Off Polk Topic: Denon AVR-3802

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tortfsr24
tortfsr24 Posts: 79
edited March 2002 in Technical/Setup
I have a Denon AVR-3300 which will drive 2 sets of surround speakers simulataneously such that it will drive 7 speakers all at once. I've been wanting to step up to 6.1/7.1 surround sound and was wondering if the Denon AVR-3802 will drive 9 speakrs all at once? I have RT-12 rear towers as well as LS fx rears. I was going to add Fx 500i's for the back wall and use the LS fx for the sides. However, I wanted to keep the rear towers for music and wanted to make sure there was a connection for them. I also wanted to see, as an added overkill bonus, if it would drive all of them at once.

The denon website shows an available output for multiroom or surround, but I wanted to see how this works before buying the fx 500is.

Thanks,
Brent
Post edited by tortfsr24 on

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  • CHRIS
    CHRIS Posts: 454
    edited March 2002
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    THX recomends direct radiating speakers for surround backs. IMO I would stick with the RT-12s and move up to 500s on the sides. Just my 2¢.
    Chris :)
  • tortfsr24
    tortfsr24 Posts: 79
    edited March 2002
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    Thanks Chris. That's good info to know. I got off the HiFi banwagon just before 6.1/7.1 came out. However, I'M BACK!

    Is the height preference on dipole/bipole surrounds still at around 6.5 feet from the floor?

    Thanks,
    Brent
  • CHRIS
    CHRIS Posts: 454
    edited March 2002
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    Brent-I would not be giving you the best answer as I don't own bipoles/dipoles. Someoe will come along who dose, with the right answer for you. As best I can remember from other threads you are right.
    Chris :)
  • lax01
    lax01 Posts: 496
    edited March 2002
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    tortfsr24: Yes. The Dipole/Bipoles speakers should be about 2-3 1/2 feet above primary listening position. Due to wall constraints I had to put them about 4-5 feet above my listening position but they still sound great.

    Btw, I would also put direct radiating speakers in the rear and have dipole speakers on the side.
  • rskarvan
    rskarvan Posts: 2,374
    edited March 2002
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    I have the Denon 3801 - almost the same as the 3802 (less 5 wpc and Dolby Pro-logic II).
    It can drive qty=10 speakers counting the sub-woofer line level out. Now, this is where things get a bit complicated.
    The 3801 has 7 identical discreet output amplifiers.
    The back of the denon has two sets of side surround outputs (A & B). In the setup of the receiver, it can be set to drive... say, set A for side di-poles (movies) and B for 5-channel music (DVD-A, SACD).

    Yes, it can drive A & B simultaneously. This just parallels the speakers together. So, you are going to have to be VERY careful here. If you drive two sets of primary surround speakers, the ohm-age will be cut in half. Now, if they are both 8-ohm speakers, thats not such a big deal. The output will see 4 ohms and the Denon is capable of pushing a 4 ohm load. Now, if your surrounds are 4 ohm speakers, that would drop things down to
    a combined 2 ohms and the Denon really isn't setup to handle that - at least not well.

    Keep in mind that the back surrounds are on a different output transistor channel - channels 6 & 7.

    The primary purpose of two surrounds is to switch surrounds automatically for music vs. movies. The denon will auto-set the correct side surround choice for you - this is very handy.