Question on a Denon 2802

[Markw]

I found a deal on a 2802 for $400 so I'm finally gonna upgrade from my old JBL DPL receiver I got years ago. Yeah, I know I'm late but I'm a cheap SOB.

I'll be hooking it up tonite and plan to spend the rest of the weekend figuring out how to work that big honkin' remote.

This is a 6.1 unit with 6 built in amps. I'll eventually be looking to add another Athena Audition B2 when I can find ONE (they are sold only in pairs) but for the forseeable future I'll not be using a center surround.

My question is can this unit be set to go into 5.1 instead of 6.1? I've read the manual but it's not too clear on this, and many other things.

TIA, markw

[THOR]

Hey Mark I also have a 2802, it's an awesome HT receiver for sure, yes you can choose whether to have 5.1 or 6.1. Just hook up your speakers in the 5.1 configuration and there is a button on the front of the reciever that says 6.1/7.1 and you can choose the option "Off" I have to tell you tho more and more newer DVD's are coming out in 6.1 and the 2802 will play 5.1 DVD's in 6.1 also. I have mine set up in 6.1 and the extra channel really does work and make the movie theater experience more realistic. I also suggest you get a nice "learning" HT remote and that after you use the Denon remote to set up everything, put the basic receiver controls into the HT remote and leave the Denon remote in a drawer somewhere because besides being useful to set the receiver up it ain't much good and there are much better more ergonomic and easier to use remotes that are easier to live with.

[Markw]

I was wrestling with this thing tonite and I found what you were talking about. It worked.

I'm gonna hook up the rear center when I can lay my paws on one but these suckas are only sold in pairs!!! If you hear of anyone who wants to go halfsies on a pair of Athena Audition B-2's lemme know.

Thse sucka does kick so far. I'm still ironing out little things (like it doesn't recognize the coaxial dgital signal from the DVD) but Once it was programmed it worked, basically.

I'm from the old school. Hook up speakers. Hook up an antenna. Get sound. not anymore... what's an initial setup?

Well. lemmetellya, when nothing came out I was ready to, well, let's not go there. Once I thru the initial setup screens I had FM and was a happy camper.

I gotta say, my trusty old JBL DPL receiverwas soooooo easy and intuitive to operate.

Enough torture for tonite. I'll be on that DVD/5.1 sthick problem tomorrow. If I still have a problem with that after a few hours of banging my head against a wall, I'll hail ya. thanks again.

[THOR]

Yeah there is quite a setup process, and once you do the basic setup process you will have to to tweak each mode, Pro logic II, Dolby Digital, DTS etc, once you do it tho the receiver remembers the settings so after you do it once you don't have to worry again. I did the same thing, I had no sound after plugging it in and panicked until I set it up and had sound.

Make sure you have your DVD player set to send the digital signal thru the coaxial out, on my DVD there's different choices for audio and one of them was digital (I can't remember the name of it, bitstream? mebbe? I can look it up if you still ahve trouble later) I was having the same problem until I realized I had the wrong setting in the DVD player so it wasn't the receivers fault.

[Markw]

Yep... had to go the sane thing with my Toshiba 2805 DVD. Up until now, I was just running the basic red/white stereo into the TV, into the receiver and it worked great for DPL.

Had to revisit it's menu this AM. All is well now. Gettin' pretty used to that two handed remote, too.

Just christened it with Star Trek:Nemisis. I eheard all kindsa disparaging things about this flick but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And it made a heckuva lot of strange noises. All of which I hope were intentional.

Gettin' used to this beast now. I can see I'm really gonna enjoy it. That 5 channel stereo ain't to awful bad but I'm not sure I could live with it on a long term basis.

I finally have enough real watts to drive my mains (Athena Audition F-1's) down the their lowest capabilities w/o NEEDING a subwoofer to fill in. The old unit was good for upper bass and up but lacked the oomph for really low lows. No more... Flight of The Cosmic Hippo is truly cosmic now w/o a sub.

[THOR]

I use the 6 ch stereo for radio listening but for my main listening I didn't like the way the LFE channel was integrated into the music and find the sound of my vintage Luxman preamp for music listening much more natural. Thats the true reason I got the 2802 is because of the pre outs for each channel, I use seperate amps to power my fronts, rears and subs, I use the 2802 to power the front and rear centers. Actually the 2802 wouldn't have been able to power one pair of my speakers but it also gives you a lot of flexibility for the future and it has a pre out for a 7th channel to have 7.1 sound.