Denon AVR-X4800H AVR Review

[PGAMiami]

Does anyone have experience using the 12v trigger outputs on the x4800H? On mine they seem to be always on, even if in the setup I set every item to off.

I was able to figure out what was causing my problem. Trigger is activated if the input is selected in any of the three zones.

 

[PGAMiami]

Getting rid of ground noise … My one grievance with the X4800H was that I had noise using the unbalanced preamp out to drive Benchmark AHB2s. It wasn’t terrible, but certainly audible on a quiet evening even from the listening position. Tried various wiring schemes and even a Jensen Isomax transformer between the Denon and the Benchmarks. Nothing got rid of the noise, until I plugged everything into my Furman 2400 IT symmetrical power transformer that has a switch that allows one to isolate not just the AC, but also the ground, in a safe way. With this, the Denon is dead quiet, even with your ear right up to the speakers.

 

[Jack B]

Sounds strange to me (pardon the pun, please). My X4800 pre-outs are feeding my ATI 4003, and also a Monolith 8-channel amp for the surround and overhead speakers...not a hint of hum or noise. Guess I'm a lucky one. Thanks for reporting!

 

[rvsixer]

Okay so looks like from this thread, we are 50/50 on the grounding issue (small sample size but disconcerting nonetheless, especially since the ASR test unit exhibited the issue yet still got a smiling panther).

 

[enricoclaudio]

My X4800H is feeding Emotivas BasX A2 and A3 amps + a MiniDSP 2x4 HD for a pair of Rythmik Audio E22 subwoofers and I get zero humming noise. My speakers and subwoofers are dead silent.

 

[PGAMiami]

I wouldn’t necessarily blame the 4800 for the noise in my system. It’s the only connection that’s not XLR.

My system is somewhat unusual. I have a custom XLR AB switch that selects between the 4800 and a Meitner DAC. It’s triggered by the 4800. Then there is a Pass XVR1 crossover (that much prefers true XLR sources) and finally the Benchmark amps. Hum and noise can originate in many ways as there are TVs, cable boxes, PCs, Ethernet ports … any of which may cause problems.

I was pleasantly surprised on how effective the Furman 2400 IT symmetrical AC transformer was in totally getting rid of the noise when everything else failed. It’s marketed to studio precisely to get rid of noise. No snake oil here. It works.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Hello,

For 3800 or 4800 users with DIRAC. If you select the TR option for an output, does it automatically NOT apply any correction to the SUB output set to TR?


Thanks!

PS I tried Denon support and they cant tell me either...

 

[enricoclaudio]

I tried asking this on AVSFORUM but the overly sensitive Denon fanboys just couldnt deal with the one comment and I just got tired of dealing with childish trolls...
so...
For 3800 or 4800 users with DIRAC. If you select the TR option for an output, does it automatically NOT apply any correction to the SUB output set to TR?

Also, does the 4800 has the similar clicking as the 3800? The 3800 was annoying me compared to my RZ50 for example.

Thanks!

Not sure about the Sub out set for TR but regarding the clicking issue, yes, the X4800H has the same clicking as the X3800H when switching from PCM to any up mixer. It was so anoying at the beginning that I thought I had a defective unit so I exchanged it just to find that the new unit behaves the same. I got the clicking under control after switching to Auro 3D as the up mixer for PCM sources. You just need to leave the X4800H memorize your sound mode preferences and then after a few tries, it will lock in that particular sound mode and the clicking will go away. Mine still does it like 1 out of 10 times which is basically normal.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Not sure about the Sub out set for TR but regarding the clicking issue, yes, the X4800H has the same clicking as the X3800H when switching from PCM to any up mixer. It was so anoying at the beginning that I thought I had a defective unit so I exchanged it just to find that the new unit behaves the same. I got the clicking under control after switching to Auro 3D as the up mixer for PCM sources. You just need to leave the X4800H memorize your sound mode preferences and then after a few tries, it will lock in that particular sound mode and the clicking will go away. Mine still does it like 1 out of 10 times which is basically normal.

