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Denon AVR-X8500H AVR Review

peng

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Hi Peng I have heard wonders of this application but I do not know if I will be able to make it work I am somewhat green on this issue so I could never get into dirac live .. by the way to use ratpbsudy it is necessary to measure later with rew, right?

You don't have to if you only use it for tilt the bass up and just trust it will do the job for you, and/or go by ears. Otherwise yes you need to run REW to see the before vs after effects. Before you do anything though, you should save the curve you have now that sounds good to you so that you can always send it back to the AVR if things get messed up.
 

bigguyca

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Anyone know what is the HDMI board assembly part number for a new board.
Thank you.


The name of the board is: Digital board

There are many functions on the Digital board in addition to HDMI send, receive and processing.

Searches on the Internet can be your friend, Google for example. That said, this is what I found with a quick search. See the bottom item in the list - 9U-310225. Click on the part number in the listing to see the cost and availability.

AVRX8500H Denon Replacement Parts - Encompass

An alternative number is 8U-310225 from the service manual. Perhaps the part has been updated.

You could wait for the HDMI 2.1 update to the digital board so that you don't pay again for the updated board.
 

Andysu

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The name of the board is: Digital board

There are many functions on the Digital board in addition to HDMI send, receive and processing.

Searches on the Internet can be your friend, Google for example. That said, this is what I found with a quick search. See the bottom item in the list - 9U-310225. Click on the part number in the listing to see the cost and availability.

AVRX8500H Denon Replacement Parts - Encompass

An alternative number is 8U-310225 from the service manual. Perhaps the part has been updated.

You could wait for the HDMI 2.1 update to the digital board so that you don't pay again for the updated board.
Thank you. See someone knows as I tried so many maybe usual keywords was getting nowhere. Yes what I was thinking wait for HDMI 2.1. There is still no current update as to when owners/costumers can buy the board.
Thank you.
 

dmilller

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Would a x4700h or x6700h set for pre-amp only with the amplifier section disconnected with Arcam or Rotel power amplifier(s) yield a better result than the x8500h alone?

Probably only on difficult to drive speakers and/or high listening levels. Subs already take the most difficult load off a typical expensive HT receiver setup.

I have the 3600 and run the front 3 channels on a separate amp. But I suspect I would not be able to tell the difference in a blind test compared to the 8500. With the 3600 I needed two external amp channels to run 11 speakers. (36/3700 has nine amp channels and 11 preamp channels)

I think it only makes sense to buy Denon's above the 3700 for features, not audio quality. The 3500 was inferior, but since the 3600 the whole high end Denon line is good. Amps last much longer than receivers.
 

Anterantz

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Hello guys, I just bought two marantz ma-23 monophonic stages of 50w and 40,000uf but don't be fooled by the watts I have not noticed any loss of volume vs internal amplifiers of the 8500 ... what I have noticed is the refinement of this little one Jewel the sound has taken on a sharpness and a precision in stereo that I have loved, the denon 8500 sounds great too but with these mono stages I have noticed that I could hear my records at higher volume and for longer!
 

Anterantz

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Hello I have run a single calibration in two channel mode using the custom mode and turning off all the internal stages and using the mono stages ma-23 that I just acquired and I was wondering if there is any advantage in using the "preamplifier" mode vs "customize"
 
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tlin

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....I have the 3600 and run the front 3 channels on a separate amp. But I suspect I would not be able to tell the difference in a blind test compared to the 8500. With the 3600 I needed two external amp channels to run 11 speakers. (36/3700 has nine amp channels and 11 preamp channels).....

Are you running separate DACs anywhere in your chain (and if so, where/what/why)? Do you use this system purely for HT or are you also doing any music-only listening?

thx!
 

dmilller

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Are you running separate DACs anywhere in your chain (and if so, where/what/why)? Do you use this system purely for HT or are you also doing any music-only listening?

thx!

On this system I listen to a lot of two channel music through a Schiit Modius DAC and the 3600 in pure direct mode. Currently the streamer is a Node 2i (Tidal Connect) which may be replaced with a Rpi Roon streamer.

This gets complicated as the Modius is also connected directly to my amp via the balanced connections. (Emotiva XPA has both RCA and balanced inputs, The Modius can output both balanced and RCA simultaneously ). The good news is that I don't yet find the sound superior when I take the Denon out of the signal path.

The Node 2i is expensive if the DAC is not used.

Interestingly I find running Airplay 2 directly to the 3600 to be inferior to airplay 2 to appleTV to 3600. So I don't believe that all paths/uses of the 3600 are just as good as more expensive alternatives. I try to not use airplay 2 for critical listening.
 

JaimeAC

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Hi all -

Love the Denon 8500, but I’m thinking that my space needs some pretty comprehensive room correction and Audessy is ok but would like to get on the DIRAC bus. Processors would be preferred over receivers - it’s looking like the only comparable option is the Monoprice Monolith, but wonder how the Lexicon M10 stacks up along with those new Anthem processors. Audio quality is most important over features, will pair with a Parasound A52+. Of course, I saw the marantz AV8805 review and was disappointed - this Denon has a good pre-amp stage from what I could interpret from the bench tests and hope other options can keep up.

