Denon AVR-5800
Dear Gary: Just got done reading about the upcoming Denon AVR-5800 receiver at one of the popular on-line discussion forums. Seems like a killer receiver. Several of the people taking part in the discussion were wondering if this fairly high-priced receiver came with an adjustable subwoofer crossover (as opposed to the fixed 80Hz sub xover that seems to be de rigueur on A/V receivers) or, at the very least, true preamp out/main in jacks so that the user can insert their own crossover or equalizer in between the processing and amplification. Do you know if the AVR-5800 will have either or both of these features? Any plans for a review of the unit in an upcoming issue?
Ellen Tunstall
Equipment Review Editor Shane Buettner Comments:
Denon's AVR-5800 receiver is THX® Ultra-certified and the only crossover option is THX spec 80Hz, fixed. Each speaker is either run “Large,” which is full range, or “Small” with the fixed 80Hz crossover. There are pre-out jacks for 7.1 channels but there are no inputs that would allow the AVR-5800 to be used in the manner you describe. When the 7.1-channel extension input is selected as the source the AVR-5800 acts as an analog pass-through with volume control, it does not function as a decoder when this input is selected. The AVR-5800 simply passes analog signals through those outputs, which can be six (5.1) or eight (7.1) channels. Thus, one could not simply use the AVR-5800’s pre-outs and put an outboard crossover/equalizer in between and then plug those signals back through the 7.1-channel inputs. WSR will be publishing a full review of the AVR-5800 when production units become available in August 2000. In the meantime, an initial review of the AVR-5800 appears in this Issue 41.
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