Denon AVR-X5200W Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Review
Contents
1. ES i expand ne cee p 5 ma a for ihe Laie nv late a uusig corte Dolby Surround Center Spread recommended to turn on for two channel sources Editorial Note Dolby Surround Upmixer Center Spread Feature At the time of evaluating the AVR X5200W was unaware of the adjustable parameter called Center Spread buried in the user manual on page 176 As such had it set in the default off position during all of my two channel listening tests with the DSU engaged If you prefer to route the center channel signal to the left right front channels to expand the front soundstage you will want to tum it on Unlike older Denon products that had a hot key on the remote called para for easy access to this adjustment the AVR X5200W involves aoina into the OSD va Setup gt Audio gt Surround Parameters MIPA Awards Best Live Mixing Desk FULL COMPASS Rives Audio rivesaudio com Acoustical Engineering for the Home Cost effective designs worldwide JBL Professional Speakers X Windows 7 Driver Download gt Receivers CO Web2 nverted by Web2PDFConvert com er rr ree TG tr et rer awm T a ee ees a ee ee ee Thanks to batpig at AVSForum for pointing this out Multi channel Music and Movies Having the DSU on was far more forgiving for multi channel music On recordings like Diana Krall Love Scenes in DTS overlaying Dolby DSU was a pretty cool sight to witness felt with2. E By Gene DellaSala October 26 2014 set up the Denon AVR X5200W A V receiver in the two listening rooms 1 The Audioholics Showcase Theater i FREE AV Gear Guide Room which is an acoustically controlled listening space roughly 6 000 cubic feet with 8 flat ceilings and 2 The x zB Audioholics Family Room system which is a large untreated open room with 10 flat ceilings Audioholics Showcase Theater Room Listening Tests Unless otherwise noted the bulk of the listening tests performed on the Denon AVR X5200W was ina 5 1 4 Recommended speaker configuration utilizing four Definitive Technology A60 Dolby Atmos Elevation speakers The SVS Ultra Upd ate Windows Drivers bookshelf speakers were used as the main front channels Status Acoustics 8C for the center channel and RBH 41 SE B bookshelf speakers for the surround speakers with a small but potent Velodyne MiniVee subwoofer for the os Wndowsxe visa 7e low frequencies The source was the Oppo BDP 105 Universal Blu ray player and all speaker cables and sn interconnects were provided by Blujeans Cable With the exception of my Uber expensive center channel tried to test with speakers consistent with a 2k A V receiver The SVS Ultras matched my RBH speakers extremely well as confirmed via pink noise and program material but the Definitive Technology A60 Atmos speakers were a different story The pink noise revealed the A60s were extremely narrow band limited and
3. power amp assignment The user manual aka The Land of Confusion that comes on a CD ROM is almost 350 pages long and virtually unusable The speaker diagrams are cluttered and confusing and the nomenclature on how they refer to Dolby Atmos speakers is inconsistent and confusing as well Sometimes they are referred to as front back Dolby speakers and other times they are referred to as Dolby surround speakers couldn t make heads or tails of the manual so put it away and just powered up the AVR X5200W in hopes that would have better luck with the OSD and Setup Assistant Gani nis Plies Sa brig a Tips i Apparel la Speaker configuration and Amp Assign settings Thin uni Hane in channel pom napi h e ha aa aa S a D wena D a a A ba ara iy Cleans Dei Ee A A p H bega bia hs ae ete ah a T juen riam r ja ary mmea dens aed ee depa be celle em Ebat Pes bea tery I Se ee ee re Fi Fierbech epeskes iq sart yore 7 7 Araiye J one Aken DOE Be Rie eee n rherrei plat Hetieeed Fixtimed T igha IRPI poya E FP opharrei piry uath garriena arhi Hei pend Pia mgd Ficha SORES eek ai Mt heed ployee Hsi ima FH iaar iph i Pi beet eed pole pdece Hai vaad Fei uad 11 ish a TI apers playa Goaaqs HERSE ben wl leg bee Hel essa Bat im al T bh Eos ilae ahi DI aharra ple be Pees apes Mu inas pla pbarh HH PH H Ons fga i ee a ent h H rsss Ftieed ighiish Froni DbAmg Tt Poured polar e eed ogee ol e
4. will get into how this affected the overall timbre match of the system via the listening tests Ekee bis co eTA eed fo Details Click Here For Details Download Now E 5 1 4 Dolby Atmos Set up in Audioholics Showcase Theater Room M ITS U BI S H After running the Audyssey calibration did comparisons with it on Audyssey significantly improved the and off and found that preferred the sound with Audyssey engaged Sound of the Dolby Atmos speaker The Atmos A60 modules sound was significantly improved with modules Audyssey room correction Without Audyssey they sounded more congested and boxy with the sound seeming to radiate directly from the speaker instead of projecting an elevated sound field Dolby Atmos Demonstration Blu ray Disc August 2014 Sadly the only Dolby Atmos Blu ray released at the time of writing this review was the miserable Transformers 4 movie which not only do refuse to add to my collection but had a difficult time finding online or at local retail stores even if wanted to As a result my Atmos demonstration was limited to the Dolby demo disc and applying the Dolby Surround Upmixer DSU to discrete 5 1 7 1 and two channel sources Clearance Sale Only 129 Amaze Demo CO DOLBY This is a wonderful sounding clip and it s a shame it s so short 1 min long as could just listen to the sounds of nature all day long The echo effects at the very beginning as well as t
