Denon AVR-X4500H Owners Thread

When testing them I usually go about -40db

Standard listening volume is usually between -50db and -40db

Anything above -40db is really loud and not acceptable especially during the evening as will definitely upset the neighbours.
 
When testing them I usually go about -40db

Standard listening volume is usually between -50db and -40db

Anything above -40db is really loud and not acceptable especially during the evening as will definitely upset the neighbours.

You'd ideally want to be listening at higher volumes in order to get the effects of not only Atmos, but also multichannel surround sountracks. Minus 40 and 50 is pretty quiete and most people listen at level approximating -20db if not higher. The ideal is of cause 0db, but this isn't always possible for most.
 
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Perfectly understand that.
If I turn off Dynamic Volume, increasing the volume up to -20db it be almost the same as -40db with that option turned on.

You think my atmos speakers are good?
They do seem really well made, good specs and well priced, although this brand is mainly know within Germany.
 
I think that the speaker should be fine and that the issue you are having is more than likely simply due to your low listening levels. You could try engaging Dynamic EQ if increasing the volume isn't an option, but this may have detrimental effects upon other aspects of the soundtrack such as the audibility of dialogue for instance?
 
Yes, they do seem rather good quality and they are also compact and very good looking.

But the best of all, is that they fit well on top of any of the QAcoustic speakers.

Because I hear mainly in normal and low volume, I have all those special features engaged, such has Dynamic EQ set to reference, Dynamic Volume etc.

With these off, the sound is really weak and poor and lacks a lot of punch. I also find myself increasing the volume a lot around -30db to -20db to hear well and even at this level the sound is not powerful.

I trust that in order to have all those options off, I would have to raise the volume considerably to be able to hear well and get that punch we all like. I understand that by leaving them off, the sound will also be closer to the truthfully to the source.

I’m going to test the Atmos effects with all these options off and raising the volume a bit more to see what is the result.
 
OMG what a difference.
I can only thank you for your recommendations. Thank you thank you thank you.

I have turned off all enhancements and pumped the volume up to -20db and what a difference.
Sound seem to be much more localized and correctly spread over each speaker and the Atmosb effect my God. I have tested the LG videos which are in Dolby Vision and Dolby atmos and only one them has a wave curling and the sound was so powerful and envolving that I even felt my head being pushed down my shoulders. Bloody hell eheheh.

The centre speaker is also much clearer.

The downside, I'm watching the news and to be able to hear well I have the volume at -30db when usually is between -40 and -50db. On evening viewing I even go below -50db hearing well.

I will now leave all enhancements off and I think I will have problems with the neighbours....

I have kept the Audyssey > MultiEQ XT32 at Reference. Should I leave it or is also advisable to turn off?
 
OMG what a difference.
I can only thank you for your recommendations. Thank you thank you thank you.

I have turned off all enhancements and pumped the volume up to -20db and what a difference.
Sound seem to be much more localized and correctly spread over each speaker and the Atmosb effect my God. I have tested the LG videos which are in Dolby Vision and Dolby atmos and only one them has a wave curling and the sound was so powerful and envolving that I even felt my head being pushed down my shoulders. Bloody hell eheheh.

The centre speaker is also much clearer.

The downside, I'm watching the news and to be able to hear well I have the volume at -30db when usually is between -40 and -50db. On evening viewing I even go below -50db hearing well.

I will now leave all enhancements off and I think I will have problems with the neighbours....

I have kept the Audyssey > MultiEQ XT32 at Reference. Should I leave it or is also advisable to turn off?
If you have already run Audessy in absolute quite environment (as far as possible) then keep the XT32 at Reference with offset @0db.

You can also increase individual input level to its max. That will give the master volume a real boost without any compromise.

Thanks,
Partha
 
Yes, they do seem rather good quality and they are also compact and very good looking.

But the best of all, is that they fit well on top of any of the QAcoustic speakers.

Because I hear mainly in normal and low volume, I have all those special features engaged, such has Dynamic EQ set to reference, Dynamic Volume etc.

With these off, the sound is really weak and poor and lacks a lot of punch. I also find myself increasing the volume a lot around -30db to -20db to hear well and even at this level the sound is not powerful.

I trust that in order to have all those options off, I would have to raise the volume considerably to be able to hear well and get that punch we all like. I understand that by leaving them off, the sound will also be closer to the truthfully to the source.

I’m going to test the Atmos effects with all these options off and raising the volume a bit more to see what is the result.

If leaving those options disengaged then you'd want to be playing soundtracks with the volume higher than -20db and ideally at 0db reference. Most users settle for a level within the region of -20db though which is a happy compromise.

The issue is that the soundtracks are mixed at reference which equates to 0db on your receiver. If you listen at levels below this then you'd not be getter the same dynamic headroom as was experienced during the mix so some elements of that mix may then no longer be audible to you.

