Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Denon AVR-4306 versus AVR-3806 - opinions?

Worth the $700 price difference, in anyone's educated opinion?

I finally found a spec list for the 4306 other than on Crutchfield! Denon, to my knowledge, still has not listed the 4306 specs on their site.

Unfortunately... Crutchfield just moved the ship date on the 4306 from 11/11 to 12/1. Boooooooooooooooooo.

Appreciate any and all comments, even if you say something like "Why not buy the xxx model from ZZZ?" I seem to have gravitated to the Denons due to the HDMI switching. Not sure I really need three inputs, two might be enough (cable box and dvd player)...

Links to specs:
Denon AVR-3806
Denon AVR-4306

Appreciate any and all responses. I have my tv already, but I have to make up my mind what to buy on the audio side!!! Prob. going with Axioms, that's why I'm here. :-)

Thanks! -Al

Oh, one other thing I noticed...

AVR-4306 spec says this:

"Built in Faroudja FLI-2310 De-interlacer & Scaler (480p / 576p / 720p / 1080i)"

The 3806 doesn't list that, which may or may not mean anything. I read somewhere that we shouldn't trust that AV-land's specs are accurate. :-)

Is that a good thing, the Faroudja chip? Quite honestly, I still haven't figured out if I should have my Panasonic plasma be doing the scaling, or let the Denon handle it. I figured I'd know right away after experimenting a little... but I have to decide which one to buy first. hehe

And how about the difference between the two models with the "32-Bit SHARC Floating point-DSP 3rd Generation SHARC" chips? The MFLOPs are 20% different between the two models. Again... is that a tangible difference between the two models, or not really?

Thanks!

I am of the strong opinion that you just don't want to do your video switching in your audio gear if you can at all help it. Likewise, the video interlacing and scaling should not be done in the audio gear. It just doesn't make sense!!

Now, if you have an overhead projector and need some sort of video switching, maybe, just maybe, it makes sense.

I just bought a new Sony 60" SXRD which has 2 HDMI ports as well as an assortment of component ports. I just would not consider doing video switching in my audio gear. I am going to run the video right to the TV!!! Likewise, any video interlacing or scaling is going to be done either in my TV or DVD, but not in my audio gear.

Al, as you infer, the deinterlacing and scaling done in the receiver shouldn't be used unless it would be visibly better than the deinterlacing and scaling done in the TV. The test reports on recent Panasonic plasmas indicate that they do an excellent job of processing 480i DVD and other material. My thought is that the 3806 would probably serve you well and that the 4306 wouldn't have a significant advantage.

I agree with John. The differences between the 3806 and 4306 likely won't equate to justifying the $700.

Now, let's consider the fine print on the reverse side of your man card. If you will wring your hands because you bought the 3806 instead of the 4306 and stress yourself out, you want to brag about your setup a bit or increased testosterone levels are important to you, then grab the 4306 and be happy. This type of rationale does NOT make you a bad person. . It's about the enjoyment.

Sounds like Ray is starting to justify another upgrade....

I get goose pimples just thinking about it.

He doesn't need an upgrade. He just needs to get his equipment out of the boxes.