5. CO Web2 nverted by Web2PDFConvert com Before After Audyssey Calibration of Front Channels Sub Manual Calibration always recommend doing a manual calibration to verify or fine tune the results of auto setup As such checked speaker level delay and bass rect n bim management Bass management was done pretty well by Audyssey for all the 7 speaker groups though it set the Dolby speakers to 110Hz which is too low considering how sound wawes are still very omnidirectional at those frequencies upped the crossover point on the front and back Dolby speakers to 250Hz which is the max setting The fact that Denon allows running Dolby speakers full range is likely an oversight on their part and hope they disable it in a future firmware release Digital delays seemed pretty spot on though the measured distance of the Dolby Atmos speakers represented their physical distance from the listener to the speakers rather than their virtual distance from their reflected sound field Denon claims they automatically add additional delay for Atmos enabled speakers assuming 9ft ceilings to the calibration to compensate but had no way of confirming this Levels were also pretty spot on until got to the Dolby elevation speakers When checked the levels for the Front L R Dolby speakers the AVR played test tones for both front and back respective Dolby channels i e Left Front Dolby plays Left Front Dolby and Left Rear Dolby tones simultaneously
6. Denon confirmed this is in fact a firmware bug that will be addressed but for now you should either rely on the levels that Audyssey correctly sets when it calibrates each individual speaker or simply unplug the rear Dolby speakers when manually calibrating the front Dolby speakers rr Peon amp gt tl For those that don t care for auto EQ and want to dial things in themselves Denon still has a GEQ graphic equalizer option to manually EQ each channel However it only offers crude 9 band one octave fixed adjustments from 63Hz to 16kHz It s ashame we ve come so far with technology yet receiver manufacturers still don t understand the usefulness of an adjustable PEQ parametric equalizer down to 20Hz for the subwoofer channel to help better integrate the subwoofer to the satellite channels while also helping to tame problematic room modes at bass frequencies Confused about what AV Gear to buy or how to set it up Join our Exclusive Audioholics E Book IX Membership Program Jump to Denon AVR X5200W Dol by Atmos AV Receiver Listening Tests Next Page See also m g Yamaha RXA740 to RXA3040 AVENTAGE A V Receivers Preview 3 Denon AVR S700W 7 2 Channel AV Receiver Review 5 Yamaha RXV577 Networking AV Receiver Review dsirs mirrorless point amp shoots experience cameras Ma Irustwave Trusted Commerce and more AX Sitemap Loudspeaker Reviews AV Accessory Reviews AV Research
7. and one subwoofer voiced my concems about all of this to my contact at Denon and he claims they are working on a firmware update to improve the labeling of speaker assignments to make it more understandable and digestible For now my advice would be to set the receiver to 9 1 for virtually every installation that doesn t employ four ceiling mounted Atmos height channels Even if you re running two Atmos elevation modules and two ceiling mounted Atmos height speakers you will still want to chose the 9 1 configuration and assign the front and rear Dolby surround speakers in accordance to what you are using Clear as mud Good Audyssey Room Correction commend Denon for not dropping Audyssey from their A V receiver line to accommodate Dolby Atmos like Onkyo did As previously stated Denon instead elected to employ 4 Analog Devices SHARC processors to handle the MIPS to pull this off Kudos to them as find Audyssey an invaluable tool in a calibrators arsenal and would hate to lose it simply in favor of adding another surround codec to the mix Audyssey has come a long way since its inception back in the venerable Denon AVR 5805 For one Audyssey handles multiple subwoofers better than most competing room correction systems by first adjusting level delay and phase independently and then applying EQ calibration to both subs simultaneously This is something suggested to Audyssey back in the early days and I m glad to see it being a standard
8. hest metal detectars crowdstorm cam Web2 converted by Web2PDFConvert com Compare Best Metal Detectors Lowest Prices Listed Save Now Best AV Receiver lt Receivers lt Consumer Reports Website TELE navdy PRE ORDER NOW FEELS LIKE DRIVING IN THE FUTURE Denon AVR X5200W Inside View with Top Panel Removed The AVR X5200W features an advanced video section with 8 HDMI inputs 1 located on the front panel and 3 HDMI outputs one meant for another zone It s equipped with 4K Ultra HD 60Hz video pass through and upscaling It s also compatible with Pure Color 4 4 4 color sub sampling another feature of the latest HDMI specification The video section also features ISFccc Imaging Science Foundation Certified Calibration Configuration advanced video Calibration controls which is cool for video buffs The AVR X5200W has a shiny sticker on the front panel claiming its HDMI 2 0 with full 18GBps support and can do 4k 60fps though it is not HDCP 2 2 wouldn t sweat this as nobody else has HDCP 2 2 that can pass 18GBPs yet and it remains to be seen if we will ever see such high resolution and data rates supported fed aa el aa eo l Dolby Aimas Zz Ty k ferns A Burde mitin E mem i jrma Bluetooth ES a Joi Pere ES Denon AVR X5200W Front Panel Sticker Denon claims the amp section uses monobloc construction and you The Denon AVR X5200W supports full can see each individual amp c
9. particularly important in case you want to 2600E repurpose some of those unused nine amplifier channels for other zones or non discrete height or width channels You could do 5 1 in the main zone and hawe two additional zones of independent audio one with HDMI support meaning you ve got a whole home solution in one box Full 1080p 3D If you re looking for a moderately priced networking A V receiver The Denon AVR X5200W is one of the that s a jack of all trades and will accommodate all of your A V best Atmos AV receivers currently processing needs for the foreseeable future including expansion into available in its price class a Atmos or Auro 3D speaker configuration the Denon AVR X5200W is one of the best options currently on the market in its price class It has ample power to satisfy most home theater enthusiast needs and great setup flexibility and room correction to fine tune your sound Wireless Connection Two Pair 3D Glasses Included gt x Web2 converted by Web2PDFConvert com Denon AVR X5200W Atmos AV Receiver Review1 The Score Card The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit thus giving a rating roughly equal to Performance x Price Factor Value Rating Audioholics com note The ratings indicated beloware based on subjective listening and objective testing of the prod
