AVP-A1HDCI Basic System Setup & Configuration

Once you’ve made all of your connections, you need to get to work on properly setting up your AVP-A1HDCI to ensure maximum enjoyment. I recommend proceeding as follows to get the basics all setup so you’re up and running.

Step 1: Option Setup

The first thing you’re going to want to do after connecting up the AVP-A1HDCI to your system is check for an update in firmware via the Ethernet connection. Do NOT use a wireless connection when updating firmware as you risk really hosing up the processor should the connection be interrupted during the upload process. To update the firmware you simply enter the “Option Setup” area of the OSD and select “firmware update”. Depending on the extent of the upgrade, it can take up to 1 hour to complete. When I ran this function, my update was rather minor and only took 3 minutes. “Option Setup” also has an area to upgrade your AVP-A1HDCI with new features which I am hopeful Denon will actually support and not just have as a selling point like so many other manufacturers have done in the past when boasting upgradeability.

Next you will want configure your preamp out assignments in the “Option Setup” menu. I left the assignments by default and simply selected XLR for all connection types since I ran all Impact Acoustics Sonicwave XLR cables between my AVP-A1HDCI and POA-A1HDCI 10 channel power amplifier. In the rare instances when you connect up an amplifier with reverse polarity on its inputs, Denon provides the option to reverse the polarity on any of the preamp output assignments.

Step 2: Auto Setup and Speaker Configuration

Even if you’re not a fan of auto EQ’s, I still recommend running auto setup, if for nothing more than accurately configuring and identifying your channels, level trims and delays for all of your speakers and subwoofer(s). Since Audyssey utilizes up to 8 point room correction, I suggest starting with the primary listening seat for the first measurement, and then repositioning the mic for the other major seats in your theater room. I do recommend closely grouping multiple mic positions in the two most important seats in your theater room so Audyssey weighs those positions more heavily and thus biases the calibration in favor of those money seats. Make sure your room is as quiet as possible and I encourage you to sweat it out and turn off any ceiling fans and HVAC during the calibration process. It’s usually best to place the mic around ear seated height for all of your calibrations.

Unfortunately, ever since the new line of Denon receivers switched over from TI chipsets to the Analog Devices (ADI) ones, Audyssey takes longer (30 seconds) between measurements since the ADI chipsets likely have less available onboard memory. As a result it takes around 30 minutes to do a full eight point calibration so I urge patience during this process or use less calibration points at the expense of less calibration accuracy..

Step 3: Manual Calibration & Bass Management

After auto setup completes, it’s time to fine tune your results. I tend to find most auto setup systems will set any speaker placed near a boundary to “large” regardless of its bass output capabilities. This was the case with my back surround speakers. Thus I went into the bass management and reconfigured those speakers to small. I then also corrected the crossover settings for the center and back channels to be more appropriate for my setup.

Level trims were about right, but considering my theater room has two rows of seating, I like to make a compromise for both and calibrate my levels between the two rows. Thus I used my SPL meter and tweaked down the center and surround channels a bit. Delay settings were pretty much spot on and I was pleased to see Audyssey nailed the subwoofer distance correct for all of my subs. To date, Audyssey is the only system I’ve found to consistently do this.

The Denon AVP-A1HDCI has some of the most comprehensive bass management facilities I’ve ever seen in a processor. It has three independent balanced and unbalanced subwoofer outputs which allows an end user to connect up to 6 subwoofers in their system without using a single y-splitter.

The configuration modes include:

• *1SP – assigned to SW1

• *2SP L/R – stereo split + LFE to both, assigned to SW1 and SW2

• *2SP Mix – mono split + LFE assigned to SW1 and SW2

• 3SP L/R/LFE – stereo split to SW1 and SW2 + LFE only to SW3

• 3SP Mix - mono split + LFE assigned to SW1 and SW2

* you can also connect a tactile transducer assigned to SW3 which outputs only LFE info when using these configuration modes

I am pleased to see Denon finally offer a 3SP Mix mode as their previous flagship receiver – the AVR-5805CI only sent LFE signal to the third subwoofer which doesn’t allow the installer to take advantage of all subs playing the exact same content for modal averaging. As it stands now, if you use “3SP L/R/LFE” to achieve stereo bass from the front SW1 and SW2 subs, the SW3 sub will be inactive until it receives LFE info rendering it useless for 2CH stereo sources. Thus I recommend using “3SP Mix” mode if you’re running a three subwoofer setup. In the future, I’d love to see Denon offer a “3SP L/R/LFE Super” mode that also sends LFE to the L/R subs while copying the bass from the main channels to SW3 but that is wishful thinking for now.

Just like all Audyssey enabled Denon A/V receivers, the AVP-A1HDCI offers independent crossover settings per speaker group from a selectable range of 40-250Hz. As with all multiple crossover processors, I recommend not varying each speaker group more than 20Hz as the bass from the speaker group set higher than the subwoofer crossover will not recombine to the subwoofer channel when listening to two channel sources in post processing modes like PLIIx Music or DTS Neo, etc.

