Newest Upgrade...revealed!

billbillw

Some of you may have noticed that I just sold off my beloved Denon 2802 and a fairly nice Yamaha integrated amp to pay for a mysterious upgrade.

Well, now that I've actually got it in my hands, I will tell you.
I scored a great deal on a Denon AVR-4802 last Friday. I was watching an Ebay auction for most of last week. The seller was local to me and the reserve price was met midweek. I was still watching it on Friday afternoon and the item hadn't received any bids since the reserve was met. I thought, what the heck, I'll throw in a last second bid for $25 higher than the reserve. I was actually shocked that I won it! The guy that bid it up to the reserve never put another bid in and only one other person bid.
Within the next few days, a couple other nearly identical 4802s went for $218 and $135 higher than mine. After inspecting the item today, I'd say it is a solid 7/10 or maybe 8/10 with some cleaning. So, anyway, I'm stoked to get it installed.
No, its not high end components, but the 4802 is a big step up from the 2802. It weighs in at 20lbs more than the already substantial 2802. I'll be updating my showcase when everything is finalized.

Mazeroth

Gratz! Be sure to let us know how you like it.

ohskigod

good snag, seems that should make a big difference, and at a great price no less. great feeling isnt it?

audiobliss

Congrats!

billbillw

ohskigod wrote:

great feeling isnt it?

Yes it is! I was "high" all weekend and it only got better when those other auctions ended at significantly higher prices.

I didn't mention this before, but the seller is a Squaretrade member and I was offered (through Squaretrade) a 2 year warranty by VAC Service Corp for only $28. I decided that was a small price for 2 years of peace of mind. I can get a refund on the warranty within 30 days, so I've got to figure out if they are a decent service co. or if they are schisters. Anybody had a VAC Service warranty and used it for repair? Any issues?

Schris22

congrats!

I'm a fan of that receiver. heard it briefly at a friend's store.

Chris

dohcmark8

Nice catch, even nicer price!

billbillw

Got a chance to fully unpack it and give it a little light cleaning. After close inspection, this is definetly in 8/10 shape. The front panel is flawless. Just a few small scuffs on the sides. There was a sticky tag on the packaging that indicated this was a customer trade in at some hifi audio store that I never heard of. It just said Shape: A; Problem: customer upgraded; Complete: No; Items missing: box, packaging.

The shop was Ultimate something or other. Looks like this was someone's baby until they got upgraditis and went for something better.

aaharvel

congrats dude! nothing like the feeling you get when you snag something off Ebay at a steal. hehehe

mantis

Good job Bill, I personally like the 4802 alot. I think it has the right balance of features with good power and sound quality. it's a step up from the 3 series but outragous like the 5 series. In ways I feel the 4 series receivers from Denon are the best of all worlds in receivers. The price is right and it can do more then any other pre amp I can thing of. The new 4806 is killer.

Good job man,

Dan

billbillw

I may be getting over ambitious, but I'm thinking about swapping out and installing it tommorow morning before work. How long can it take to switch out cables and bananas? We'll see. I'd like to get it done so I can start enjoying it immediately when I get home Friday evening.

billbillw

Well, I got er done this morning! Swapped out the old with the new.

I was a little worried at first. I couldn't get any video output. Couldn't see the setup menu to come on or any of the display features either. I tried both outputs and was freaking. So I tried the "microprocesser reset" from the manual. Bingo, I started getting video output, but I still couldn't get the menus. Then I realized that I had the video hooked to Monitor 2 output which is for the multi-room output. Duh!! Switched that and everything was fine. Went through the setup with no problems. I didn't really have time to tweak the settings and give it a good listen to, but I did play a few minutes of "Kinda Blue" in Pure Direct Mode with the AL24 processing. Sounded very smooth. Packing up my 2802, I couldn't believe how light and it felt compared to the 4802. I remember I used to think the 2802 was a tank, now I just think its a light armored vehicle.

billbillw

I got some time to really listen to the new 4802 over my long weekend (Columbus Day!)
It really does sound much smoother than the 2802. I did a comparison using the analog outputs from my 2900 and the digital output and I must say, I prefer the sound of the 4802's DACs and AL24 processing. Even my wife could hear the difference. Overall, I'm very happy with the upgrade.

One thing did bother me though. It seems that when I first power up the receiver, it doesn't want to decode Dolby Digital or DTS. I found this with my Tivo and DVD player. The problem seems to go away within a minute or two after powering up. I'm just afraid that the problem will get worse and it will need service.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this? A receiver or processor that needs to be warmed up before performing the neccessary decoding?

billbillw

Finally updated the system showcase with my SVS and Denon upgrades.

mldennison

billbillw wrote:

One thing did bother me though. It seems that when I first power up the receiver, it doesn't want to decode Dolby Digital or DTS. I found this with my Tivo and DVD player. The problem seems to go away within a minute or two after powering up. I'm just afraid that the problem will get worse and it will need service.

so you are getting no sound when this is happening? my 3802 can take a while (20-30 sec) before the indicator lights switch over and it "realizes" that it is a DD or DTS signal coming in.

billbillw

mldennison wrote:

so you are getting no sound when this is happening? my 3802 can take a while (20-30 sec) before the indicator lights switch over and it "realizes" that it is a DD or DTS signal coming in.

Yeah, No sound for about 1 or 2 minutes, then intermitent for another minute, then its fine. This only seems to be when fired up from cold. I need to do more trouble shooting, but it seems to be mainly with the Dig Coax coming from my DVD. The optical output from my Tivo seems to work almost right away. I tried switching to a different Dig Coax input, but there is no difference. It seems unlikely that the problem is with my DVD since it was working perfect until I switched from the 2802 to the 4802. I talked to Denon and they don't believe this is normal behavior and there is probably a problem with one of the ICs. They said it should be an quick fix if parts are available.

I found out that I need to wait 30 days from the auction ending date before the the warranty kicks in. That's not a problem for me. I can wait since everything else works perfectly. Hopefully it doesn't get worse.