Bi-amping the Denon AVR-3805 for 240 Watts for the Front Channels
What? A $1200 receiver that gives you 2 x 120 watts for each front channel to the main speakers in a bi-amped configuration while still allowing 5.1 surround? Absolutely. Read on... Using unused "Surround Back" amps to bi-amp the main speakers was mentioned by Gene DellaSala in his review of the Denon AVR-5803 receiver and the same procedure holds true for the AVR-3805. Why let those unused surround back amplifiers go to waste if you are not utilizing either them or Zone 2 speakers? Here is the procedure to successfully bi-amp the Denon AVR-3805 and deliver additional power to your main speakers:
Before telling you HOW to do it, there are some caveats about doing this specifically with the AVR-3805. First, If you set it up to bi-amp, please expect to do your SETUP manually rather than using the mic for the AUTO SETUP procedure. Next, we have seen some complaints of noise (hiss) from some people who have done the bi-amping with specifically the AVR-3805. Accordingly, Denon is not "officially" endorsing this practice on this specific model.
That said, we encourage you to TRY the bi-amp setup and judge for yourself if you hear any objectionable increase in noise that negates the many advantages of bi-amping in general. The procedure below specifically connects the speakers LOW frequency to the Zone 3, while having the HIGH frequency connected to the FRONT speaker terminals. This may help to reduce any extra noise from the use of multi-zone from getting to the tweeters. The reason for choosing Zone 3 rather than Zone 2 is simply to still permit the use of a volume controlled zone 2 for genuine multi zone use, so long as an additional stereo amplifier is used. Additionally, because of details on the remote, it makes it slightly more difficult to accidentally alter some of the settings.
1) Connect a SHORT stereo cable pair from [PRE OUT LEFT & RIGHT] and run it into the Red and White jacks labeled [VDP].
2) DISCONNECT the SHORTING STRAPS from your bi-ampable speaker's terminals! This is whatever device the speaker manufacture has used to connect the two black terminals to each other, and the similar one used for the two red terminals. Failure to do this can quickly damage the amplifiers!
3) Connect the HIGH FREQUENCY terminals of the speakers to the receiver's FRONT LEFT and RIGHT speaker terminals.
4) Connect the speakers' LOW FREQUENCY terminals to the receiver's speaker terminals marked: [SURR BACK / MULTI ZONE]. These are to the far , viewed from the back.
5) Via step # 5.1 in OPTION SETUP, set P.AMP ASSIGN to ZONE 3. See page 43 of the owner's manual for detail.
6) Via REMOTE (RC-969) press button that says [ZONE 2] until it changes to read [ZONE 3] with the b bar above the ZONE 3 indication.
7) Press [SOURCE ON] to turn on the ZONE 3 amplifiers.
Select [VDP] as the SOURCE for Zone 3. This is done by pressing the letters [VDP] which are directly under the CD indication, NOT the VDP which is directly under the MD indication. Note that this step is what causes the "ZONE 3" to always play the VDP input, which is in turn, the signal from the Left and Right FRONT PRE OUTS of the main zone. Voila!
9) With the remote still in the ZONE 3 mode, press the VOL ^ up button while watching the front panel of the AVR-3805. Bring it up to read 00 as a starting point. Later in the process you will come back to this and adjust to your own taste for spectral balance of the front speakers. (More, later).
10) Next, put the remote back to the AMP mode, so the word AMP is underlined by the b bar. You can now do any other setup steps you need and use the receiver as you normally would.
Anything you select to listen to will have its output for the front L&R go directly to the speaker terminals marked Front L&R and ALSO go out the L&R PRE OUT jacks which ultimately get to the SURR BACK / MULTI speaker terminals. Therefore, the CONTENT of the FRONT L&R speaker terminals is identical to the content of the SURR BACK / MULTI speaker terminals.
Once setup this way, you never touch the ZONE 3 again since the main zone is in control of everything.....one exception...
The ZONE 3 volume will adjust ONLY the level to the LOW FREQUENCY part of the speaker, whereas the MASTER VOLUME (main zone) will control ALL channels INCLUDING the LOW FREQUENCY part of the speaker. Therefore the ZONE 3 Volume, step number 9 in the list above, actually adjusts the RATIO of Lows to Highs in the speaker. If you want a bit heaver sound, bring ZONE 3 volume up a bit. If you want a bit ber sound, take ZONE 3 volume down a bit. Some "Audiophiles" worry they won't know what setting is "Correct", but "REAL" audiophiles trust their own ears above all! One of the very powerful ADVANTAGES of the Bi-Amp setup this way is your ability to control the spectral balance of the speaker with this specific adjustment.
Notes: It would have been nice if the channel trim for the Zone 2/3 level control had +/-0.5dB precision as did all of the other channel trims of this receiver. However, we found +2dB adjustment to provide near unity gain with the main amplifiers. During this configuration I also wondered what would happen if the CD input were accidentally selected by mistake, causing the main channel preamp outputs to be suddenly routed to themselves (feedback). Not to worry, Zone 2/3 does not allow the same source to be sent simultaneously to the main speaker outputs so feedback is impossible - at least with regards to this configuration method.
Be sure to remove the jumpers on the back of the main speakers and then connect a set of wires from the "Front" channels of the receiver to the highs section of each of your front speakers and a set of wires from the "Multi Zone 2" channels of the receiver to the lows of your front speakers. Voila! You now paid only $1200 for a receiver that gives you 3dB of additional headroom in the form of 2 x 120watts per channel to your main speakers where you need it the most.
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