The crossovers worked as expected for a THX Ultra2 certified receiver as indicated by the 12dB/oct High Pass Filter (HPF) slopes on speakers set small and 24dB/oct Low Pass Filter (LPF) slopes on the subwoofer output which I measured with my Audio Precision SYS 2722 Audio Analyzer. Channel trims have .5dB incremental adjustments and delay settings have .1ft resolution. This is about the best you can get and it doesn’t surprise me Denon offers such a high level of precision here, especially since their products were some of the first to incorporate this level of adjustability. Oddly I had to set the subwoofer outputs to +7dB for unity gain with any of the main channels set to 0dB. I am not sure why this was the case, but as you will see in my measurements, the AVP-A1HDCI has more than enough signal drive to compensate if needed.The AVP-A1HDCI would not allow me to set the main channels to “small” if I selected no subwoofer which is how all processors should function to ensure the end user doesn’t accidentally lose bass information from the main channels when not using a dedicated subwoofer.

Don’t forget to configure to configure “2CH Direct/Stereo” mode to ensure you have proper bass management and channel distances configured, especially since distance settings for the main L/R speakers don’t copy over from the global settings yet oddly the subwoofer distances appear to. This is perhaps a firmware glitch but not a biggie as long as you are mindful of it. In order to achieve subwoofer output in “pure direct” mode, you must configure the bass management to “LFE + Main” regardless of speaker size chosen. I was glad to see this as an option since the AVR-5805 didn’t provision for subwoofer out in “pure direct” mode like their previous generation receivers did. Thus now you can have the best of both worlds of unadulterated signals to your main channels with simultaneous subwoofer output. The AVP-A1HDCI even allows for a +5, +10, +15dB boost for the subwoofer via the external multi channel inputs which is extremely useful to compensate for subwoofer level differences inherent in DVD-A/SACD players when using the analog outputs. As you can see, Denon offers every conceivable bass management option except for altering filter slopes but in my book it’s still the most comprehensive I’ve reviewed to date.

It’s important to note that the AVP-A1HDCI preamplifier has what Denon refers to as “personal memorization function” which automatically memorizes the surround modes and input modes selected for the different input sources. So if you normally run PLIIx Music mode for your CD player and Cinema mode for your DVD player, it will default to those modes upon toggling the respective input. Basically when the input source is switched, the modes set for that source last time it was used are automatically recalled. The surround parameters, tone control settings, and playback level balance for the different output channels are memorized for each surround mode. As a bonus, you can even do on the fly channel trim adjustments via the remote control. This is one of the many reasons why Denon AVR’s rank among my favorite in the industry.

Step 4: Input Configuration

Audio setup
Once you’ve got your speakers calibrated, its time to get your sources working correctly. While the inputs are defaulted to their prescribed names on the back panel, it’s a good idea to check them, especially if you wish to reassign an HDMI connector to a different source name. If you’re using “D.Link”, make sure you set “I.Mode” on that specific input to “digital” instead of “auto”, else it will default to the audio outputted by HDMI from that source. This was a problem for me with my DVD-5910CI as it only outputs 2.0 audio via HDMI since my unit lacks the recent firmware update to fix this.

This is also the area where you can customize source level for analog and digital sources. Incidentally there is a feature called “Input Att.” With 0 and -6dB options but it oddly does absolutely nothing to attenuate analog or digital input signals.

Video Setup
Setting up video is a bit tricky since you have to access multiple menu locations but I suggest you first start at the source and configure each input based upon the desired resolution, aspect ratio and whether or not you want upscaling to be performed. The AVP-A1HDCI allows upscaling to 1080p for all analog and digital video sources via an “A to H’ which means analog to HDMI or “A to H and H to H” which allows analog or HDMI signals to be upscaled to HDMI.

Now go to “Manual Setup > HDMI Setup” (see left pic below) and configure the color space “YCbCr or RGB”, and RGB range “normal or enhanced”. The operators manual is pretty much useless at giving recommendations here but most installs should be set for “YCbCr” and “normal”.

For more information about HDMI setup, read our article:

HDMI Enhanced Black Levels, xvYCC and RGB

Finally go to “Parameter > Picture Adjustment” (see above right pic) to tweak your contrast, brightness, hue and chroma levels. This is also where you can take advantage of the Realta DNR and Enhancer options. What is truly amazing is you have independent calibration settings for EVERY input! This is the first processor I’ve reviewed that allows for this and the first time I actually found these features useful for tweaking the calibration of my display to properly match each video source. To add icing to the cake, the AVP-A1HDCI provides two HDMI outputs which according to the manual will operate simultaneously and independently scale to the proper resolution of your displays.

When you’ve completed the setup of this processor, I highly recommend you store the settings in one of the three “Quick Select” memory banks incase you accidentally lose your configuration or one of your kids or friends that know less than they think mess it up.