Not many people p;ay the soundtracks at reference though for the same reasons you cannot. THey've neighbours and or other members of family who may not appreciate it.
 
If you have already run Audessy in absolute quite environment (as far as possible) then keep the XT32 at Reference with offset @0db.

You can also increase individual input level to its max. That will give the master volume a real boost without any compromise.

Thanks,
Partha

Agjusting the trim levels in the manner you suggest will simply result in the levels being incorrectin in association with those sources. Why not simply let him adjust the volume adcordingly. The receiver with then be correctly calibrated.
 
If you have already run Audessy in absolute quite environment (as far as possible) then keep the XT32 at Reference with offset @0db.

You can also increase individual input level to its max. That will give the master volume a real boost without any compromise.

Thanks,
Partha

That is always na option, but would unbalance the Audyssay calibration values (speaker level- speaker distances, etc)

If leaving those options disengaged then you'd want to be playing soundtracks with the volume higher than -20db and ideally at 0db reference. Most users settle for a level within the region of -20db though which is a happy compromisse.
The issue is that the soundtracks are mixed at reference which equates to 0db on your receiver. If you listen at levels below this then you'd not be getter the same dynamic headroom as was experienced during the mix so some elements of that mix may then no longer be audible to you.
Not many people p;ay the soundtracks at reference though for the same reasons you cannot. THey've neighbours and or other members of family who may not appreciate it.

ehehehe I know that 0db is the ideal volume but it is really loud indeed.
Today when I made these tests I gone up until -15db and I noticed the dialogue from centre channel very loud and then suddenly there was an explosion, and it was so strong that I felt the floor shaking. At reference levels, my neighbours would skip the complaining part and they would kill me immediately.
At 0db this would be na absolute blast. These speakers along with this receiver they are really powerfull
 
At 0db this would be na absolute blast. These speakers along with this receiver they are really powerfull

The speakers are outputting the same levels of audio you'd get via any other speakers. Your speakers and their abilities do not determine the levels you hear. The receiver calibrates itself according to set standards and would calibrate itself to those same standards irrespective of the speakers it is driving. Even a lower tier AV receiver would use these same standards and calibrate itself in accordance with them.
 
I came in tonight and my receiver started an update by itself about 90 minutes ago but nothing appears to be happening, none of the buttons work on the remote of under the drop down panel.

All it has on the display is,
Please Wait
Update :<Update

There is no percentage figure or any other messages.

Anyone know what is going on ?
Surely an update cannot take 90 minutes, so far !
 
I came in tonight and my receiver started an update by itself about 90 minutes ago but nothing appears to be happening, none of the buttons work on the remote of under the drop down panel.

All it has on the display is,
Please Wait
Update :<Update

There is no percentage figure or any other messages.

Anyone know what is going on ?
Surely an update cannot take 90 minutes, so far !

Reset the thing. It doesn’t take that long
 
Unplugged it as the power button wasn’t working. It restarted a download and only took 3 minutes.
Not sure what happened but I didn’t want to unplug it in case it bricked it !
Cheers
 
Unplugged it as the power button wasn’t working. It restarted a download and only took 3 minutes.
Not sure what happened but I didn’t want to unplug it in case it bricked it !
Cheers
It’s electronics! Sh^^ happens! :)
 
The speakers are outputting the same levels of audio you'd get via any other speakers. Your speakers and their abilities do not determine the levels you hear. The receiver calibrates itself according to set standards and would calibrate itself to those same standards irrespective of the speakers it is driving. Even a lower tier AV receiver would use these same standards and calibrate itself in accordance with them.
Always leaning.
Thanks to all for the help.
I'm enjoying listening with all the enhancements turned off. Not as punchy but seem a lot more real and accurate
 
I came in tonight and my receiver started an update by itself about 90 minutes ago but nothing appears to be happening, none of the buttons work on the remote of under the drop down panel.

All it has on the display is,
Please Wait
Update :<Update

There is no percentage figure or any other messages.

Anyone know what is going on ?
Surely an update cannot take 90 minutes, so far !
Unplug from the mains and try update again.
Regardless of update or not, make a factory reset to restore something that may have gotten corrupted which will help avoiding happening again
 
Unplug from the mains and try update again.
Regardless of update or not, make a factory reset to restore something that may have gotten corrupted which will help avoiding happening again

It makes good sense to keep a copy of your receiver settings and configurations saved onto a thumb drive in case you need to reset the receiver to its factory defaults. You can then load the configurations back onto the receiver after such a reset and this avoids you having to recpnfigur it from scratch again. THere are instrctions on how to both save and load a configuration file within the receiver's user manual.
 
Yesterday I made a copy to a pen drive, but if doing a factory reset, it is better to take some time configuring everything fresh.
 
Can I ask all you owners of the AVR-X4500H a question please?

With the receiver in its virgin state, and by that I mean prior to calibrating with Audyssey, can you hear a difference in tone from the front right channel only?