10. the consumer marketplace as evident by the lack of software support and the somewhat convoluted and incompatible speaker layout options between competing and existing formats don t believe most people will be willing or able to lower the physical height of their side and surround channels to slap elevation modules on top of them If you re buying this receiver to experience Dolby Atmos and Auro in all its glory but cannot accommodate height speakers on or near the ceiling just realize there are many compromises with the alternative Atmos elevation speakers as discussed in the listening portion of this revew In addition you re going to be playing the waiting game for Atmos and especially Auro content In the meantime you re stuck with demo discs and Transformers 4 to hold you over or just using the DSU to expand the soundstage of your existing Blu ray collection TRY HARRY S Conclusion The Denon AVR X5200W has just about every feature consumers could ever want in a 2k A V receiver Dolby Atmos inclusion will likely be a draw to early adopters wanting the next generation surround codec and the recent Denon announcement for an Auro 3D upgrade fee required coming this December should sweeten the deal Although suspect the majority of users buying this receiver won t utilize the Atmos height or Dolby elevation speakers ROWER G the AVR X5200 has some of the most flexible speaker and amp assignability m aN features we ve seen This is
11. wa THD Cursors THD Raio 76 6 7 68 9 Ww Measured Lere 7 Denon AVR X5200W 1kHz Power Sweep Test Low Impedance Mode NEVER USE THIS SETTING Congratulations to Denon for making the world s worst impedance NE VER use the low impedance selector switch of all time With the low setting engaged no matter Setting regardless of your speakers impedance how many channels were driven the output was limited to about 25 watts channel with one channel driven and significantly less with all channels driven 18 watts for seven channels driven Denon jumped on the impedance switch bandwagon to get the UL 4 ohm rating but severely choked off performance in doing so This is likely due for two reasons inadequate heat sink area to keep the receiver running cool enough for the rating and an overzealous and cautious safety engineer that took things just a little too far Regardless of whatever speaker impedance you have under NO circumstance do EVER recommend using the low impedance setting Just leave it at the default 8 ohm setting and forget there is even an option to change it For more information see Setting theA V Receiver Impedance Selector Switch Denon AVAGO CEA 2006 Bure Tesi Center _ ee y Left BSur Left Sur Right Sur C Web2 onverted by Web2PDFConvert com Denon AWA Ro200Wy CEA 2008 Furst Test Left Front m Right Front a Center Left BSur Left Sur Right Sur Ri
12. your current 5 1 or 7 1 speaker system then Dolby Atmos is Atmos is NOT the greatest mi e definitely a worthwhile upgrade Is Atmos the greatest breakthrough bitte ieee ie o in 20 years for in audio in 20 years don t believe so especially if you re already running a high quality Dolby TrueHD DTS HD setup The benefit of Atmos at least the way it s currently implemented in consumer products is subtle especially if your surround speakers are already in an elevated location on your side and back walls SHOULD AN 8 PACK OF BLADES REALLY COST 3727 Dolby Atmos is best appreciated by employing discrete ceiling speakers which the majority of people are incapable of incorporating into their living rooms But if your primary speaker system is already all in ceiling like unfortunately often see in Florida homes nght pic courtesy of mvhomewring com now is your chance to re purpose those for Atmos height channels and install some box speakers at or near ear level to greatly improve the fidelity for all of your five or seven main bed channels HARRY S WORTH THE SWITCH The only minor gripe have with the AVR X5200W is the fact that it downsamples all digital signals to 48kHz unless you re in Direct or Pure Direct Mode which I m certain is a compromise many new A V receivers are making for the inclusion of Dolby Atmos while also retaining advanced room correction software feel the Atmos technology was rushed into
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14. DSU on more ambience was brought to the already ambience filled recording It allowed the front channels to expand their vertical soundstage a bit but at a slight penalty of clarity suspect audio purists would prefer running just regular DTS in this case but didn t find the DSU to be objectionable The Dolby Atmos modules were in fact expanding the soundstage front and back in this case However for high resolution recordings like Mando Diao s Aelita from Pure Audio 96kHz 24bit ultimately preferred pure Direct mode This almost reminds me of the scenario of DSP processing in Yamaha A V receivers Depending on program material and how much one would dial down the DSP effect would often find the DSP processing pleasing but with critical music listening would usually prefer to disable all effects and just enjoy the purity of the recording My advice is to try it both ways to make the determination for yourself and evaluate each specific recording you are listening to Blu ray Dark Knight Rises With DSU engaged most of the sound emanating from the Dolby If your under the impression that speakers was background music An occasional bullet ricochet was Dolby Atmos speakersin heard from a Dolby speaker which provided a somewhat elevated comm NARON wey We DSU w improve the sound of your existing sound but not from a precisely defined location There were subtle Blu ray collection don t get your differences between DTS Master and e
