they are HMDI2.1 which supports this ... but all features >HDMI2.0 are optional in the spec. So this is no guarantee. The bandwidth needed for the things listed in the above quote would make me assume they follow the full HDMI2.1 spec though.
The manual and product spec page list 4k/120Hz (passthrough) video signals as supported without disclaimer or specifying this is only true for certain ports. Which implies it's all of them.
The whole input section is labelled 4K. So the only remaining question is whether they all support 120Hz.
The marketing text in some places can be read as if this is only available in the one 8K input.
However all 4k inputs are labelled HDCP2.3, so they are HMDI2.1 which supports this ... but all features >HDMI2.0 are optional in the spec. So this is no guarantee. The bandwidth needed for the things listed in the above quote would make me assume they follow the full HDMI2.1 spec though.
The manual and product spec page list 4k/120Hz (passthrough) video signals as supported without disclaimer or specifying this is only true for certain ports. Which implies it's all of them.
DrStranger
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Thank you for finding this, I missed this in the manual, searched for the info under ports/connection. But I agree with you it's not clear if its for all ports. Hope some of the owners can verify this.
Thank you.
Propheticus
Senior Member
Hmmz, some bad news from the manual.
"*Only supported by the HDMI 7 connector." That's the 8k labelled input port.
I guess it's only a problem if you have 2 consoles, lucky peeps, if the tv has 2 120hz inputs you should be ok. I intend to connect my xbox to a 120hz tv and use EArc, has there been any issues with the 3700 doing this?
DrStranger
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Thank you!
DrStranger
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Maybe it’s just me and my esthetic side, I hate when 1000 cables are pushed from the TV furniture up to the TV. I think you all agree that over time one add more boxes and not many TV’s out there offers full 2.1 spec in all their ports.
So I don’t want to be limited, if we have HDMI 2.1 certified and stated from the manufacture, then I really expect full use of the port and technology. It’s like “-yelp, alllll ports are HDMI 2.1 “and then you read the fine print and …
While I would agree you definitely wont be alone, I have been installing TV's for 16 years so I have a LOT of customers, not a single one has ever questioned or complained about how many HDMI cables I've installed, some have asked for more but none have ever asked for less but that's just from my experience. More and more TV's are coming out with all ports at 120hz but they ain't cheap atm. One thing I have never told the customer is their setup is future proof, more boxes may come along but who knows if the existing kit will support them anyway.
I would never buy anything for a customer without finding out exactly what they want and I would never buy anything for myself without thoroughly checking first which I guess is exactly what you are doing, I googled "denon x3700h 120hz capability" and this was right at the top of the results, I didn't have to visit a website:
The AVR-X3700H features an advanced HDMI section (7 in/3 out) with a dedicated 8K input that will support 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz video pass-through. All HDMI inputs feature 4:4:4 Pure Color sub sampling, HDR10, Dolby Vision, Hybrid Log- Gamma (HLG), and BT.
To me that says it all, "a" means one in my book, the "All" doesn't mention 120Hz, this forum is full of very helpful and friendly people though for which I am very thankful! I hope you found out before you made a purchase.
DrStranger
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Dear @amirm
I am a new member but have been reading all of your reviews with a lot of interest, thanks!
I have a question. My setup is Monitor audio silver 300 g7, c250 and 2 q acoustics 7000 surround satelites. The amp is a X3700H and a parasound 5 channel 85 watt RMS.
My question to you is: what would you think is the best setup: Bi amp the 300's and use the last channel of the parasound for the center and put the surrounds on the Denon OR put all the channels on the parsound and disable the amplification on the denon to use it as a pure processor?
Thanks for you view!
Jeroen.
I am a new member but have been reading all of your reviews with a lot of interest, thanks!
I have a question. My setup is Monitor audio silver 300 g7, c250 and 2 q acoustics 7000 surround satelites. The amp is a X3700H and a parasound 5 channel 85 watt RMS.
My question to you is: what would you think is the best setup: Bi amp the 300's and use the last channel of the parasound for the center and put the surrounds on the Denon OR put all the channels on the parsound and disable the amplification on the denon to use it as a pure processor?
Thanks for you view!
Jeroen.
Hard to tell - you may have to experiment to see what gives the best results!
at 85W - the Parasound has less power than the X3700... - but more than ample for the surrounds. (although if the X3700 has to drive 9 channels it may drop down to a similar level)
With regards to bi-amping... results are very variable - and also depend on how the biamping terminals on the speaker are wired/setup, and whether they do in fact bypass unnecessary circuitry or not. Many Biamp terminals, still include the Low Pass / High Pass circuitry respectively (making the assumption that the incoming feed will be full range) - your amp will therefore still have those circuits in place... but with active crossover in the AVR (I assume the X3700 can X-Over the biamp channels?) - then you may have some benefit...
With "weaker" amps I found some marginal benefit to Biamping my Gallo speakers - once I moved to a 400W+ power amp, there was no noticeable benefit. (In theory I should get deeper bass with Bi-Amping on my configuration - but I have not found that noticeable in my system with the high powere amp)
Given that the constraint on the X3700 is the power supply, and not the power amp modules, The greatest benefit is probably gained by using the X3700 for the mains without biamping - and using the parasound for everything else... that way the mains (L/R, or perhaps L/C/R) get the full benefit of the power supply - and the parasound handles the rest.
(If the Parasound were a 150W + model - advice would be different...)
Thanks alot for your quick reply.
Thing is when running the speakers on the parasound I have the feeling that the sound is much better. More punch, better separation of effects and larger in scale.
I know there are big debates on the Internet on weather power amps sound better than avrs. I sadly dont have the knowledge to asses the validity but i do beleave that the parasound is better based on what i hear.
I copy a remak from another user on a different forum:
Other things come into play like how big are the output capacitors and how quickly can they release their energy and how quickly can they be recharged by the supply, how badly does it misbehave when the load increases and how accurate is it with extremely tiny loads (which is most of the time), slew rates, ability to control overshoot of the cones, feedback settings, etc. A watt is not a watt when you start adding load. And when you start adding a variable, constantly changing load with variable impedences, these things can start to make a difference.
Very interested to hear you take on this.
And thanks again for your time!