I noticed it prior to purchasing new speakers and the tone remains with the new set-up, before I change anything.

In spite of the obvious difference in size in the speakers, they are (to my ear) roughly outputting a similar sort of tone when using the static noise to check output (the levels option in the sub menu under speakers> manual setup). All except the front right.

I've asked Denon and they simply instructed me to do a reset to see if the 'issue' persists. It does and as I say, on a second set of speakers. I've obviously checked the speaker wire too. The jacket hasn't been compromised anywhere along it's length and is connected properly.

I wondered if the front right channel would sound slightly different, much the same as the output would on the right channel of a stereo amplifier. The fact all the other speakers sound similar makes me doubt that.

If that is indeed the case, I apologise for my naivety and asking a noob question:facepalm:.
 
Pity Denon didn’t enable Atmos Virtualization for the X4500H.
Instead of updating to the X4600H, I’ll spend my money to 4 real Atmos speakers!

Just received the email below from Denon regarding this subject:

Dear Sir (s) Mr / Mrs,

Thank you for your inquiry.

It is not possible to enable the Dolby Atmos Virtualization function for the AVR-X4500H. To integrate this function Dolby has to authorize the used chips of the unit again. If we would do this, dolby will ban the cross upmixing function.
So we decided to keep the cross upmixing for "older" units.

Sincerely,
DENON Customer Support
Sound United.
 
I wondered if someone could help me regarding Imax Enhanced please. I cannot see the settings, which should be under setup>audio>sound parameters. The only option is cinema eq (on/off).

I have downloaded and installed the latest firmware update from the Denon firmware site. After which there was an OTA update.

I tried finding the setting before and after the OTA with no success.

Current firmware is :2461-9110-1131-0025 Pre OTA just from the Denon site was :2641-5024-1141-5005. Both of which are different to the release notes of the Denon download.(2461-5294-1181-3094)

This is driving me mad. What has everyone else got?. What am I doing wrong?

Cheers.
 
I wondered if someone could help me regarding Imax Enhanced please. I cannot see the settings, which should be under setup>audio>sound parameters. The only option is cinema eq (on/off).

I have downloaded and installed the latest firmware update from the Denon firmware site. After which there was an OTA update.

I tried finding the setting before and after the OTA with no success.

Current firmware is :2461-9110-1131-0025 Pre OTA just from the Denon site was :2641-5024-1141-5005. Both of which are different to the release notes of the Denon download.(2461-5294-1181-3094)

This is driving me mad. What has everyone else got?. What am I doing wrong?

Cheers.
I'm pretty sure that it is auto enabled when it detects the relevant signal and providing your gear is imax compatable.
 
Just received the email below from Denon regarding this subject:

Dear Sir (s) Mr / Mrs,

Thank you for your inquiry.

It is not possible to enable the Dolby Atmos Virtualization function for the AVR-X4500H. To integrate this function Dolby has to authorize the used chips of the unit again. If we would do this, dolby will ban the cross upmixing function.
So we decided to keep the cross upmixing for "older" units.

Sincerely,
DENON Customer Support
Sound United.

Which contradicts Dolby's current stance regarding the upmixing of non Dolby encoded formats and third party upmixing being applied to Dolby formatted audio.

If Dolby are telling Denon that they'd have to drop all third party upmixing then this isn't going to go down too well with the EU who have intervened after the owners of DTS made a complaint about Dolby's practices and the EU declared such practices as being unfair and anti competitive.

Dolby Withdraws Upmixing Restrictions: A Win for Consumers?


Dolby cannot threaten any manufacturer and insist they restrict upmixing.


Maybe tell Denon this and direct them to Dolby's own website where they publically declare the removal of any such restrictions from their licensing:

Dolby Audio Post-Processing Policy

Effective immediately, Dolby is withdrawing all limitations (including limitations contained in Dolby licenses) on the use of OEM (first-party) and third-party post-processing technologies (including upmixers and virtualisers) on audio decoded from Dolby formats (including Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos) on AVRs, sound bars and TVs. Effective immediately, products submitted for approval before January 1, 2021 may apply first-party and third-party post-processing (including upmixers and virtualisers) to audio encoded in Dolby formats, including Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Atmos.

Dolby will provide guidelines for first-party and third-party audio post-processing of audio encoded in Dolby formats on AVRs, sound bars, and TVs, submitted for approval after January 1, 2021. These guidelines will be further specified in upcoming development manuals. The guidelines are not intended to limit the use of first-party and third-party solutions with Dolby codecs.
Dolby Labs Website
 
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I'm pretty sure that it is auto enabled when it detects the relevant signal and providing your gear is imax compatable.
I
did cross my mind that it maybe as you say, it's just the Denon online manual for IMAX gives the impression that it is available all the time as how else would one be able to set it to auto. I can't seem to find anything as to what to expect.

What firmware version do you have? Have you got the IMAX settings?

Cheers
 

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