15. G HARRY S WORTH THE SWITCH Lewol dE C FOB TRY HARRY S ek HS z z z 0 ik ak ck k ak Sok Froguency Piz Free 130 Page Denon AVR X5200W Frequency Response DSP Engaged was a bit surprised to find the AVR X5200W downsampling to 48kHz thus limiting the high frequency bandwidth to practico 430 Pages of free just over 20kHz once the DSP was engaged confirmed with Denon that the receiver does this to conserve MIPS Solution Guide expert advice on given all the processing power needed for Dolby Atmos and Audyssey Audio purists will want to engage Direct a i shh hath Are Flash and Arc mode for recordings with sampling rates higher than 48kHz as long as they don t mind giving up Audyssey EQ and t Flash safety Atmos for purity of signal Direct mode and Pure Direct mode will still allow you to enjoy the full resolution of Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD with no downsampling Arc Flash Handbook DuraLabel Left Front 95 832 dB 40 60 380 100 120 140 Cymeamec Range det Denon AVR X5200W Signal to Noise Ratio Direct Mode With the receiver in Direct mode bypassing the DSP and 100mVin and 1 Vrms output the AVR X5200W exhibited an excellent SNR of 95dB with the AES17 filter engaged With no filter it dropped down to 88dB which is still an excellent figure Because of the digital processing and clocks with DSP engaged the noise floor went up to 77dB wit
16. Pursuing the Truth in Audio and Video Follow Us _ Letour rigorous testing and reviews be your U DIOHOLICS O Hi O L l C 5 guidelines to A V equipment not marketing slogans Fi y CJ E Books Product Reviews AV Research AV News Home Theater Setup Forums 2014 Best Receiver gt You are here Home AV Receiver Reviews Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Review Find Compare amp Save on Top Rated Receiver Selections Now L Search Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Review H Submit AV News x E E By Gene DellaSala October 26 2014 n Product Name AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos AV Receiver 225 FREE AV Gear Guide Manufacturer Denon i Performance Rating 9 8 a ol Value Rating 5 a a Review Date October 26 2014 21 35 MSRP 1999 gt Xx X32 Series Jeu Now behringer Digital Mixers Specifications Pros Cons Supports Dolby Atmos and Auro 3D with upgrade Confusing setup options and terrible user manual Offers some of the most versatile speaker and amp Includes the world s worst impedance selector MIPA Awards Best Live Mixing Desk configuration options we ve seen switch Does everything but make you coffee FULL COMPASS Denon AVR X5200W AV Receiver Introduction gt xX Just when we thought an A V manufacturer couldn t pack more amplifiers and preamp outputs into a sub 2k receiver Denon proved us wrong with their new AVR X 200W 9 2 Channe
17. e A60 Atmos modules for the rest of this revew You can try to experiment with making your own Atmos elevation speakers perhaps with a horn loaded driver to limit its dispersion and this is something we reserve for further study Dolby Surround Upmixer DSU The Dolby Surround Upmixer has been completely redesigned according to Dolby It now incorporates the Atmos height channels but ironically leaves out wall mounted height width channels if you employ them in your system Unlike Dolby Pro Logic IIx PLIIx the new DSU doesn t have a separate Cinema or Music mode nor does it have any configuration options at all other than on off Two Channel Music was curious to see how the new DSU performed so cued up a few different albums in my hard drive to get a taste The DSU was producing a nice enveloping effect compared to just listening to regular two channel I initially felt the DSU bested DTS Neo by a good margin though could understand that some purists may still prefer to listen to regular two channel with no upmixing PLIIx Music Mode was always my favorite upmixer and was in my opinion a big step up from regular PLII I d say the new DSU has at least equaled if not exceeded PLIIx from my preliminary listening tests Still a more thorough analysis with a wider variety of music to really understand the differences was in order After hours of flipping back and forth through various program material my initial assessment altered and
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19. eakers for Atmos you they assign the height channels as designated by a second decimal WHT DEY WANE toe the speaker l config to 9 1 for most installations point and the number of speakers used For example a speaker configuration employing five 5 conventional speakers in an L C R Ls Rs Left Center Right Left surround Right surround arrangement would have the first numerical designation in this case 5 followed by a decimal point and the number one 1 for the LFE channel followed by another decimal point and the number of height channels we used 4 So for a system featuring five main speakers one sub and four height channels you would call that a 5 1 4 speaker configuration Surprisingly this is nowhere to be found in the Denon manual or the menus in the OSD of the actual receiver The more tried to coordinate the manual with the receiver OSD the more realized it was all just one hot mess One would intuitively think if one wanted to add four Dolby Atmos speaker modules to their setup they would select the Dolby Atmos assignment as shown in the right image above However that was NOT the case This assignment is only if you plan on adding four actual ceiling mounted speakers for Dolby Atmos If you wish to instead use Dolby Atmos speakers you will need to set the speaker assignment to 9 1 or 11 1 depending on how many speakers you re running chose 9 1 because my test setup consisted of five main channels four Doloy Atmos speaker modules
20. er yad E Piaf amal Tigh a Prora S ar Ff baram lar pais be Bahaa Fadia F ioh oa BES See d Ti chewed plpaeck fied oom mnaaaai Tian BES in BI sbarre Pladieet J arp psargp ber ni bees ppsa ee Phere Fa a Blok eye CORRE i E eher pellet Fahami fhaaan lsh OREHI di FI barr plapeck Tua laissas fT 4 DONEA oo I elay Kress plr yirash Hasi casd F umi Daie ree s Tha marar thal c Hes Headers hug baeas hisi meihir dered chim ie eee ee Pail a h agaaa Tha foken pigas pokia ba WR UT phon f renea mare E 004 Excerpt from Denon AVR X5200W Manual About Speaker Assignment B E Speaker Setup Salec E Sect the Dolby Enabigg SPtaker ig youl for Wir rao Front Dolby amp Surround Dolby Denon AVR X5200W Receiver Setup Assistant The Denon receiver setup assistant tool is actually quite useful recommend using it whether you re a neophyte or an audioholic You can then check your results by going into the more advanced OSD speaker amp menus as illustrated below Denon AVR X5200W Speaker Amp Assignment OSD Spe Nine a i Il kers Speaker Config Center Subwooter Surround Surr Back Froni Dalby Surround Dolby CO Web2 nverted by Web2PDFConvert com Denon AVR X5200W Speaker Configuration Here s where things get a little confusing For months Dolby has Unless you re using 4 ceiling been drilling their new speaker nomenclature into our heads in how mounted sp
