Denon - AVR-X4800H (125W X 9) 9.4-Ch. with HEOS and Dolby Atmos 8K Ultra HD HDR Compatible AV Home Theater Receiver with Alexa - Black

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  7.1.2 theater of Awesome!

  • Incentivized
  • Verified Purchaser
  • My Best Buy® Member
  • Owned for 2 months

  Initial Thoughts: The Denon AVR-X4800H is a feature rich 8K AVR that powers through my 7.1.2 surround system without any external amplification. Movies are rich and dynamic. Music is clean and detailed. Initial setup and integration activity took me about two hours. It took the first month to fully realize the system in my 18’ L x 11’ W x 7’ H 7.1.2 home theater. The Denon is so feature rich that I am still adjusting, trying new sound modes, and tweaking the system to dial in the very best my system has to offer. It also supports every multi-channel sound mode that 2023 has to offer. So far, I am finding the experience fun, educational, and, overall, my music and movies have never sounded better. Setup: Unpacking, connecting cables, and running Audyssey MultEQ XT32 room correction took about two hours. The Denon was a simple drop-in replacement for an older Pioneer Elite VSX-90 AVR. My current system has a solid front bed layer stage of B&W 702 S2 L/R and the B&W HTM71 S2 center. The surround speakers are more of a patchwork of speakers including two B&W 606 Signature speakers as side surrounds, two B&W HTM 600 series center channels for rears, and a pair of SVS Prime bookshelf speakers as front elevation speakers. I am using an SVS PC-4000 sub to round the system. Audyssey MultEQ XT32 did a pretty good job of integrating the various speakers and providing a solid sonic presentation. The Denon includes a calibration microphone and an adjustable cardboard microphone stand to perform the Audyssey MultEQ calibration. The microphone will also screw into a standard camera tripod. This is not a calibrated mic so you will not be able to use it with the full paid version of Audyssey MultEQ-X for Windows or with Dirac Live. Audyssey MultEQ XT32 runs a test tone, per speaker, across eight different spots around your listening position. In my case, Audyssey ran 80 separate test tones. The calibration process took me about 10 minutes to set up my tripod, mic, and pre-mark my eight measurement positions. Running through the calibration test tones took another 10 to 20 minutes. The last major item I checked was my speaker crossover frequencies for each speaker. Audyssey set my L/C/R speakers to full range which is not correct. Instead, I set them both within 10Hz – 20hz of the manufacturer’s stated lowest frequency range. And then set the high-pass filter to the sub to 150Hz. THX recommends setting all crossovers to 80hz. And this is a good guideline and will work in most instances. In my case, I chose to experiment with the crossover points. The Denon is only capable of powering 9 speakers but can process a total of 11 channels. There are 11 unbalanced pre-outs on the back of the AVR which allows for external amplification and expansion to a the full 11 channels. My goal is a 7.2.4 system, so it is important to me to have room to grow. The X4800H supports every known multi-channel format known to man, I think. There are a lot of them. I do not have room to cover them in this review. Download the 336-page user’s manual from Denon’s support site to review them for yourself. I think you will find a few sound formats and speaker configurations that will work for your unique situation. I’ll just say that Atmos, DTS, and Aural overlap on a surprising number of speaker configurations. Movies: Movies are pure enjoyment. The Denon has enough oomph in the monolithic amplifier section to swing dynamically from the quietest sound to a full crescendo in an action movie without missing a beat. The Denon really shined with MadMax Fury Road. The scene at the beginning of the movie where the zealot’s chase after Furiosa’s hijacked war wagon is replete with roaring engines, tires kicking up dirt, and a flame throwing guitar solo! The scene ends with Furiosa driving through a tornado hellscape that is rich, authoritative, precise, and sonically frightening! The sound scape was so enveloping and detailed that I felt like I was in the tornado sandstorm. At no point did the Denon succumb to the demands of the movie. Music: The Denon does an excellent job with my CDs, the HEOS streaming app, and with Apple Music. I mostly listen to Apple Music over Air Play 2. For example, Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 is a very popular organ piece that most people would recognize when heard. The Denon did a masterful job here. The organ was clear, clean, precises, and never showed any signs of distortion or dips in performance. At volume, this is a powerful piece and the Denon was on the ball. Now, in contrast, I did have a Marantz Cinema 50 in my theater prior to owning the Denon. The Marantz was sloppy at best and inaccurate at worst. It is one of many traded in the Cinema 50 for the X4800H. Overall, any music I threw at the Denon played wonderfully and brought the best out of my system. I have nothing to complain about. I listened to a number of classical pieces, classic rock, electro swing, Jazz, Techno, hard rock, and modern pop. The Denon did a wonderful job in all instances. One thing to be aware of is that the Denon will not make poor recordings sound better. It is not magical. Additional Costs: Audyssey MultEQ Editor app is an extra $20 and only operates from a cell phone or tablet. A step up is Audyssey MultEQ-X, found in the Microsoft store, which costs $200 plus an extra $80 for the special calibrated mic that must be purchased separately. Finally, Dirac Live is $260 for a limited bandwidth license and $350 for full bandwidth. Dirac Live also requires a separate calibrated microphone that can add an additional $150 to the enterprise. I also heard that Dirac will be releasing a version that will include subwoofer(s) calibration that will cost even more. This is not a Denon exclusive phenomenon. However, it does show the rise of software as a service within the home audio space. It also shows that you can spend an infinite amount of money to squeeze that little bit more out of your system. Now, do you need any of this to get a great theater experience? No, you do not. However, for the $2500 asking price, Denon should have include the $20 license for Audyssey MultEQ Editor app. Additional Controls: The Denon control panels and options can be accessed and controlled via the remote and the TV screen, Denon AVR mobile app, or connecting directly to the receiver via a web browser. What you see on the screen is mostly what you see in the apps. I say mostly because there are some differences in layout and presentation. They are all easy to navigate once you know what you are looking for. Keep in mind that the 336-page user’s guide will be your best friend for a while. The benefit here is that you can disable the LCD screen while watching movies in a dark room and use another device to tune the receiver as needed. Personally, I would rather have a lighted remote control but there are benefits to using a cell phone or computer to control the system. Just keep in mind that a bright cell phone screen or wiping out a laptop can and will kill date night faster than you can say, “hey, can you get me a beer while you are up?” So, please Denon, backlight? Final thoughts: I am very happy that I settled on the Denon X4800H and look forward to getting years of enjoyment out it.

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  Posted 1 year ago by ITJIm

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Stoked on my AVR-X4800H

  • Incentivized
  • Verified Purchaser
  • My Best Buy® Member
  • Owned for 1 month

  Second Denon in 12 years. Paired with a klipsch 5.1. Super happy with this unit. For Audyssey room correction get the app - totally worth it. The UI is light years improved over my 4310. Had a weird issue with the system throwing a short fault, but tweaked banana plugs and went away. Oh also got it at BB for 1/3 off!

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  Posted 4 months ago by ToddE

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Very happy with what this did to music

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  • Verified Purchaser
  • My Best Buy® Member
  • Owned for 1 week

  Very surprised how much it added to the sound of music! Also direct FLAC play! So great!

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  Posted 7 months ago by JoshuaA