Selling my Denon if anyone is interested ..
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisa859h-used-denon-avr-x8500h-2500-receivers
 

Grandzoltar

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comprehensive room correction
REW and ratbuddyssey has transformed the capabilities of audyssey. My living room is open to the kitchen and I have 12ft vaulted ceilings hardwood floors with rug in seating area. I use full eq. To get my final measurements +/-2db of target I measure what audyssey did with Rew. Then I used ratbuddyssey to apply 30-40 different boost and cut points corresponding to each peak and valley of the REW measurements giving the final results +/-2db. If we're to show you measurements without eq with just audyssey and then with ratbuddyssey the latter would be the most optimal looking. Some purists say it's sacrilege to eq that high or I'm changing the voice of my speakers or boosting certain frequencies should not be done because of mechanical distortion of parts but from 200 - 8000 I'm as flat as a Canadian high mountain lake. Active speakers use dsp to shape response what's wrong with doing that if I'm achieving amazing measurements.

With that said your x8500 performs better from an engineering stand point then any other processor. You can turn off any amp section. Is just for dirac?
 

JaimeAC

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REW and ratbuddyssey has transformed the capabilities of audyssey. My living room is open to the kitchen and I have 12ft vaulted ceilings hardwood floors with rug in seating area. I use full eq. To get my final measurements +/-2db of target I measure what audyssey did with Rew. Then I used ratbuddyssey to apply 30-40 different boost and cut points corresponding to each peak and valley of the REW measurements giving the final results +/-2db. If we're to show you measurements without eq with just audyssey and then with ratbuddyssey the latter would be the most optimal looking. Some purists say it's sacrilege to eq that high or I'm changing the voice of my speakers or boosting certain frequencies should not be done because of mechanical distortion of parts but from 200 - 8000 I'm as flat as a Canadian high mountain lake. Active speakers use dsp to shape response what's wrong with doing that if I'm achieving amazing measurements.

With that said your x8500 performs better from an engineering stand point then any other processor. You can turn off any amp section. Is just for dirac?
Thank you for that - haven’t looked into those solutions so I greatly appreciate your two cents. My room setup is the same as what you described. My major sore spot is the subwoofer calibration with audessy but it appears that there are third party solutions for that. It gets a bit technical for what I’ve seen, hopefully I can handle that. I guess I was looking for a all in one solution for room correction without all of the additional tweaking, as fun as it may be I have a baby and no time for that anymore ;(
 

Anterantz

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I just added two mono stages in my two channel setup and I did a 2 channel calibration with the preamp mode activated and using heos I notice a lot of distortion, does anyone else happen to it?
 

dmilller

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I just added two mono stages in my two channel setup and I did a 2 channel calibration with the preamp mode activated and using heos I notice a lot of distortion, does anyone else happen to it?

Is your receiver new? What the 100% voltage rating for the inputs of the mono amps?
 

Anterantz

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Is your receiver new? What the 100% voltage rating for the inputs of the mono amps?
Hello, the av is from 2019 I only notice distortion with heos then from the pc it sounds great, very clean, what sound do you mean with the voltage of the stages?
 

dmilller

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Hello, the av is from 2019 I only notice distortion with heos then from the pc it sounds great, very clean, what sound do you mean with the voltage of the stages?

You amps have a spec like "input sensitivity" which gives the voltage required for 100%
 

Anterantz

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While waiting, download Radbudssey and use it. You will be amazed with the results you can get that you may never be able to get using fingers or stylus pens.

Release graphing release (fixed) · ratbuddy/ratbuddyssey · GitHub

Audyssey House Curve Revisited... - General Home Theatre Discussion - StereoNET Asia

There may be other versions but I know ratbuddyssey_0.2.1 works well enough for me.

With the help of this UI, you can flatten the response below Schroeder quickly and easily and then it is up to you to custom it to your preference, such as tilt it up from say 100 Hz to 10 Hz.
By the way peng the raptudyssey application do you need an umik to see what is happening in the room? Or can you use the audyssey mic + sound card to get into the subject? I already installed rew but was wondering if the audy mic would be worth it?
 

ZinMe

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Can anyone with experience with the 8500's phono stage comment on it's quality with a moving magnet cartridge? My 8500 recently arrived and will be set-up/connected to a Rega 3/Exact in the next couple weeks, but wanted to hear if anyone had tried it out?

Also, I hoping that the Heos app works well for streaming Tidal or Qobuz. I have Sonos throughout our home, but my Connect from 2010 doesn't support higher bit / sampling rates, and would like to avoid buying a separate music streamer, at least for now.
 

peng

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By the way peng the raptudyssey application do you need an umik to see what is happening in the room? Or can you use the audyssey mic + sound card to get into the subject? I already installed rew but was wondering if the audy mic would be worth it?

I don't think the Audyssey mic would give you the accuracy because it is likely only calibrated specifically for use with running Audyssey from the App or the AVR/AVC/AVP.

So my suggestion is, stick with the Umik mic. The USD is weaker now, so it is becoming a even better value for Europeans.:)
 

Thunder22

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Hopefully I will be receiving my X8500H tomorrow (Valentines day). Hopefully I will Love it! I'll be sure to check back and post my partial listening reviews. I would like to say thank you to all the members posting knowledge about this receiver and a big shout out to Amirm.
 

Obetwo

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Congrats, On finding a x8500h as there appears to be none available on the internet. I’ve been looking for either the marantz sr8015 or denon x8500h to replace my Yamaha cx-a5200. Looking forward to hearing your opinion of their sound.
 
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