21. f seats only the primary row pulled off an acceptable elevation effect When turned off all the speakers but the Atmos modules could clearly identify steady state sound from any seat such as the male vocals Switching off Audyssey wanted to hear the difference between Auto and Direct to see if the 48kHz downsampling that the AVR X5200W does with ALL digital signals unless you re in Direct or Pure Direct mode was impacting the sound found preferred Direct mode by a considerable margin The sound was clearer and more precise Conversely in Auto mode felt did hear a few height details slightly more elevated though blurred ran this as a blind test on my younger sister in law and she conveyed the same experiences that observed After a couple of switches realized Direct mode put the Denon in TrueHD processing mode So in fact we were preferring music in TrueHD without the Atmos modules engaged because the sound was more cohesive and balanced It was then that started to realize that the A60 Atmos modules were simply no match for the rest of my speaker system and in fact were downgrading the sound quality for critical music listening wired up my RBH E41 B speakers as Dolby elevation speakers and found the detail of sound was greatly improved However because the RBH speakers have such excellent dispersion characteristics by design they were also more easily localized than the Dolby Atmos speakers Thus went back to using th
22. feature in all new Denon AVRs that employ multiple independent subwoofer outputs In addition really like that Audyssey first gets you to set your sub s to a 75dB reference level That way it s not initially over cutting or over boosting trim levels to match the rest of the channels It s also interesting to note that Audyssey now recommends varying microphone distance no more than 2ft from the primary mic position which effectively gives you a calibration area of 12 5 ft though this should still be good enough for all but the very largest installations One oddity discovered with Audyssey engaged was that the overall Audyssey can setup and calibrate output of the speakers was about 5dB louder than when Audyssey dual subs in your system was defeated as you can see in the measurements below could audibly hear the difference though can t say for sure that it sounded 5dB louder am used to seeing output levels rise a dB or two with Audyssey on versus defeated but this was a bit more extreme than am accustomed to popped off an email to Chris Kyriakakis and he reminded me that the level calculation integrates over a range approx 500 Hz to 2 KHz If Audyssey filters introduce dips in that region then an overall boost is needed for loudness to be the same with and without Audyssey engaged Perceptually there may be some discemible difference but it is highly content dependent SPL vs Freq ER ade NOW ena Ave Al ro ad i eo
23. ght BSur Lined Wi Denon AVR X5200 Dynamic Power Test 1kHz Top Pic 8 ohm load 7CH Bottom Pic 4 ohm load 2CH The CEA 2006 burst tests simulate musical program material The AVR X5200W produced respectable results with two channels driven but showed power supply limitations with seven channels driven yielding power numbers only slightly higher than the 1kHz sweep tests of CH Test Type CFP BW 140 watts Load THD N 1 4 oh 1 8 oh a BW 205 watts 1kHz Psweep 140 watts 8 oh 145 watts 193 watts 206 watts 0 1 a 8 oh 4ohrs 0 1 4oh 8 oh O 3S PSweep 97 watts 101 watts 78 watts 82 watts 1kHz Psweep 24watts 8ohms 1 1kHz Psweep 18watts 8ohms 1 Dynaric PAR 200 watts 8ohms 1 Dynamic AAR 8 amp 5 watts 80 1 Dynaric PAR 300 watts 4 ohms 1 Denon AVR X5200W Power Measurement Table Impedance switch was set to low 4 ohm setting for these particular tests Denon rates the AVR X5200W as follows 140 watts lt 0 05 20Hz to 20kHz 8 ohm load unspecified channels driven 160 watts 8 ohms 2CH and 250 watts 4 ohms 2CH dynamic power Our test results validate Denon s power specification at least for two channels driven In fact we were even able to 8oh 8 oh 0 1 8 oh 1 gt PPPPPPPPPPPPT TL validate their 250 watt sticker slapped on the front panel but only for one channel driven at 1kHz into 10 THD N They could really do away with that
24. h no filter engaged Overall these are very good results The preamp is quiet when it should be Dnon AVR RSS00i Crosstalk ane channel undran Pull Chew irs Crosstalk dB Denon AVR X5200W Crosstalk Tests One Channel Undriven The crosstalk sweep tests ran on the AVR X5200W produced very good results Driving all channels but the one under test is the worst possible crosstalk test you can run producing figures up to 10dB worse than just activating one disturber channel at a time At 1kHz the channel to channel isolation was better than 90dB and 60cB at 20kHz consider anything less than 40dB 10kHz acceptable and the AVR X5200W beat that with a whopping 30dB to spare Bass Management Denon has always had some of the most flexible bass management options of all the A V receiver manufacturers and the AVR X5200W proved to be no exception i a Dann Avr AS Bass Manager All Chanmas pe Seal GOH Web2 converted by Web2PDFConvert com Leol dE i Cura Sud C181 250 WAD a26 Eur Sub OL a TAi SAS fe A Deka 145 485 418 507 Denon AVR X5200W Frequency Response with Bass Management Engaged With all speakers set to small and an 80Hz crossover point measured the outputs and crossover slopes Witha standard small 80Hz setting for all channels the high pass filter HPF for the satellite speakers maintained the correct 80Hz 3dB pt with a 12 dB octave slope The sub out did no
