Could someone please clarify exactly what "zones" are in reference to my Denon 3808 reciever? The manual only provides info on changing zone settings with no further detail. I know that the reciever has the ability to power speakers in other listening areas(zones) but I would like to know more. I am running a 5.1 setup and currently have all zones turned on via main remote. I'm not sure if I should turn off any zones not currently used or should they all remain on? I appreciate any info on this subject.

i think you would turn them off if you are not using them. I have a Yamaha 661 that allows zones but I have never used it.

I haven't used zones myself, but my understanding is that they provide a way for you to make use of unused channels on your receiver to drive additional speakers with a different signal.

For example, if you had a 7.1 receiver but only a 5.1 speaker system, you could be listening to the sound from a DVD on the 5.1 system and be playing music from the FM tuner in another room.

Seems like an unnecessary complication to me, but then again I have 35 years worth of leftover audio components lying around so finding something to drive speakers in another room is rarely a problem

Demetrios, if Denon finds out that you want to know more than they're willing to tell you in the manual, they'll be very angry with you! Okay, just kidding, but it doesn't seem like there's much more to say other than if you have no speakers connected in other zones there's no need to make any zone settings and if you do, they have no effect. If there's some point that we're missing, maybe another 3808 owner will comment.

Yeah, without any speakers hooked up to them it doesn't matter what the settings on them are.

An example of how I use zones in my home.

Zone 1 = 7.1 system in the media room.
Zone 2 = pre-amp (unpowered RCA connections) to an amplifier that powers my patio speakers (Algonquins).

I turn on Zone 2 only when I want to listen to music on my patio, otherwise I leave it off. At times I also turn both on when I want to hear the sound upstairs as well as outside. The nice thing about the 3808 is that while my wife might be watching a movie in the media room (Zone 1), I can change Zone 2 (the patio) to play music from my iPod.

Hopefully this helps to explain the idea.

Jason

Thanks for clearing things up guys. One of the reasons I was inquiring if all zones excluding the main should be turned off if not in use is excess heat dissipation from the reciever. I had an Alpine head unit for the car which had a feature that allowed the internal amplifiers to be turned off. The manual stated that if an external amplifier is used to power speakers instead of the internal HU amp it is recommended to disable the HU amp which will reduce heat and increase the longevity of the product with a cleaner source signal. My sometimes over analytical mind was thinking in that regard and I was wondering if disabeling secondary zones would reduce heat resulting in a longer life for my reciever. It looks like at the rate I going thus far I'll need 10yrs just to figure out the many features of the 3808. When I disabled secondary zones I heard the internal amps in the reciever click off.

Demetrios, if you're talking about hearing a "click" when you did that with the 3808, whatever the noise was, it wasn't any amp turning off. There's only one amplifier in a receiver and it outputs through multiple channels of output transistors, which act like valves in sending the required amount of power to each connected speaker. When there's no speaker connected to a particular output channel, the amplifier, or even that particular channel, doesn't shut off entirely, but runs at a low "idle".