3802 for 2 channel music (1 Viewer)

[Jason Co]

My setup for music sounds best to me with 2 channel stereo and no sub. My question is do I have to go into the setup program on the 3802 and change the front settings to large every time I want to listen to music, or is there a way I can program it so when I choose stereo it automatically changes my speakers to large?

J

 

[John Royster]

Jason,

If you use direct mode and adjust the sub level to "off" you will get a full analog bypass. There will be no bass management, no DA conversions, and your two speakers will be running full-range regardless of what you do in "setup".

 

[Jason Co]

Well that makes things a bit easier. I'm also open to any suggestions as to how anyone else listens to tunage. Thanks John.

J

 

[John Royster]

Jason,

I use direct almost exclusively for music. But when I want a little extra slam I can switch to stereo which turns on the sub so to speak. Remember that the 3802 stores different channel levels for direct and stereo modes.

my mains go below 30 hz, so I prefer to not run a sub with music.

 

[Yogi]

I dont think that the direct mode on the 3802 is true bypass mode that is it still goes through the DSP circuitry but only bypasses the tone controls. If you want true bypass use analog L/R outs from your DVD/CD player and hook them into ext-in L/R inputs on the Denon. This way you get true bypass as the signal doesn't go through the DSP circuitry at all. does that make sense? Someone please correct me if I am wrong on this.

Also that brings another question. If my DVD player has 24/192 DACs then would I get better 2-ch performance if I use the external in connections in the manner above so that I am upsampled to 192 KHz rather than the 96 KHz that I would get when using the DACs in the 3802 as I would in regular stereo or direct mode? Any expert opinions on that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Andrew_B]

I dont think that the direct mode on the 3802 is true bypass mode that is it still goes through the DSP circuitry but only bypasses the tone controls.

THe direct mode does indeed bypass the DSP circuitry. In direct mode there is a parallel analog path that goes to the subwoofer, but as was mentioned above this can be adjusted so the sub gets no signal.

 

[Yogi]

THe direct mode does indeed bypass the DSP circuitry. In direct mode there is a parallel analog path that goes to the subwoofer, but as was mentioned above this can be adjusted so the sub gets no signal.

I remember reading in some review about this or it might have been one of the members posting about this, but is was said that the direct mode is not true bypass, and it did make some sense as you input a digital signal from your CD or DVD player and you would need some DSP to separate the LFE channel out of the signal so that you have both the front L/R output as well as sub output. Where as in the case of ext-in all your receiver is doing is taking the analog input from your CD/DVD player and amplifying it and so the full signal gets amplified (mains+LFE) without any LFE separation. Someone please correct me on this as I would like to know if this is true.

 

[John Royster]

THe direct mode does indeed bypass the DSP circuitry. In direct mode there is a parallel analog path that goes to the subwoofer, but as was mentioned above this can be adjusted so the sub gets no signal.

This is what I have read as well. Came from some Denon rep. Of course you have to take anything a manufacturer says with a grain of salt.

Maybe search on 3802 and direct. I remember quite a number of posts on this subject a while back.

 

[Eric T]

I don't see the point of the Direct mode if it doesn't bypass anything except the tone controls. Because there is already a bypass for the tone controls on the front panel.

I wasn't paying strict attention to this, but I could swear that my sub was NOT playing in Direct mode, but WAS playing in Stereo mode. I'll check it again. This would be a good indication of whether or not the DSP is bypassed.

For me, it makes the most sense for Direct mode to bypass the tone controls AND the DSP circuits. It would also be most useful to me, since the DACs in my 3802 are better than the DACs in my DVD player....so EXT-IN would not be such a good option for me. I'd rather take the digital out from my DVD player and do the D/A conversion in my 3802.

 

[Chuck Kent]

Guys: Denon has printed for years (at least 4 that I know of) that ALL analog signals with the 2xxx series and higher are 100% analog from input to speaker output (with the exception of the subwoofer.)

Stereo mode allows the use of the analog tone controls and the analog highpass crossover (so you can still use the "Small" speaker setting.)

Direct mode bypasses the analog highpass (so the speakers are always "Large") and also bypasses the tone controls.

The subwoofer is available in both modes. Analog input signals are split into 2 identical parts. One half is sent to the analog highpass section (which is bypassed in the Direct mode) and the other half sent to the digital lowpass section. Since the sub always receives a signal, Denon provides a way to turn it off in Direct mode (by turning it down to off in the Direct mode level adjustments.)