AVR-5803 Configuration
After a few days of thumbing through the menu screens I found myself competently operating all of my equipment. Though the slow switching of screens did irritate me at times, especially when I was trying to configure a DVD and then engage a particular surround mode of the receiver. My other pet peeve about the user interface of the AVR-5803 was not having the ability to back up to a previous menu screen. This became particularly bothersome when scrolling into the third or fourth screen of a specific function only to discover I went one too far and had to completely disengage the OSD and start over from the beginning. I also wish the backlight would have automatically illuminated when a remote button was pressed. I had to search for the light button in the dark to illuminate the remote so I could see what I was doing.
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Sometimes the OSD was Blue |
Other times the OSD was Black |
I couldn't figure out exactly why this happened, but suspect it had something to do with whether or not the DVD Player was producing an interlaced or non interlaced signal. I personally prefer a blue OSD and wish I had the ability to keep it such all the time.
Configurability - The Sky's the Limit!
Living with the Denon AVR-5803 for the past three months, it quickly became apparent to me that I was dealing with one of the most sophisticated processors on the market, regardless of price or product appeal. Some of the key features that Rocked My WorldT (which very few other receivers, let alone more costly processors have done) are:
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Subwoofer group delay adjustment.
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Independent channel trim adjustments for each input and mode of operation.
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+/- 0.5dB channel trim accuracy.
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0.1 ft accurate speaker distance compensation.
- Optional bass management and digital delay compensation via 6CH inputs.
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Adjustable crossovers (40Hz to 160Hz)
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Optional +15dB subwoofer gain boost via 6CH inputs for DVD-A/SACD
- Component video up-conversion for all video sources.
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Subwoofer output in two channel analog bypass.
I could really expand this list beyond this page, but I think you get the idea. Much thought was applied to the design of this receiver to allow ultimate flexibility to all users regardless of speaker type or associated hardware being used. With that in mind, I configured all of my speakers to small, except the main channels, and set the subwoofer mode to "LFE + Mains" with 60Hz as the crossover frequency. Normally I would only dedicate the subwoofer channel for LFE and bass from all speakers set to "small". However, no thanks to the asymmetric bass loading problem inherent in my listening room, I need to have the subwoofer and the main speakers producing bass from the main channels in order to get the flattest possible room response. The subwoofer distance adjustment (which I refer to as group delay adjustment) helped tremendously to properly set-up my system for the most uniform and balanced integration between my main speakers and subwoofer. I am very disappointed when a receiver/processor doesn't offer this feature. I cannot overstate my satisfaction that the AVR-5803 did. What is even more amazing is that the AVR-5803 offers channel delay compensation in 0.1ft increments (that's no misprint!). It is rare that we find any processors, regardless of price that offer precision beyond 0.5ft of resolution. This is just another example of the thoughtfulness and sophistication behind its design.
I am nitpicking here, but I would have liked the option of setting the crossover for different frequencies between two channel and multi channel modes. I would have also liked to see 10Hz step sizes and the option of a selectable notch filter to help crush any room modes common in systems with the subwoofer placed near a corner wall. Perhaps Denon may add this to their AVR-5804? I also found myself missing the bass test tone 1/6th octave sweep mode of the Yamaha RX-Z1 and would like to suggest its inclusion, or variant, in Denon's next iteration.
Getting my speaker system to balance was a breeze thanks to the very precise 0.5dB channel trim adjustments and .1ft speaker distance calibrations! Using the Avia disc and my trusty Radio Shack SPL meter (C-weighted, slow responding) I devised my own little method of phasing my large bass capable mains with the subwoofer. For your convenience I have outlined my procedure below. Note, this procedure should only be followed after all of your channel trims (including the subwoofer) are balanced and your speaker distances are configured.
Receiver / Processor Configuration for Phasing Large Mains with a Subwoofer
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Configure Center Channel to "none".
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Set main channels to "Large".
- Set subwoofer to "yes" or "on".
Test Procedure
- Step #1: Seated in your listening position, configure your SPL meter to "C"-weighted, slow responding.
- Step #2: Using Ovation Software's Avia Disc, select the audio track that sweeps the center channel down from 200Hz to 20Hz.
- Step #3: Adjust the master volume level to at least a 75-80dB reference level.
- Step #4: Run the test and record any major bumps and dips vs frequency during the sweep.
- Step #5: Repeat Step #4 each time you vary the subwoofer for each permutation of group delay setting changes in the receiver/preamp and/or executing a subwoofer phase polarity change.
Note #1: You may have to repeat Step #2 several times to properly and accurately record the data.
Note #2: I recommend +/- 1ft increments for subwoofer group delay adjustments at first along with varying the phase of your subwoofer +/- 180 degrees as a starting point. Fine tuning for optimal performance in .1ft increments, if the processor has the resolution (The Denon AVR-5803 does!), should be done after a reasonable setting has been discovered. This procedure should be repeated for several listening positions to determine the best settings for average room response.