25. hannel has its own discrete card but 18GBps 4k 60fps video and is HDMI everything is powered from a central E core transformer which has decent mass to it I m not sure about its VA rating but the back panel says the power consumption is 730 watts which would imagine is close to a max rating The heatsink isn t the cheap thin metal we ve seen on some recent A V receivers Instead it s made from extruded aluminum Below the heatsink reside two cooling fans which never activated no matter how hard drove this receiver I d imagine if you don t allow adequate ventilation like did they would come on to provide forced cooling Bee i Denon AVR X5200W Back Panel View The AVR X5200W is packed with speaker connections 11 pairs to You can hook up to 11 pairs of be exact Though you can only use up to 9 pairs simultaneously speakers to this receiver since the Denon provides nine channels of amplification The AVR X5200W has a full compliment of analog preouts in case you want to use external amplification on ALL of your channels or to just add a two channel amp for the main channels while using the nine internal amplifiers to run a full 7 2 4 speaker system that s 7 bed channels 2 subs and 4 height object channels Legacy A V connections are supported and fully upscaleable to HDMI as expected in this day and age While it has a wired Ethemet connection the AVR X5200W also sports dual detachable antennas for Wi Fi streaming so you ca
26. he cricket and bug sounds produced a pleasing elevated effect It was quite an immersive experience However the rain just didn t quite sound like it was coming i from up abow me hitting against trees in the forest It sounded more like it was around me though it lacked the clarity and detail I d expect to hear from a natural event Tuming off the Atmos modules and allowing the rain sound to fold back into the surround speakers helped to clear this sound up considerably While enjoyed the elevation sound of the Atmos speakers also enjoyed the more precise sound of them being off as well was quite amazed at how well the ear level surround speakers produced an elevated effect with the Atmos modules tumed off This is truly an incredible recording both in TrueHD and Atmos Enrique Iglesias Music Video Bailando The Dolby Atmos speaker modules gt x X32 Series The transient sounds like the snare drum hit or claps did project an provided ie e HERA at the elevated sound but the male vocals sounded like they were coming Reser Or CAY BNG POCUS e 8 i q ital Mixers converted by Web2PDFConvert com from the Atmos companion speakers Only the little kid at the beginning of the song shouting Bailando sounded as if his voice was elevated near the ceiling However found if you Sat too far away from the Atmos modules the elevation effect evaporated and if you sat too close the speaker was too easily localized In my two rows o
27. ith more dominant reflections In addition the ceiling in this room is untreated Whereas my ceiling in our Showcase Theater Room has diffusive elements incorporated by design found the sound from the Dolby elevation speakers to be a bit less localizable especially if kept at least 4 5 feet away from any particular speaker module But was still never full immersed into a three dimensional soundstage like Dolby claims you could be using their speaker technology ad eed Assign Moda Figh abght Speakers Uing Doity Seekers Haighi Layout a CO Web2 nverted by Web2PDFConvert com Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos Speaker Mix After a quick reconfiguration in the Denon OSD and level tweak then proceeded to switch over to my discrete in ceiling speakers for the rear Atmos channels Replaying the Dolby Atmos demo tracks was quite a revelation The rain sounds in the Amaze demo sounded much more natural and realistic with the discrete ceiling speakers This time truly felt enveloped into a three dimensional sound field The rain sounded lifelike instead of just a dull unfocused projection like heard with the Atmos speakers The sound quality of the Enrique Iglesias music video was greatly improved with the discrete ceiling speakers too The child shouting Bailando projected a real elevated sound as if he was standing on top of the nearby building watching the whole dancing event The accompanying vocals didn t sound dis
28. l Dolby Atmos A V receiver With 140 watts x 9 ia Se a channels built in you ll be ready to get your Atmos on right away For those not familiar with Dolby Atmos it s Dolby s next generation surround codec y pit which claims to be object based versus the old channel based TrueHD codec Dolby claims Atmos is the biggest audio breakthrough in 20 years We put this new Denon A V receiver through its paces to validate this claim while also doing our usual battery of bench and operational tests Read Dolby Atmos Overview for more information M ITS U BI S H l Clearance Sale Only 129 Denon AVR X5200W Atmos AV Receiver Review1 S First Impressions have to say when first unboxed the Denon AVR X5200W A V receiver wasn t blown away by its size or weight lm used to carrying Denon receivers with two arms up the flight of steps to the Audioholics Showcase home but only weighing in at 31lbs was able to do this chore with just one I m not one to judge a book by its cover so wanted to get an inside look at this baby and more importantly get it on my test bench right away to see what she could do Popping the top off revealed this is one crammed chassis The AVR X5200W is loaded with silicon including four Analog Devices SHARC DSPs you need this much horsepower to do Audyssey and Dolby Atmos premium Top 1 0 Metal Detectors Analog Devices DACs and an array of chips for video upscaling and processing a ee eee tienen
29. n listen to music from a networked PC free internet radio and music services like Pandora SiriusXM and Spotify You can also stream Apple Airplay from your iPhone or iPad If you can stream it the AVR X5200W will likely Support it Last but not least the Denon has gone green with the AVR X5200W receiver There is an eco feature built into this unit which is a form of current limiting to save energy It s accessible via a green button on the remote with an embedded leaf symbol The eco feature is off by default but there are three modes off on auto auto means it is only active at low volume levels when the volume dial gets above a certain point the eco mode current limiting is no longer active left it off during all of my testing to ensure wasn t hindering performance but most users will probably want to leave it on auto especially if you re an energy conservationist Web2 converted by Web2PDFConvert com Setup and Connections have to congratulate Denon for making the AVR X5200W one of the Skip the disastrous user manual and most challenging A V receivers to set up in the history of Denon use the receiver s setup assistant receivers Considering I ve checked out ALL of their flagships including the venerable AVR 5805 dreadnought speak from experience Most of the confusion lies in how to set up and configure your speaker and amplifier assignments You have two screens to do this in Speaker setup and
