Bought A Denon 3801 Today,WOW!! (1 Viewer)

[kelvin s]

Hello All,

Today i purchased a denon 3801 from a local hifi store. I paid $700.00 out the door. I could have purchased online cheaper,but i`ve been doing business with these guys for years and they are an authorized dealer. The 2802 i was looking at is 695.00 best offer. At any rate i think i made a wise decision. When i got it home and hooked it up i was amazed at the pure clean power this receiver puts out.The soundstage is so deep and spacious sounding it`s scary. Now i know why a lot of you on this board favor denon products. It blows away my old sony db 840. I can`t wait to get a second pair of surround speakers hooked up to this monster.You guys/gals on this board put out some really great advice,keep up the good work and thanks.

 

[Yogi]

The 3801 is an excellent receiver. I think, and I reiterate, I think it sounds even better than its successor, the 3802 (putting my flame suit on). The 3802 is somewhat warmer sounding than the 3801 while the 3801 is more neutral sounding. Build wise the 3801 was much better built than the 3802. I have a 3802 but wouldn't mind trading it for the 3801. dont really use the PLII feature and x-overs over 80 Hz are useless for me as I use floor standers.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Good post. I had the same experience when I hooked a lowly 80 wpc Yamaha in place of my old 100 wpc Kenwood stereo receiver - I was shocked at the difference.

But all these receivers LOOK alike so your feedback will help others find the hidden gems.

 

[kelvin s]

Thanks guys for your replies. I`m still tweaking my eq and level settings. The bass response is a little lower than i`m used to, i guess i need to kick up the sub woofer level on the receiver a couple of db. My subwoofer isn`t a real good one (klh asw15-200) but i`ll replace it as soon as i can afford to. The manual states that when selecting the large setting for the front mains you can use either the lfe or lfe+mains option on the subwoofer setup screen, which of these settings do you guys suggest? Also which optical input do i use for my xbox game console. I would be grateful for more input on these matters and again, thanks.

 

[Dan Harmer]

Yo Yogi How did you conclude that the 3801 is built better than the 3802? Have you actually popped the covers of both and looked inside? I had a 3300 and a Luxman R491 (same unit on steroids) and they both look nearly IDENTICAL inside and out in comparison with my 3802 (with the obvious exception of the extra channels on the output stage). Just trying to understand your opinion...

 

[ReggieW]

.......I'm curious to. I've heard the 3801 and 3802 and preferred the 3802 alone just for the extra features, not to mention the better sound quality imho of the 3802.
Also, I think 700.00 Is VERY high for a 3801.

Reg

 

[Yogi]

preferred the 3802 alone just for the extra features, not to mention the better sound quality imho of the 3802.

Better sound quality is subjective. I find the 3801 more neutral while the 3802 more laid back warmer kind. Now which is better is subjective. Lets not jump to conclusions here.
Cheers

 

[Dan Harmer]

Thanks for the clarification Yogi. Looking at the 3 knobs on my unit, I never would have noticed a difference (if they are in fact different). I wasn't able to find anything on the bass management bug (this is the first I've heard of it) on ecoustics. I did find these two reviews particularly interesting:
http://thestar.com.my/audio/review.a...&sec=audiofile
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/test...onAVR-3802.php
Regardless, the very minor technical differences between the two units doesn't add up to big cost difference in my opinion, so cutting corners should be a minimum. Everything we read though is nothing more opinions for the most part. Being a 3802 owner myself, even I take conclusions like this with a grain of salt (from one of the above reviews):
"I was privileged to have both units for a while, but in all honesty, the sonic quality of the AVR-3802 was such a significant step upwards from the AVR-3801 that really, the latter deserves only academic mention beyond this point."
-Dan

 

[Yogi]

I consider terms like 'sonics being significant step up from...' very subjective and take them with a grain of salt. To my ears the 3801 was neutral while the 3802 was warm sounding. But lets say if Denon did something to make the sonics significantly different then that something itself might have been significant. The say they changed the way the output transistors were biased. So they did change something in the circuit design. Either they used transistors with different I-V characteristics or they changed the way the output transistors were implemented. Either way a design change in a mass market product is significant. A slight change here and there doesn't produce significantly different sonic signatures as we all know, otherwise high end manufacturers wouldnt be going to the great lengths to make their products sound like the way they do. So if we do assume that the sound of both is significantly different then there must have been significant changes, and must have resulted in significant corners being cut. Otherwise how do you explain the myraid problems being observed by the 3802 users on this forum. There was a point in the life cycle of the 3802 that there was one problem thread/day. Also reliability is as important to me as the sonics. And for that I highly value the opinions of fellow forum members. So you see where I am coming from.
Cheers