hmmm- when I put a cd into my a2 hd-dvd player and try stereo or direct with LFE+main or just LFE I get no bass out of my sub.

Through my 360 its says dolby digital and the music gets a sub (only the fronts and sub are on.) If I change it to stereo or direct no sub there either...

I need to figure out how the denon works. I still can't get the sub working with stereo or direct mode on either the HD DVD or the 360

T, just a quick partial reply. Keep in mind that the "+ main" setting just adds more input to the sub; the mains remain playing full-range when they're set large. As to how much of the mains low bass(not LFE)also goes to the sub in that setting, the Denon manual isn't clear(surprise)as to whether an arbitrary frequency(e.g. 80Hz)is used or one of the settings from speakers set "small" is also applied for sending mains bass to the sub.

Johnk, I found in a menu somewhere in the GUI where it showed the crossovers that were assigned by the audessey eq. It showed LFE+main as 80hz, so apparently this 'arbitrary' crossover is adjustable... I guess I just over looked it.

Still not sure why the denon will not use my sub with a stereo source such as an audio cd through my Hd DVD player.

Sorry, I seem to have gotten this thread off track a bit, focusing more on my specific problems then general denon 3808 questions.

sorry mdrew, great review by the way.

Well, p.41 of the manual implies that in "direct" the sound stays in the same channels and there's no bass management, so with CDs(where there's no LFE channel, of course)there'd be nothing to go to the sub. In "stereo" however, if mains are set "small" with a crossover(the default, as shown at p.29, is in fact 80Hz, if it wasn't set otherwise manually or by Odyssey), the sub should be getting the low bass below 80Hz or other setting. If the mains are set "large" there'd be no low bass to the sub if it's set LFE only; if "+ mains" was set, then the sub should get the mains bass below the 80Hz default or other frequency set.

Terz,

what is your EP500 set to for a crossover, bypass?

yes it is set on bypass.

there is still no bass coming from the sub with a stereo source.

The mains are set to large, but I have the subwoofer set to 'LFE + main' with an 80hz crossover

try setting the sub to just "LFE" and see if that works. Although it should work with that setting...

What happens when the mains are set to small?

Ahhh Jason, you are right, they need to be set to small, otherwise there will be no crossing over from the mains to the sub. If you have small mains, and the "LFE+Mains" option on, you will get both playing the LFE. Sheesh, not sure how I overlooked that!

Would somebody please draw a chart for us visual learners?