Denon AVR-3808CI 7.1-Channel

Denon AVR-3808CI 7.1-Channel Multizone Home Theater Receiver with Networking

 

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Denon AVR-3808CI - Top of the Line Features and Technology

Denon has long been one of the elite names in home theater receivers, offering a combination of advanced technologies and user-friendly features that transform even the most mundane living rooms into rich, powerful audio environments. Now Denon has updated its 3,000 line of A/V receivers with the AVR-3808CI, a 7.1-channel receiver that excels in current applications but is well prepared for future developments as well. The AVR-3808CI is outfitted with such forward-looking features as expanded networking connectivity for people who want to stream music from their computer throughout the house; refined Audyssey audio processing, which produces better sound and room balance even in difficult acoustical conditions; and HDMI v1.3a digital video inputs, which bring with them new surround formats for HD decoding.

With a power output of 130 watts per channel, the AVR-3808CI multizone 7.1 receiver can handle most audio applications (Click the image to view larger)

Under the Hood: Component Technology

The AVR-3808CI offers a power output of 130 watts per channel, but adds a number of engineering advancements to get the most out of the technology. One of the most significant--7-Channel Equal Power--lets you connect seven speakers independently without connecting individual power amps via pre-outs. That's because the AVR-3808CI comes with a built-in internal amplifier for each speaker in your collection. This makes it possible to do things like connect a second surround back speaker directly off the main amplifier to enjoy 7.1 surround formats. The receiver's Dynamic Discrete Surround Circuit (DDSC), meanwhile, optimizes all elements of the surround processor through the use of discrete high-performance components, including separate analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, with sophisticated DSP surround decoding.

The receiver also offers a series of escalating AL24 Processing enhancements. Denon's original AL24 Processing technology was designed to faithfully duplicate some of the delicate nuances of analog music in digital form, a technology that's particularly effective among next-generation media with ultra-high bit and sampling rates. The results sound particularly good when music quietly fades away or starts again following silence, helping the listener detect some of the low-level details. AL24 Processing Plus upped the ante by supporting the 192 kHz sampling frequency of DVD-Audio. Denon followed with Advanced AL24 DSP and AL24 Multi Processing, which further increased the dynamic range and spatial information among high-resolution stereo PCM and multichannel sources.

The receiver also offers High-Definition-Compatible Digital (HDCD), an encoding/decoding technology that encodes with 20 bits of real musical information--as compared with 16 bits for all other CDs--thereby greatly reducing distortion. This creates a better dynamic range, a more-focused three-dimensional soundstage, and extremely natural vocal and musical timbres. And from a video perspective, the AVR-3808CI offers a couple of essentials: progressive scan technology, which processes approximately twice as much video data to produce a sharper, noise-free image with finer details; and DCDi video processing, which employs advanced algorithms to remove the jagged edges that appear when standard interlaced video is viewed on progressive scan displays.

Diverse Sound Modes

As with the best surround receivers, the AVR-3808CI is capable of reproducing a host of 5.1-, 6.1-, and 7.1-channel audio formats, with several processing technologies layered over the top. In addition to providing standard Dolby Digital, DTS, and Pro Logic II formats, the receiver also supports Pro Logic IIx, which allows 5.1-channel sources to be played in up to 7.1 channels; the expanded multichannel capabilities of DTS 96/24, Neo:6 Surround, and DTS-ES Extended Surround, all of which improve the digital surround impression for 5.1 or 6.1 channels; and dts-HD and Dolby True HD, which boost the maximum sampling frequency (up to 96 kHz) and faithfully reproduce the sound of the studio master on up to 7.1 channels.

To assist with film soundtracks, the receiver offers a Cinema Equalizer that corrects for the placement of your speakers vs. the way they're placed in the movie theater. Theaters that locate their front speakers behind the movie screen tend to emphasize the high frequencies, which can sound too strong in a home with a conventional surround setup. Denon amplifiers adjust the high-frequency range so that the sound is cleaner and easier to listen to than uncorrected audio. Listeners can also improve the image detail of their audio sources using Neural Surround technology. This audio breakthrough--which is 100-percent compatible with stereo--offers superior spectral resolution and channel separation, thereby drawing the brain's attention to the sonic details in musical instruments, vocals, and ambience that are typically masked by other playback systems. This allows the listener to fully experience the richness and subtleties in recorded performance as never before. Neural Surround is the chosen format for XM satellite radio's XM HD surround programming.

Convenience Features

Modern A/V receivers are increasingly designed for multi-room listening, and the AVR-3808CI is no exception. The three-zone, multisource system lets you select different audio sources for listening in different locations, letting you simultaneously listen to the DVD player in the main room and the iPod in the bedroom, for example. The AVR-3808CI is also capable of connecting to your PC's wired or wireless LAN network, letting you play back the MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, or WAV files stored on your computer's hard drive, access Internet radio stations, or play back JPEG photo slideshows. To make iPod playback easier, you can connect the receiver to Denon's separately sold ASD-1R iPod docking station, which charges and controls your iPod through the receiver's display.

The AVR-3808CI offers a host of connectivity options (Click the image to view larger)

Other user-friendly features include an EL touchpanel remote control, which offers an electroluminescent display similar to the technology employed by LCD backlights; XM satellite radio compatibility (requires a subscription and an optional plug-and-play XM antenna); two-way remote capability; an attractive GUI with an onscreen display; and a night mode for neighbor-friendly listening.

Connectivity and Setup

The AVR-3808CI offers a host of inputs and outputs for connecting to diverse audio and video sources. The most significant is HDMI v1.3a, the digital interface standard for next-generation TV. With the receiver's four HDMI inputs and one HDMI monitor output, you can easily connect to such devices as HDTVs, DVD players, video game consoles, and cable and satellite boxes, each through a single cable that handles both high-definition video and multichannel audio signals. HDMI is also compatible with High-bandwidth Digital Contents Protection (HDCP), a technology for protecting copyrights that encrypts digital video signals. If your components don't offer HDMI outputs, you still have plenty of options, however, as the receiver also offers three component inputs, seven S-video and seven composite inputs, seven total digital audio inputs (four optical and three coaxial), an Ethernet port, and two USB ports, among many others.

Audiophiles will dig the Denon Link jack, which is far less susceptible to radiated noise than coaxial or unbalanced cables. The Denon Link interface can transfer high-grade LPCM 24-bit, 192 kHz two-channel and 96 kHz, 24-bit multichannel digital output. The receiver also lets you input multichannel audio signals, whether in high-definition MUSE 3-1, SACD, or DVD-Audio formats, via the eight-channel input. Made using eight standard RCA cables--one each for front left, front right, center, surround left, surround right, surround back left, surround back right, and subwoofer--the eight-channel input receives discrete analog audio signals via a digital source such as a DVD player, creating an immersive multichannel audio performance.

Setting up the AVR-3808CI is easier than ever thanks to Denon's Audyssey technologies. Audyssey Equalized was the first technology to properly measure sound information throughout a listening area, and then combine the information to accurately represent the acoustic problems in the room. Based on these measurements, Audyssey calculates an equalization solution that corrects for both time and frequency response problems. Denon also employs Audyssey MultEQ XT technology, which automatically determines how many loudspeakers are connected, whether they are connected in phase, and whether they are satellites or subwoofers. After processing, it then analyzes all the physical details--speaker level, size, and distance--and determines the correct frequency response for up to eight listener positions simultaneously. It's a must for people who want to get the most out of their surround systems.