30. ngaging DSU There certainly hopes up was nothing that would have me jumping out of my seat or believing we ve achieved a sonic breakthrough worthy of an upgrade If you re upgrading to Dolby Atmos with Atmos Elevation speakers thinking that the DSU will breathe new life to your existing Blu ray collection don t get your hopes up Dedicated Two Channel Listening Tests No DSU Just to get a feel for how the Denon AVR X5200W sounded for critical two channel listening wired it up to my 50k Status Acoustics 8T reference speakers and ran them full range in Direct mode Know this is not a typical scenario but my reference speakers are a difficult 4 ohm load and it s a good test to see if the Denon could deliver stable power even though was using it in the default 8 ohm mode popped in a two channel SACD from Patricia Barber called Caf Blue Track 1 What a Shame starts out with a powerful standup bass and lyrics The Denon was able to drive my reference speakers to very satisfactory levels and belt out plenty of bass Patricia s vocals sounded clear and overall the experience was quite enjoyable Track 2 Moming Grace gets a bit more complicated with all of the cymbal crashes found this to sound a bit mushy compared to my reference gear The cymbal crescendos just weren t as lifelike as recalled on my gear Let me be clear that this is not a knock on the Denon but a justification to high end separates when listening
31. now either preferred regular two channel or DTS Neo because DTS Neo emphasized the center channel less than the DSU This was particularly noticeable on high quality two channel recordings with predominantly acoustical instruments such as the SACD from Rebecca Pigeon on the song Spanish Harlem The older PLIlx upsampler offered the ability to control center width or tum the center off altogether Unfortunately there is no such feature with the DSU Coldplay Parachutes sounded better to me either in two channel or DTS NEO in this instance as well since the DSU seemed to collapse the stereo image by dumping too much into the center channel hope Dolby expands the DSU in the future to better customize The Dolby Surround Upmixer has NO sound for more discriminating listeners like myself as feel that its configuration options like PLlix had which as a result often hindered its plane vanilla approach hindered its true potential Many folks prefer true potential to tum the center channel off when using a multi channel upmixer find it ironic that Dolby doesn t provide effects to the width channels in favor of preserving the front stereo image yet they engage the Atmos elevation speakers that in fact can and actually do distort the stereo image by limitation of design due to their close proximity to the front speakers E Audio Surround Parameter Cinema EQ Center Sp ead ant qo eae a g righi iront Bee f pannel gr iis eee
32. sticker but more POWAH sells especially to less informed consumers which is who they are targeting with this claim gt Confused about what AV Gear to buy or how to set it up Join our Exclusive Audioholics E Book IX Membership Program Jump to Denon AVR X5200W Dol by Atmos Considerations and Conclusion H See also o g Yamaha RXA740 to RXA3040 AVENTAGE A V Receivers Preview o g Denon AVR S700W 7 2 Channel AV Receiver Review Fi Yamaha RXA A77 Nataiarkinga A Raraiver Raview C Web2 onverted by Web2PDFConvert com Pursuing the Truth in Audie and Video Follow Us Letour rigorous testing and reviews be your UDIOHOLUICS guidelines to A V equipment not marketing slogans f y N f Online A M Magazine E Books Product Reviews AV Research AV News Home Theater Setup Forums aC ce J D 9VAMAHA America s Best Selling AV Receiver Brand expe rience a i Mi dsirs mirrorless Ge Fi Now Wireless Learn More PE 7R C E point amp shoots Cameras Kya a IS and more You are here Home AV Receiver Reviews Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Review Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos Considerations and Conclusion Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos Considerations and Conclusion a 5 By Gene DellaSala October 26 2014 r If you re able to add two or four in ceiling speakers to supplement Despite the claims otherwise Dolby K FREE AV Gear Guide
33. t do continuous power measurements and they usually publish power measurements into clipping at 1 THD N Our measurements are very conservative since we use a dedicated 20A line with no Variac to regulate line voltage We constantly monitor the line to ensure it never drops more than 2Vrms from nominal which in our case was 120Vrms For more info on amplifier measurements see The All Channels Driven ACD Test Denon AVA Saou Power va Frequency 4 gers Denon AVR X5200W Full Power Bandwidth Continuous Sweep 205wpc 4 ohms The AVR X5200W produced respectable output on the continuous sweep tests For 8 ohms two channels driven output was around 145 watts channel and 205 watts channel for 4 ohms under 1 THD N E a a 2 a il C Web2 onverted by Web2PDFConvert com ACS Ue 1003506 i AL Deets 4070 T0 801616 Tpz Dpi 0 006 a rr a T E T Measured Lere 05 Denon AWA S200 Hi Pewees va THID H Curren THO H Ratio 76 ao 120 Measured Lera A Denon AVR X5200W 1kHz Power Sweep Test Top Pic 8 ohm load 7CH Bottom Pic 4 ohm load 2CH The Denon AVR X5200W did better on the all channels driven test than anticipated as you can see in the seven channel power tests above which produced 78 watts channel at 01 THD N into 8 ohm loads and about 194 watts channel for two channels driven into 4 ohms at 0 1 THD N Denon AVA S00 nhs Pewtes