Thanks for the tip on the clicking. That sure helps!

 

[PGAMiami]

Thanks for the tip on the clicking. That sure helps!

yes it clicks when it turns on, switches inputs, etc, but never has this been a problem, at least for me using DIRAC and leaving most every other sound setting at default

 

[GabrielPhoto]

Guys are there any good tips on calibrating with Dirac? I have the RZ50 so I am used to Dirac and the steps from the RZ50 thread work great but with the 4800h it doesnt work very good using those step.
For instance, is like my volume gets shifted after calibration...For example, a scene I will measure at -20mv I will need to get like -14 or higher like -10mv to get the same actual loudness. Is like during the calibration, things get moved around. This was NOT the case before running Dirac. It was the same -20mv on the 4800h as is on the RZ50.
I am going to try calibrating again tomorrow.
For now, I ended up just boosting each of the speakers +5 in the speakers section which was a bit confusing since all speakers show 0.00 after Dirac calibration.
Is like the calibration for the speaker level is NOT stored under the Speakers Levels section?
Maybe the Dirac integration is not very smooth yet?
I hope that is making some sense.
On better news, I AM able to adjust distance (on the Onkyo its all grayed out after Dirac) so that allows me compensate for the lack of distance setting for TR (I hope they add that!) and get my TR more in sync than I can with the Onkyo.
So, I can see the potential to be my new AVR, just need to learn its quirks and different way of doing things.

Any tips are welcome!
Thanks

PS I am typing this fast before bed so I hope it makes some sense lol

 

[peng]

Guys are there any good tips on calibrating with Dirac? I have the RZ50 so I am used to Dirac and the steps from the RZ50 thread work great but with the 4800h it doesnt work very good using those step.
For instance, is like my volume gets shifted after calibration...For example, a scene I will measure at -20mv I will need to get like -14 or higher like -10mv to get the same actual loudness. Is like during the calibration, things get moved around. This was NOT the case before running Dirac. It was the same -20mv on the 4800h as is on the RZ50.
I am going to try calibrating again tomorrow.
For now, I ended up just boosting each of the speakers +5 in the speakers section which was a bit confusing since all speakers show 0.00 after Dirac calibration.
Is like the calibration for the speaker level is NOT stored under the Speakers Levels section?
Maybe the Dirac integration is not very smooth yet?
I hope that is making some sense.
On better news, I AM able to adjust distance (on the Onkyo its all grayed out after Dirac) so that allows me compensate for the lack of distance setting for TR (I hope they add that!) and get my TR more in sync than I can with the Onkyo.
So, I can see the potential to be my new AVR, just need to learn its quirks and different way of doing things.

Any tips are welcome!
Thanks

PS I am typing this fast before bed so I hope it makes some sense lol

Volume settings between different models, and/or using different room correction software can vary for various reasons, as long as channel balance are good, don't worry about it.

 

[Dj7675]

Guys are there any good tips on calibrating with Dirac? I have the RZ50 so I am used to Dirac and the steps from the RZ50 thread work great but with the 4800h it doesnt work very good using those step.
For instance, is like my volume gets shifted after calibration...For example, a scene I will measure at -20mv I will need to get like -14 or higher like -10mv to get the same actual loudness. Is like during the calibration, things get moved around. This was NOT the case before running Dirac. It was the same -20mv on the 4800h as is on the RZ50.
I am going to try calibrating again tomorrow.
For now, I ended up just boosting each of the speakers +5 in the speakers section which was a bit confusing since all speakers show 0.00 after Dirac calibration.
Is like the calibration for the speaker level is NOT stored under the Speakers Levels section?
Maybe the Dirac integration is not very smooth yet?
I hope that is making some sense.
On better news, I AM able to adjust distance (on the Onkyo its all grayed out after Dirac) so that allows me compensate for the lack of distance setting for TR (I hope they add that!) and get my TR more in sync than I can with the Onkyo.
So, I can see the potential to be my new AVR, just need to learn its quirks and different way of doing things.

