Receiver Listening Tests: Two-Channel & Multi-Channel
With Auto Setup / Parametric Room EQ and Denon Link 3rd Edition, there was a lot to reveal
about this new unit, but how does it
sound?
As far as the ability of the Denon AVR-3805 to
deliver a consistent, accurate performance, you won't be disappointed. The Denon was connected to
some pretty inefficient speakers located in Reference System 3 and was utilized for several weeks in
both 2-channel and multi-channel modes. I popped in some CDs that I am very familiar with for some
2-channel listening and disengaged the Room EQ settings.
Two-Channel Performance
Peter Gabriel's So has always been a favorite of mine and I enjoyed listening to the brass in "Sledgehammer" emanate from the RBH 1266-LSEs. The Denon AVR-3805 seemed to have no difficulty at all in accurately pushing out the tight, low-end bass notes found in "Big Time" and shrugged off any potential clipping or congestion due to not having enough power to drive the 4-ohm load of the RBH Sound Signature Series speakers. This album has sufficient dynamic range and was produced well before it became popular for the labels to compete in terms of perceived loudness (see our multi-part article on Current Trends in the Recording Industry ).
Sting's
Ten Summoner's Tales
is a great CD from the 90's that I
listen to whenever I want to hear high end clarity at loud volumes. "If I Ever Lose My Faith In
You"
provided ample proof that the Denon had no trouble in ringing out the upper mid and high
frequency ranges at high volume levels. There could be an argument for how adding a separate amplifier
and using the Denon's preamp outputs for the main channels (center as well for home theater)
could provide some added dynamic and smoothness but at the price point of this receiver you would have
to consider taking the leap to a completely different solution -
whether that be separates or a
flagship receiver like the AVR-5803A. For $1200 the AVR-3805 performed like a receiver costing much
more and it would, in fact, make an excellent (and highly competitive) preprocessor for those looking
for a top-end unit to match with a separate amplifier.
Multi-Channel Performance
To see how well the receiver could do driving all of its channels at high SPL, I placed a few select DVDs into the Denon DVD-5900 and sat back to enjoy the show. The goal was to experience the full sound field and get a handle on how loud you could really play the AVR-3805 with its rated power. On a system that has speaker loads from 4-ohms to 8-ohms all around we could get into some interesting volume levels.
Remember that for these tests, the Denon had configured all of my speakers to "Large", including the surrounds, so the amplifier was sending everything to all the
speakers, including the low frequency information. The only sound going to the subwoofer was the
dedicated LFE track.
The Fifth Element is perhaps my favorite movie of all time. The intricately woven scenes and back and forth dialogue of this underrated film are an incredible testimony to the filmmaking and writing process. It also has some spectacular sound and the Superbit/DTS disc is an incredibly vibrant example of what DVDs can look and sound like. For this listening test, I called up soprano Plavalaguna's amazing operatic performance (voiced/played by Albanian Inva Mula-Tchako with only a few digital enhancements) and turned up the system for an incredibly rich surround experience. If your room sounds just like an opera house during this scene, you have arrived at sonic bliss and can stop buying more gear! Following this scene is an explosive gun-battle sequence that will test system dynamics quite well.
Putting in
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
DVD I was able to really get the
surrounds going by queuing up the Battle for Helm's Deep. This epic scene pushes a lot of volume
to each channel. More power will enable you to go louder with more clarity (obviously more easily
identified in music discs, such as Toy Matinee's DVD-Audio disc or Nora Jones'
Come
Away With Me
multi-channel SACD) but the AVR-3805 seemed to provide a respectable amount of
performance for its price class.
I found the Denon AVR-3805 to handle whatever I threw at it with both finesse and power. At no time did it sound compressed or distorted at reasonable listening levels. If you're looking to power a large room to ear-bleeding levels, or you really want to go a step futher in dynamics performance then you may need to supplement the AVR-3805's amplification - at least the front three channels. I seriously doubt, however, that anyone purchasing this receiver for $1200 or less will be dissatisfied with the output it achieves and the quality with which that output is presented.