34. t maintain the 24dB octave slope we ve been accustomed to seeing with Denon A V receivers and THX certified products in general Instead measured 8dB at 80Hz with a 19dB octave slope I m a bit at odds that the sub out is a little off but this is not a THX product and the slight difference is likely inaudible for most installs and is academic Power Amplifier Measurements The AVR X5200W was tested on a dedicated 120V 20A line Unless otherwise stated all power measurements were done with the default 8 ohm impedance setting We tested power using three methods all of which were taken at lt 0 1 THD N Continuous Full Power Bandwidth CFP BW from 20Hz to 20kHz into 8 and 4 ohm loads 1kHz Power Sweep vs Distortion 1kKHz Psweep popularized by the print magazines this is an instantaneous power vs distortion test at 1kHz The problem with this test is it often masks slew related and or frequency response problems some amplifiers exhibit at the frequency extremes and thus inflates the measured power results It does provide an instant gratification number for consumers to argue over on the forums so we are now incorporating this test to please the masses Dynamic PWR 1kHz CEA 2006 Burst Method testing This is a dynamic power measurement adopted from the car industry similar to IHF method only a bit more difficult for an amplifier and more representative of real musical content Keep in mind most review publications don
35. to very high caliber power hungry speakers The Denon simply couldn t match the stereo separation or finesses of my 2kwatt Emotiva XPR 1 Monobloc amplifiers That being said the AVR X5200W sounded incredibly good for a 2k multichannel does everything A V receiver Next up ran a torture test with Muse 2 Law track 2 Madness As tumed up the volume to feed the six 10 sub drivers of my reference speakers with bass the AVR X5200W eco power meter went up to 65 70 I never saw it go nearly this high even when running a nine channel speaker system during my Atmos tests That being said the Denon didn t falter or threaten to shut down During my entire listening session the internal fans under the heatsinks didn t even turn on This receiver is 4 ohm stable even in the high impedance setting Listen to me now and believe me later NEVER switch it to the low setting Audioholics Family Room Listening Tests repeated my suite of multi channel tests with the AVR X5200W and my speaker system setup in our family room In this setup was able to directly compare the Atmos A60 elevation speakers to discrete RBH MC 615 in ceiling speakers The first thing noticed in this room was that the A60 elevation modules seemed to be a bit more effective and convincing at delivering elevated sound believe this has to do with the room being much more reverberant and thus increasing the masking effect that multiple sound sources can produce w
36. tracting and instead provided a nice vertical ambient fill This is Atmos like remembered in the cinema Playing back standard Blu ray moves like Dark Knight Rises Discrete ceiling mounted speakers through the DSU slightly expanded the sound field without drawing proved to be a superior way to enjoy too much attention to itself did find preferred tuming down the in peed oo Atmos enabled ceiling speakers about 3dB lower than the five main channels to really allow everything to sound natural and not overdone Using high quality in ceiling speakers proved to be a superior listening experience over Dolby Atmos elevation speakers in my listening tests couldn t imagine anyone NOT preferring discrete ceiling speakers over the reflective Atmos speakers This is especially true if you have a very high quality five or seven channel speaker system already installed believe it s paramount to add similar quality speakers for the Atmos height channels Otherwise you do this technology and your sound system a disservice J Confused about what AV Gear to buy or how to set it up Join our Exclusive Audioholics E Book IX Membership Program Jump to Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Measurements and Analysis Next Page See also ga Yamaha RXA740 to RKA3040 AVENTAGE A V Receivers Preview 3 Denon AVR S700W 7 2 Channel AV Receiver Review AS Yamaha RX V577 Networking AV Receiver Review leany better Bose Solois
37. u are here Home AV Receiver Reviews Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Aimos AV Receiver Review Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Measurements and Analysis Learn More Denon AVR X5200W Dolby Atmos AV Receiver Measurements and __ Search Analysis Submit AV News Mohs 1 By flv S 5 AS FREE AV Gear Guide All measurements were conducted using our Audio Precision APx585 8 Channel HDMI Audio Analyzer following our rigid Amplifier Measurement Test Protocol Preamp The AVR X5200W has plenty of grunt via the preamp outputs to use in conjunction with virtually any separate amplifier should you desire more power measured unclipped output of 4 5Vrms from every channel We like to see at least 2Vrms and the Denon met this with over 6db of margin to spare a T i rf In Direct mode measured a ruler flat frequency response with a 3dB point of 65kHz Denon AVARAN Frequency Response HOMI In 200 Pure Dect Leol dev lil PAULI my i un ro m baii aye me W Freaqipatecy HE Denon AVR X5200W Analog Out FFT Distortion Analysis 1Vrms In analog Direct mode the AVR X5200W exhibited an excellent noise floor The dominant odd order distortion product was 100dB below the fundamental which is excellent ray OFF COATS SHOULD AN 8 PACK Py OF BLADES REALLY Web2 converted by Web2PDFConvert com COST 327
38. uct in question The rating scale is based on performance value ratio If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance and each reviewer has his her own system for ratings Audioholics Rating Scale AARAA Excellent QOQA Very Good QOG S z AHA Fair 6 Poor Metric Rating Frequency Response Linearity Boao SNR SOOO Measured Power 8 ohms AHAHAHA Measured Power 4 ohms AHAHAHA Multi channel Audio Performance AWAAOA Two channel Audio Performance AAAA Network Features OGOOoo Video Processing AHAHAHAHA Bass Management AHAHAHA Build Quality AHAHAHA Ergonomics amp Usability Ooo Features SHOVEHOMOY Remote Control AHAHA Performance AAAA Value ANNINA Jump to Introduction E Confused about what AV Gear to buy or how to set it up Join our Exclusive Audioholics E Book Re Membership Program See also g Yamaha RXA740 to RXA3040 AVENTAGE A V Receivers Preview g Denon AVR S700W 7 2 Channel AV Receiver Review m 4 Yamaha RX V577 Networking AV Receiver Review Seu NOW Clearly better TV sound MEW Bose Solo 15 TV sound system LEARN MORE Home Theater amp Home Audio system Design Sales nstallation Residential amp Commercial Web2 converted by Web2PDFConvert com
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