AVR-4306 Listening Tests: Music

Track #7 "You Don't Know Me" was a softer piece, characterized by a washing reverb and overlying synthesizer track. A rolling, but firm acoustic bass rounded out the low end and created a truly wide extension of frequencies - maximizing the potential of the CinemaSITE's main speakers and ensuring that the Denon could handle a tough load while both ends of the spectrum were being hit hard by a solid arrangement.

A more popular (commercial) song, "You Are Everything" filled the room with alto sax, guitar, and drums. An electric piano comes in just over top of the mix and mimics/echoes the main sax melody during the solo and through out the song. The effect is very rich and full and I couldn't help but realize that I didn't miss my dedicated amplifier at all while listening to this album.

CD: Tower of Power Tower of Power
This album is one of my favorites for listening to a jam-packed mix with a band that's tighter than just about anything I've heard since. "What is Hip?" is just a great song with a driving bass that doesn't let up from beginning to end. Vocals are set back in the mix and guitars and brass flanks the soundstage while drums hold down the fort and accentuate each build up to the chorus. You will be hard-pressed to find a more integrated group of five horn players in any commercial music today. Track #5 "Get Yo' Feet Back on the Ground" opened up the soundstage and brought in a funkier guitar sound along with a drier vocal and more distinctive instrument placement within the mix. The AVR-4306 took everything in stride and put out a convincingly realistic soundstage. The mixes are definitely studio, but the effect is of hearing the band spread out on the stage in front of the listening position.The effect transfixed me for quite some time as I closed my eyes and allowed my ears to enjoy the presentation.

"Soul Vaccination" is another of their more popular tracks and featured one of the fuller and wider soundstage mixes. Backing vocals really pop out into the room and are deceptively placed so as to appear to come from well within the room. Drums sounded tight and controlled and vocals had no audible compression and were absolutely pristine. The horns were incredible, with a realistic sound, and none of that "kazoo" buzzing that can occur with an underpowered amplifier or loudspeakers with a limited mid-band frequency response.

Moving on to multi-channel music we queued up some of our favorites and settled back in for a listen. Again, we disabled the subwoofer channel so that we could listen only to the Denon receiver's amplifiers. It is an almost certainty that the addition of a subwoofer is going to give you that extra "oomph" for kicks, bass and low frequency harmonics present in many of these tracks. My comments do not reflect the sounds below the 40Hz response capabilities of the CinemaSITE system.

SACD: Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds
I put in this album since I am intimately familiar with it and it features a stunning SACD mix with some incredibly rich vocal and instrument performances. The opening music number "The Eve of the War" begins with synthesized brass and a steady percussion which ebbs and flows, eventually building into a crescendo of bass and lead electric guitar. The soundstage is completely active - with sound coming in, appropriately, from all directions. Never does it appear forced or artificial, but rather the mix sounds cohesive and, though busy, everything seems to have its place. There is so much going on that, except for brief periods of solace in the intro, all 7 channels (PLIIx Music Mode) get a tremendous workout (which is one of the reasons I selected this particular album). Near the end of the first piece, the Martian vocal chorus sent chills as the crescendo of sound rose to a peak and then became temporarily subdued for the continuing voice over.

Track #2, aside from some creative use of synthesizers and sound effects, presented a more exceptional demonstration of soundstage and the AVR-4306's ability to correctly portray content so that it supports the intended soundstage and imaging of the source track. Reverb and effects filled the surrounds while a lead keyboard was anchored to the fronts. As the track progressed I noticed a well-articulated low end, especially considering I didn't have my subwoofers active. The Denon pushed the RBH Sound CinemaSITE's SI-6100s down to their lowest octaves and controlled them without any difficulty and without losing control over the high frequency detail. While the bass notes were thumping hard, the shimmering reverberation off the guitars and synthesizers were crisp and detailed.

"Forever Autumn" presented an excellent male vocal track by Justin Hayward of Moody Blues fame. The soft decay off his vocals rolled gently into the room as his smooth voice sounded controlled and perfectly rendered by the Denon receiver. Drums were tight and synthesized flutes came though smoothly and concurrent with a solid driving drum track and guitars. This album was solid and sounded absolutely fantastic with the AVR-4306 providing exclusive power to the CinemaSITE system.

AIX Records High Resolution Audio Experience
AIX Records, headed by Dr. Mark Waldrep, uses no dynamic or effects processing in making its recordings. Mastered in 24/96 PCM (DVD-Audio) the tracks are about the cleanest mixes you will ever hear and are untouched by the typical compression and reverb and delay effects that dominate (and often corrupt) most commercial recordings. We demoed several tracks from this disc. In particular, track #4 "Moonlight Acoustica" presented a wonderfully tight mix of drums, solo guitar, bass, and percussion. Each instrument had its place, as the mix was from "within the room" or "on stage" surrounded by the performance. I prefer these to stage mixes as they give a more intimate feel, though it takes some getting used to.

"Ocean" by Jonathan McEuen gave a real intimate and crystal clear mix of male vocals and acoustic guitar. The reverb which filled the room was captured by the microphones during the recording process and was absolutely lifelike and gentle, without any of the edginess or harsh roll-off that can occur when an amplifier doesn't have enough finesse to carry through the full sound.

Mozart's Symphony 41, 1st Movement presented a densely packed assault of sound from all sides. The result was remarkably controlled and smooth. I felt that the Denon AVR-4306 barely scratched the surface of its potential, even though the track tested the limits of what I could handle in Reference System 2 in terms of volume level. This is one track everyone should run through their systems to see how well their room can reproduce the effect of a grand symphony hall. I was quite pleased with the results.

"The Hag at the Churn" is just a song with a cool title. Its funky bass licks, guitar and drums are intoxicating and hard to not appreciate. Throw in dueling bag pipes and, well, you just have to hear it to understand... The sound was awesome and the mix (which eventually included harmonizing vocals in the surrounds) let me know that the AVR-4306 was taking my music as seriously as I was.