Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Well I pulled the plug on a AVR-3808!! Setup help

Super excited on this long awaited upgrade from my 3801!! I know there are lots of 3808 owners on the forum and I was wondering if anyone had some setup recommendations (hopefully my friend is coming over tomorrow to hook it up for me). My main question I guess is should I use auto setup (Audyssey) or should I calibrate everything using my SPL meter etc. as I did for my 3801? Any other help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again guys
Cam

I would run the auto set up first, then verify / change settings after it does its thing if needed. You can always turn Audyssey off later if you don’t like it. Some folks like it, some don’t. That’s a personal choice only you can make.

You’ll want to spend a fair amount of time with the GUI. It takes time to understand it completely and the set up options are damn near limitless. In typical Denon fashion, the manual sucks.

After you play with some and get used to it, you’ll want to configure the network interface and update the firmware if it doesn’t come loaded with the latest version. There is a great thread at AVS for this with pretty good instructions and tips. If I think about it, I’ll post a link later if someone else doesn’t post it first.

Have fun with your new toy…..

I'd say try the Audyssey Cam. It is much more advanced than the setup in my Denon 2805. It is nice as you can run the mic from multiple locations to get the best sound for all seating locations.

Cam, you mention only the "calibrate" function of Audyssey, which is just part of the story. Yes, you should use Audyssey to calibrate speaker levels and distance delays; the result using the internal meter and processing is likely to be at least as accurate as a manual calibration with the aid of an external SPL meter. Any difference observed when "checking" with the separate meter is just as likely to be due to user error in reading the meter.

Besides calibration, the second part of the Audyssey function is room equalization. This is more controversial and should be experimented with as a separate matter from calibration. The majority of professional tests and user reports appear to indicate that results are favorable in partially correcting some of the room effects that affect all speakers.

With my 3808 I used audyssey to calibrate my speakers at first. I thought the results were ok, but ended up having issues with the receiver reverting to it's original auddysey settings (I had made a few adjustments here and there.)

In the end, I just reset my receiver and set up everything by hand.

I may go back and re-run it sometime and experiment with the room EQ.

I say try out the audyssey setup first for sure. You can always hit the "EQ" button on the remote to to turn off the EQ if you are not satisfied with the results.

As always thanks for all your suggestions and help. One question I forgot to ask was can I run component video from my HD satellite receiver to my Denon and then S-video from the Denon to my TV? I obviously don't have a high-definition television yet. I didn't know if the receiver would recognize the signal difference and work properly (it doesn't on my 3001) or even if I would gain anything from hooking it up this way rather than S-video to my receiver then S-video to my TV.

Thanks again
Cam

They usually don't downconvert, at least not from component. Your TV doesn't have component inputs, either? (I'm in the same boat...)

I believe I found the firmware upgrade thread on AVS mdrew ( Denon 3808/4308/5308 Firmware Tracking Thread). The only problem I have is that I don't have an Internet connection in my home theater room so updating the firmware after hooking it up and setting everything up wouldn't work for me. Can't I just plug it in upstairs by my computer/router and update the firmware straight out of the box before it's hooked up to anything? I would also hook it up to my TV in the computer room so I could see the on-screen display.

I beilieve you can just plug the internet into your 3808 and do the firmware update through the on receiver display menu, so there is no need to hook it up to a tv.

tv might make it easier though.

But to answer your question, the firmware does not require anything to be setup prior to the install. In fact, it is probably best to do the firmware update first. when upgrading fromt he 1st firmware that came with the 3808 all of your settings got reset anyway. (I think that the models being sold now have this problem resolved so it should'nt be an issue though).

Definitely set it up first. Then go into the menu and see what firmware version it has on it. You may not need to update. If it does need to updated, you can definitely use the receiver’s display. That’s how I updated it the first time I updated. You will want to familiarize yourself with the GUI and how to navigate it first, before you use the display for updating. When you are comfortable with the steps that take you to the update screen, it will be a piece of cake to do it I another room. It just sucks to have to disconnect all your cables.

The receiver will convert analogue to digital, but it will not pass anything above 480P to your display unless you use HDMI. Using S-cable will work, but you will have set it up in the GUI to convert analogue to digital. You may have to set your cable box to output 480i or 480P (try both as the 3808 may do a better job at deinterlacing than the cable box).

The option / function set up on this beast takes time to understand. Some settings that you make will eliminate other settings from the GUI. It’s pretty smart actually. For example…. It has three enhancing modes for compressed audio feeds (like from cable or satellite) that you can pick from. However, if the audio feed coming in is not compressed, the enhance modes are no where to be found. You’ll discover many situations where this happens and new options will seam to appear out of nowhere, but just try to recall what you changed first so you can learn from it. You might also want to write down how you set everything up and keep track of the changes you will make as you learn more.

Another thing you will soon discover is the receiver allows you to set up each input differently than the others. Or, you can make a selection in the menu that will use the same settings for all inputs. It’s pretty handy to have this option. I have all my inputs set up differently and would hate to have them all the same.