Hello! I'll be setting up my Denon 3805 with my recently ordered Axiom stuff(M80/VP150/QS8). I'll be doing the manual setup since I have no mic and have bi-amping configured (because of my power-hungry Infinity Kappa 8's). I'll be getting an SPL meter soon. I don't plan to do the room EQ setup.
Questions:

1. Is there any reason I shouldn't leave the receiver & speakers in the bi-amped (NOT bi-wired) config?

2. Any suggestions/tips for the manual set-up procedure?

3. Devil's advocate question...why do the setup? What advantage is there to doing the setup vs balancing by ear as the source is playing other than knowing that all levels are 'officially' balanced?

Thx all!

1. I'm not going to comment on bi-amping. My answers always upset everyone

2. There have been several posts in the last few days with links to good setup instructions. Of course I can't find any now but...

3. The main reason for setup is that it's very unlikely that all of the speaker distances, room reflections and speaker sensitivities will add up so that all your speakers play at the same level in your listening position. If you don't correct for that by calibrating the speaker levels (what we call setup) then your listening experience can be degraded in lots of subtle ways :

- center channel level is off, making dialog either hard to hear or annoyingly loud relative to background

- sound doesn't appear to be coming from the TV, but is off to the left or right

- surrounds are too loud (so they sound obvious and phony) or too quiet (so you loose a lot of ambience effects)

- subwoofer is too loud so sounds crappy on music, or too quiet and sounds crappy on movies

Thx for your reply bridgman.. part of my quest in this thread is to find out whether calibrating as opposed to manually setting speaker output to levels I consider balanced is what I REALLY should do. All of the subtleties you mention, I can easily detect on a given movie or music source. I'm a musician, and have a pretty good idea of what sounds balanced. Don't misunderstand.. I'm looking for arguments FOR calibration so I can fully understand it's function, and how it can account for something my ears may miss. I'm still quite new to the latest electronics and am eager to learn...

Thx!

I think it would be best if you start by using Receiver based setup and/or calibrating using an SPL meter. After that, you can fine tune it to your liking. I've been around music/instruments my whole life, but I'm not able to perfectly match dB levels to SPL by ear.

Exactly. Calibrating gives you a known, repeatable starting point -- *then* you add your personal preferences.

On 1., you may be under the misimpression(e.g. your reference to "power-hungry" speakers) that the type of biamping involved increases the amount of power available to the speakers. This isn't the case, since there's still only one power supply section and it's simply feeding available power through two channels of output transistors instead of one. Each section of the speaker would still have 120 watts available to it, not 240. Of course, although there's no significant benefit, neither is there harm in leaving it that way if you don't have a better use for those channels, e.g. driving back surround speakers.

On 2.and 3., manually balancing the levels by ear can still be considered "calibration"; only doing nothing at all would leave the system uncalibrated. The question would be what's easier and/or more accurate. My view would be that the answer is getting the 3805 mike and letting it do the job. A microphone is probably(although not necessarily, since the RS meter, for example is +/- 2dB)going to give a more accurate level adjustment than our ears will. Removing the human error element by feeding the mike data into an auto-calibrating receiver is again more likely to give an accurate result. So, letting the receiver do it is likely to be both easier and more accurate than a manual calibration either by ear or assisted by a separate SPL meter. Another factor is the ability to at least try the room equalization to see if the result is pleasing. Of course, after any of this, the result can be adjusted to suit your taste.

Thks JohnK for your reply. I also spoke to Brent about the bi-amping issue and switched to normal wiring. I suppose the audioholics article I referred to may have been misleading.

I got my shipment yesterday, and spent most of the rest of the day settings things up. Everything arrived as promised and in perfect condition. The M80's in cherry are gorgeous! I couldn't resist firing them up before any calibration in direct mode to have a listen. First impression was... instantly detectable improved imaging, dynamics, and a sort of 'effortless' quality to the sound, compared the Kappa 8's. That alone means they're staying! I proceeded to do a manual setup w/ the RS analog meter for levels and delays. The Denon manual can be tough to understand... I assume I can't do the preset EQ settings (Normal,flat, front, etc.) unless I do an auto setup with a mike? Sirquack perhaps you know?

The QS8's look beautful on their stands.. all in all I'm REALLY pleased with the speakers... all the research and questions have paid off! Thx again everyone...

When I listened to a friend of my brothers Kappa’s I too thought the M80s were in another league. They did however make for good party speakers.

I believe with the manual setup you can preset the EQ settings, as well as change any settings after an auto setup. The main advantage of using the mic is that it's simple, and does a great job. Also if you are in the habit of moving your system around it only takes minutes to recalibrate.

Yeah spoiler, the Normal, Flat, Front EQ selections relate specifically to three different types of auto-EQ with mike. The remaining EQ selection however is "Manual" and you can use that to adjust the eight specific frequencies(the auto-EQ can vary the eight frequencies, within limits) shown manually(figures)by +/- 6dB. So, that's something that you might experiment with if you have a source of specific test frequencies and something near one or more of the set frequencies(especially the lowest ones)is out of line. You can of course turn any EQ on or off with just one click on the remote to compare the results.