Denon 4520CI + 4806 combo as pre-pro and power amp

First thing - I totally understand you’re on a budget and I’m not knocking the 351R in any way (I have not heard Cambridge stuff). I’m just pointing out things to think about and things that I would find important to know.

That being said, the 651R is a significant improvement in all ways. I would say the power supply capability is almost 3 times that of the 351R. It does have 7.1 preamp outputs, so you can add an amp in the future if you want. It also has 2 HDMI outputs, which is something you wrote on your wishlist (the 351R only has 1 HDMI output). Reading feedback on this receiver, I would say it’s all about sound quality. It shouldn’t have any problem pushing your speakers -- you may not even feel you need an external amp. If you can swing the cost, I would definitely recommend this one over the 351R (probably even over the Marantz SR6010 I mentioned above). The Marantz might have a warmer sound, but the Cambridge will totally rock on Home Theater and sound impact.

I looked at specs and the 651R doesn’t have any of the fancy internet radio / streaming audio / bluetooth stuff, but it supports all the important things, in my opinion. If you want streaming audio, just buy a cheap Sony Bluray and it has all sorts of streaming functions.

http://www.soundheaven.lv/sites/default/files/product-images/receivers/651r_internal_0.jpg

http://www.soundandvision.com/images/styles/600_wide/public/011212cambridge.jpg?itok=dwAF99bS

It looks like there’s a brand new one on Audiogon for $1199. Is this the one you’re looking at?

@adumadu - What kind of speakers are you using? Keep in mind that that Azure 351r has a smaller power supply and very limited output transistors (50w x 5). You can see the square heatsink in the middle in this picture - limited power supply capacitance.

https://img.tradingpost.com.au/RNSWLVQ7/C92NGJ/R2Y4-Boxed640x480.jpg

The Azure 351R doesn’t even have 5.1 preamp outputs, so you will not be able to add an external amplifier on this unit, should you choose to do this in the future. I have not heard the Azure and it may be nice, but it is going to be a "final buy" item. What you get with it is what you have forever. If you are looking for a short-height unit completely self-contained unit, it may be good. I would look for a double-height (normal height receiver) with a bigger power supply. Even if you don’t use the additional channels, a 125w x 7 would give you a bigger shared power supply to work with. This can be important if your speakers are hard to drive with a radical impedance curve.

Thanks for your input and clarifying that 4806 as power amp is just a stop gap and not a great option. Since seller has not shipped it, I’ll cancel the transaction instead of reselling 4806 to avoid hassles.

I’m not sure if I need power amp at all and happened to go that route based on this transaction as seller was offering pre-pro, power amp combo deal. Since I never had separates before, I did not know if this was right setup and thanks for all clarification. So, in the future I’ll buy separate power amp as opposed to stop gap solution.

I’ll take time to think about revamping my home theater with good warmer sounding power amp such as B&K or purchasing audiophile quality AV receiver such as Anthem 300(which I just auditioned used one today locally and it seemed to sound great but still has only one hdmi output ), Cambridge Audio 651r is available online for great price as well.

Moreover, I already have Sherwood R972 which sounds great but doesn’t have bell and whistles like Denon 4520ci like even basic HDMI CEC and has only 1 HDMI output but trinnov is fantastic.

I agree with willland in the fact that you should sell the 4806 and put that toward a beefy amp (you can even look into a 5 channel amp). 

Yes, you could use the 4520CI + 4806 in the scenario that the original owner did.  Sounds like he had the 4806 originally and then bought a newer 4520CI and didn't want to spend the money on a better amp, so he used the 4806 as a stopgap.  However, it is far from the optimal way to use it.  As you mentioned, there are no direct amp inputs on a receiver.  You will use the 7.1 analog inputs and you must use the volume control on the 4806.  This means that the signal is going through the entire preamp section of the 4806.  If you are using the 4806 now, there are a few things I would suggest:

- reset the 4806 to factory defaults:  first press and hold RC SETUP button for at least 3 seconds, then press the 9, 8, 1 buttons (9 -> 8  -> 1).

- use PURE DIRECT mode (Press the PURE DIRECT button to select the PURE DIRECT mode)

- use DIRECT mode (Press the DIRECT/STEREO button to select the DIRECT mode).

- disable Room EQ (hit the ROOM EQ button until it shows as "OFF")

- turn up the volume on the 4806 to "0.0 db".  It's best to have the preamp at full level and these circuits typically work best when doing full signal level when being used as an amp pre-driver.

It is still not the best solution.  Like we said, I would try selling the 4806 and then put the money towards a stand-alone amp.  You can get a really nice 5-channel that sits in at around 75-100 lbs.  It will be significantly more performance than anything the 4806 will produce.

If you do choose to think about this, let us know what you would want to budget for this amp and we can start giving you ideas or recommendations.  A couple things come to mind.  Emotiva XPA-5, there's one on ebay for $749.  There's a B&K Reference 200.5 here on audiogon for $999 if you want something warmer.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm buying 4520CI + 4806 as combo offer as the previous owner used it that way and mentioned that 4806 amp sounded better than running it off from 4520CI. So, previous owner usage was 4520CI as pre-pro and 4806 as amp and I wanted to continue doing so as well.

The real question here is using 4520CI as pre-amp and 4806 as power amp is actually valid set up or not as 4806 doesn't have separate power amp inputs as NAD T773 and this means I have to use 7.1 analog input in 4806 which means volume control is involved in both receivers which is confusing