desray Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Been playing with for the past 4 hours...Will provide a short review on how I feel about this AV Receiver. For those interested to know how the connections (Amp Assign) are made and how it sound, this review will provide you with some insights. Stay tuned... Here's some pictures... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CASH Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 wow! I think the resolution of the pictures u have is very huge! it cant load up.. and I am using fibre network.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yummyyumi Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 I can't load up too.... Still rotating... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yummyyumi Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 Now it's a broken Picture... Think iPad fault... Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CASH Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 not ipad fault bro.. i am using my iMac n macbook air also can't. windows 7 also can't. i think its too huge the resolution... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJQ Posted October 10, 2014 Share Posted October 10, 2014 No issues on android. Very nice pictures. Its been some time since my last Denon 4310. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 For those having problems with the pictures...my apologies for the "alarm". There is nothing wrong with your iPad or Android devices. I usually upload reviews, pictures to my own webserver running on my home network. After 2359hrs, the webserver will go "lights off" and go to "rest" - actually to save $ on electricity bill - you'll be surprised how much you can save on your monthly utility if you dun run your NAS 24/7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CASH Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Yup. Now can load all the picture in a zippy manner.. congrat's on your new toy, Des! Cheer's! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 De-coding the Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Speaker Configuration... If you are confused with the speaker connection, particularly on the HEIGHT CHANNELS...well you are not alone. Initially it can looked rather daunting especially there is SO MANY speaker configuration...but once you learn the "trick", it is actually quite easy. It is essentially a 3-step process. Today, I am going to provide some insights which I hope will be helpful to those en route to setting up your Dolby Atmos enabled AV Receiver at your place. The first thing that you need to do...is to do a proper AMP ASSIGN. By default, it is optimized to your speaker configuration. The key is to set up the traditional speaker layout first - i.e. 5.1, 7.1 or even 9.1. Label your connection and inputs for easy reference. The easiest "concept" to grasp about Dolby Atmos is the fact that it deals primarily on HEIGHT SPEAKERS! Yes that's right...once you get this into your mind, everything else will fall into place. For instance, prior to Dolby Atmos, we have the Front Height channels...this is considered as one of the many HEIGHT SPEAKER options available for a 11.1 or 13.1 channel setup. Bear in mind that despite the underlying theory and all the marketing gimmicks of adding more HEIGHT SPEAKERS along the way...it can only support UP TO 4 ceiling speakers (aptly referred to as TOP FRONT and TOP REAR) if you choose the Dolby Atmos speaker configuration route. To make it even more simple to understand...just remember the following HEIGHT SPEAKERS configuration avail in most of the Dolby Atmos enabled AV Receiver available in the market right now. Config 1: Front Heights Config 2: Rear Heights Config 3: Top Front Config 4: Top Rear Config 5: Top Middle Yes, that's all you need to know everything about setting up Atmos speakers. The tricky part comes AFTER the AMP Assign is the Height Layout. For instance, if you have 11.1 speaker settings. You probably have the following 2 combo (layout): 1) 7.1.4 (L/C/R/Surr R/Surr L/Surr Back R/Surr Back L/SW/and two pairs of either in-ceiling or Dolby enabled speakers) 2) 9.1.2 (L/C/R/Surr R/Surr L/Surr Back R/Surr Back L/Front Ht R/Front Ht L/SW/1 pair of in-ceiling or Dolby enabled speakers) Since the Denon X5200W only has 9 channel of independent processing, so if you want 11.1 channel layout or more, you will need to tap on an external Power Amplifier to fulfil the 11.1 channel playback...just like DTS Neo:X 11.1 processing (nothing new here). If you are using standalone in-ceiling or Front height/rear speakers, then you will need one of the pair to use the Power Amplifier to drive it. Fortunately all this various combination can be found at the Setup menu with ease. Height 1 and Height 2 are the naming convention used at the back of the X5200W AV Receiver, Height 1 usually relates to the "front stage" layout...for instance, it will comprise mainly of HEIGHT SPEAKER layout - i.e. Front height, Top Front and To Middl whereas Height 2 will above and behind you - in this case, Rear Height and Top Rear. A color-coding speaker input sticky labels come in handy and provide you with even "greater visual" perception that can help you to "assign" which speakers is which layout so on and so forth with ease. So do use it when setting up the speaker connection. If you are still confused after reading it...just remember the following takeaways: 1) Connect all your legacy speaker setup first - this can be 5.1, 7.1 or even 9.1 2) Once done, decide on the HEIGHT speakers - how many do you want to implement? 3) Decide on the layout after you know how many speakers you are using...and the layout could entail the use of external power amplification to drive the extra pair of speakers if you are considering using a 11.1 speaker setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kopidilo Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Thanks Des for sharing. =) hope your HT experience is enhanced! Do share more once u finish testing keke ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddyhappy Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Des, if I want to setup 7.1.4, can I use external amp to power front speaker and remaining channel use internal amp to power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie123456 Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 congrat's on your new toy！ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joagib Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 Des, if I want to setup 7.1.4, can I use external amp to power front speaker and remaining channel use internal amp to power. I'm wondering also, Des bro! Please share your finding.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 Des, if I want to setup 7.1.4, can I use external amp to power front speaker and remaining channel use internal amp to power. I dun think so...There is no problem for you to power your front speakers via an external power amp if you so choose to. BUT for 7.1 setup, the extra Surround Back channels has been used for internal amplification, hence you will need another external amp to power up the extra pair of Height speakers. The front height speakers can use internal amplification from the AV Receiver itself. So what can setup allows you to use internal amplification to power the 2 sets of height speakers? Well, recall this is a full discrete 9.2 channels, hence a 5.1.4 allows you to power the 2 pairs of height speakers w/o the need for any external amp... Hope its clear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 I have to set through another viewing session with the TF4 Age of Extinction to experience it in Dolby Atmos mix...and I am pretty impressed by the Dolby Atmos mix vs the vanilla-based 7.1 sound track. I will give more details tmr when I have time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 Here's a screenshot of the information panel showing my 11.1 speaker setup being engaged when playing back TF4 Age of Extinction in Dolby Atmos mix. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CASH Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 surprised u like dynamic EQ... never liked using that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarsi Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 desray, congrats for your new toy :) In my current dts-neo 11.2 setup I am using an external amp to drive the front speakers and the rest of the speakers are driven through the AVR4520 receiver. So, my question is if I add a second external amplifier to drive the current front wide (or rear height 2) via the pre-out of X5200W, and uses the receiver amp to drive the front height and rear height (or front wide), would the receiver allow me to switch between 7.1.4 for atmos and dts-neo 11.1 without having to go thru the setup each time to switch between wide and height 2? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddyhappy Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 I dun think so...There is no problem for you to power your front speakers via an external power amp if you so choose to. BUT for 7.1 setup, the extra Surround Back channels has been used for internal amplification, hence you will need another external amp to power up the extra pair of Height speakers. The front height speakers can use internal amplification from the AV Receiver itself. So what can setup allows you to use internal amplification to power the 2 sets of height speakers? Well, recall this is a full discrete 9.2 channels, hence a 5.1.4 allows you to power the 2 pairs of height speakers w/o the need for any external amp... Hope its clear? Don't understand, yes, surround back require internal amplification, and center plus surround also, which use up 5 channel. Remaining 4 channel i then use it for 2 pair of ceiling, cannot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 desray, congrats for your new toy :) In my current dts-neo 11.2 setup I am using an external amp to drive the front speakers and the rest of the speakers are driven through the AVR4520 receiver. So, my question is if I add a second external amplifier to drive the current front wide (or rear height 2) via the pre-out of X5200W, and uses the receiver amp to drive the front height and rear height (or front wide), would the receiver allow me to switch between 7.1.4 for atmos and dts-neo 11.1 without having to go thru the setup each time to switch between wide and height 2? Thanks Yes it will. Just need to cycle through the various surround modes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 surprised u like dynamic EQ... never liked using that... Dynamic EQ is important if we are using Audyssey calibration as it ensures uniform bass and surround when we operate at lower volumes. It changes the output with the volume you operate in. This is not Dynamic Volume where it will alter the overall sound level whenever we switch from one source to the next. It is good if you watch a lot of TV programmed and some channels have higher audio recording which can make the volume uneven when switching between sources. I dun like it as it does affect the sound quality overall. But Dynamic EQ is totally a different feature altogether. If you are surprised I m using Dynamic EQ, then I will be equally surprise if you are not using it. Perhaps you want to share with us why you dislike the Dynamic EQ? Maybe you have a point that I overlook? Pls share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 11, 2014 Author Share Posted October 11, 2014 Don't understand, yes, surround back require internal amplification, and center plus surround also, which use up 5 channel. Remaining 4 channel i then use it for 2 pair of ceiling, cannot? Like you, I believed it should work. In theory as long as you stick within 9.2, it should work regardless of how you connect the speakers. But sadly for this AVR, the 7.1.4 configuration requires additional external amp to drive one of the pair of height speakers. That's my understanding as I read the manual. I am happy to be proven wrong. The best and the worst of this Amp Assign for the array of height speakers to accommodate more speakers above us is scalability of adding how many height speakers we want in our listening environment but the bad thing is it will require external amplification (beyond 9.2 channels) and that's where a multichannel power amp comes in handy. The problem with the first generation of Dolby Atmos AVR is probably the Amp Assign which can be rather restrictive in speaker connectivity. Hopefully a firmware can address that. Another issue with this height speaker design is with the sharing of its height with wide speaker modes at the same time. It is mutually exclusive design concept. This limits the flexibility in speaker selection. But what does make sense is if you engage top front speakers then the wide speakers will be redundant as it may cause unwanted sound from both the top and the wide speakers from interacting which caused more confusion than clarity. That's my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 I will be getting a pair of Dolby Atmos speakers or add on modules when it arrives in Singapore. Right now I dun think there is any? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CASH Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 my hall is jus bare walls (no treatment on walls at all), every time i do audessy calibration, i find it kills the dynamics. so with dynamic eq, it kills it even further, to me that is. that is the reason y i am still sticking with onkyo amps... (since they have ditched audessy in the new batches) even more reason to do so now.. but yes, a lot of people like audessy calibration, no doubt about that.. jus that in my particular setup, i can't see myself using it... all said, do enjoy your new toy bro... i was only wondering, that was all.. jus wanted to see the benefits of using dynamic eq in your own words.. glad to see your enjoying it. cheers! : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desray Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 my hall is jus bare walls (no treatment on walls at all), every time i do audessy calibration, i find it kills the dynamics. so with dynamic eq, it kills it even further, to me that is. that is the reason y i am still sticking with onkyo amps... (since they have ditched audessy in the new batches) even more reason to do so now.. but yes, a lot of people like audessy calibration, no doubt about that.. jus that in my particular setup, i can't see myself using it... all said, do enjoy your new toy bro... i was only wondering, that was all.. jus wanted to see the benefits of using dynamic eq in your own words.. glad to see your enjoying it. cheers! : ) Ok. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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