Any tips are welcome!
Thanks

PS I am typing this fast before bed so I hope it makes some sense lol

Not an expert by any means, but…. It is very common (in fact normal) for volume to be less after calibrating with Dirac. I am surpirsed the RZ50 was the same volume before as after. Dirac will level match speakers to quietest speaker and also allow up to 10dB to account for EQ boosts. It doesn’t usually matter as long as you can reach your desired volume with the master volume.

 

[drelldrell]

Not an expert by any means, but…. It is very common (in fact normal) for volume to be less after calibrating with Dirac. I am surpirsed the RZ50 was the same volume before as after. Dirac will level match speakers to quietest speaker and also allow up to 10dB to account for EQ boosts. It doesn’t usually matter as long as you can reach your desired volume with the master volume.

This may be helpful for better sound levels post-calibration. I believe my mid to low bass is much better too. https://mehlau.net/audio/dirac-live-2-mic-speaker-levels/

 

[Dj7675]

This may be helpful for better sound levels post-calibration. I believe my mid to low bass is much better too. https://mehlau.net/audio/dirac-live-2-mic-speaker-levels/

Yes, that is the procedure I follow as well. There is still a significant difference between volume of dirac on vs off.

 

[GabrielPhoto]

So is the Outlaw 7000x with input sensivity 1.2 a better match to the 4800 or 3800h vs the Monolith which is 1.6v? Or they are about equal?
If it matters, on my RZ50 I normally watch between -18-20mv (maybe -15mv in a handful of movies_

 

[peng]

So is the Outlaw 7000x with input sensivity 1.2 a better match to the 4800 or 3800h vs the Monolith which is 1.6v? Or they are about equal?
If it matters, on my RZ50 I normally watch between -18-20mv (maybe -15mv in a handful of movies_

If you compare their gains, both have 28 dB gain, so they are basically "equal" in terms of gain matching. The Outlaw's 1.2 V vs the Monolith's 1.6 V input sensitivity difference is only because the Outlaw is rated 200 W vs the Outlaw's 130 W.

Outlaw's gain/input sensitivity for their various amps seem a little wishy washy too, based on my own experience dealing with them. It is better to base it on bench test results if available. It is possible that the 7000x's gain is a little higher than 28 dB, but that would still practically be the same as the Monolith.

 

[PeteXian]

Like I said, such a cheap mic and without calibration file will make things worse when using that setup for Dirac.

You need a digital mic like the UMIK 1 or 2 that has a calibration file for the mic

 

[Rockman2]

Well finally getting this set up correctly. The room and home has a lot of tile so I have been adding sound foam where I can and will be adding a large area rug in front of the TV in the seating area. I have changed the Towers to full range and it helped a great deal. They do put out a lot of low end. Movies sound much better and I mean much better! The Martin Logan Dynamo 800's do a great job but dance all over the floor if turned up. They just do not have enough weight for the movement of the cone. The 4800 is doing a great job on movies and music. I have 8 ceiling speakers including 4 Martin Logan HT8 XT's for the rear and side surround. Watching James Bond Spectre is just sick! The scene with the helicopter in the beginning is awesome! The helicopter goes around the room multiple times and the effect is just great. Then Top Gun 4K with ATMOS is again just Great, Awsome, Rediculas! Very Happy with the Denon 4800 and Martin Logan! Still tuning and it will just get better! Thinking of adding these weights on the sides of the subs https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GFXMYLB/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=AEFONEOCVKL0U&th=1 Don't think they will be very visible. These subs can put out a lot but they dance all over when pushed.

Also another question for you guys. I would like to swap the subs and towers. I believe It would look better in the room but this is the Dolby recommended placement. Would it matter much to swap positions?

Thanks

 

[rob755]

Hi, Have you bought in to Dirac? I have the 4800 and am overall happy with it. Debating purchasing Dirac. Any one out there bought in and regret it? Thanks. Happy listening!