Denon 3802 as preamp

[austinpowers]

Any comments form you experts on the following setup?



for a 2 channel audio and 5.1 HT system:



Denon 3802

Bryston 4BST power amp for front 2 channels

3 channels on the 3802 to run the surrounds & centre.



am doing this mainly becos of $ involved in upgrading power amps + pocessor and the fact that in 2 channel audio, the denon lacks the bass control & power of the bryston.



associated equipment:



1. Revel M20, C30 & (dont laugh) Bose rears (upgrades to dipole B&@ DS6 S3 probably) on the way.



2. Sony DVD9000ES



3. Kimber & Siltech & Nordost cables



cheers in advance :)~:-)~:smile:

[Bob007]

Hi



At the moment I am using my Denon 3801 just for the processing, well 99% of it as the Denon still runs the surround backs for 6.1 for the time being, the bulk of the amplification is done by the Parasound. I think the Denon does really well, fairly happy with the 2channel results but very happy with the 5.1/6.1. Had a demo with a Tag processor a while back and was disappointed, I couldn't justify spending over £2k on something that didn't blow my socks off.



As soon as funds allow I would transfer the remaining channels(centre/surrounds) from the Denon over to good quality power amps, especially for 5.1, then you will really notice a difference.



Bob

[austinpowers]

Cheers, i just wasnt sure what the denon sounded like as a pre.



i'm the opposite to you, i'm reasonably happy with the HT performance but find it lacking for 2 ch music...



i will one day run seperate pwr amps as well.



have auditioned both lexicons & meridians and was blown away by both, especially the lex MC12B for HT, it was awesome ! but i prefer the Meridian 568 for 2 channel.

[ditton]

I went down this 2 ch music upgrade path with first the Denon AV1602 and then the Denon AV2802. YOu are both a class above moi.



I recall that the advice I received was that the Denon pre-amp was the weak link, which does undermine the Denon pre-out to poweramp strategy. The advice which I have followed, with what I feel are good results, for a good music outcome is as follows:



1) dedicated CD player

- now as transport + dac, but first (and therefore maybe an unecessary upgrade step) an integrated CDP



2) a dedicated stereo amp

- now as a switchable pre/power, but first as an integrated



I bypass(ed) the Denon completely for 2 ch music, feeding the output from the CDP to the stereo amp. For AV purposes, the DVDplayer does go into the Denon, and it uses pre-outs to get to the stereoamp - switched to poweramp mode.



As it happens, I have now invested in the wonderful AudioSynthesis Dax Decade which is both a dac and a pre-amp, and therefore output into the stereoamp switched to poweramp mode .



From what I can make of your set-up, your options, if like me you are hestitating before making the leap to a dedicated processor, would appear to be:



a) stick at what you are doing for AV

b) first review what you are doing at the CDP end:

- what CD player do you have?

- could find a way to bypass the Denon to get to the Bryson?

-- ie consider a good s/h stereo pre-amp

-- or better still a cd transport + Dax Decade like wot I've done ... (under expert advice from Gary, Charlie, BK, etc) ...



but the point is, I think, to doubt the Denon pre-amp for top end 2 ch music performance.

[austinpowers]

my intention is to get a cd player that can connect directly into the power amp (currently will be a levinson 390s) which will take care of my 2 channel needs, therefore i will be bypassing the denon althogether for music, but for HT i will still need it to run the other channels?



will this work?

[ditton]

me being thick, but what is 'it' in



"but for HT i will still need it to run the other channels?"



??

[austinpowers]

sorry i meant i still need the 3802 to run the other 3 channels for HT.

[ditton]

my intention is to get a cd player that can connect directly into the power amp (currently will be a levinson 390s) which will take care of my 2 channel needs, therefore i will be bypassing the denon althogether for music






Sounds like a good plan, though I have no experience of the Levinson. However, I note that it includes pre-amp functionality - ie you can control the volume.



There are others here with much greated 'hi-end' experience. They may not be reading the 'Denon 3802' heading though.





<table border="0" align="center" width="90%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td class="SmallText">Quote:</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">




for HT { do I use the Denon 3802} run the other channels?



will this work?








yes, that's right.



for HT, you put the Audio digital source to the Denon for processing, using the L/R front pre-out to connect to your poweramp, the sub pre-out for the sub, as you are doing, and have speaker connects for the rears and the centre.

you can, of course do the same for other AV audio sources, such as video, cable, telly, etc.

[austinpowers]

great thats what i was gonna do....no sub yet tho.



thinking abt a velodyne, mayb second hand HGS12/15 or new SVS PS2+

[ditton]

why not try new posting: 'sub to go with my set-up' in order to attract the sub experts, of which there are several here.