Denon X3600h - Issues with 11.1 and Surround Back speakers

Thoradin

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Hi all, hoping someone here can help!!

I've recently unboxed and setup my new X3600h and run through the setup.

I've got it setup as 11.1 :

2 Fronts + Center using Pre-amp connections and going to poweramp.
2 Surrounds
2 Surround Backs
4 Height speaks
1 Sub

Running though the setup assistant telling it I have more than 9 speakers it configures fine but test tones do no come out of the Surround back speaks at all, dead. All of the rest of the speakers are fine though.

Doing the same with thing (not changing any connections on the back of the amp) and telling it I only have 9 speakers (I miss out on 2 of the height speakers) then I get sound through the surround back... (though obviously not through the 2 overhead speaks I've told it to ignore).

I've tried various things:

Unpluging speakers in 11.1 mode and testing the surround backs in the surround sockets, that works.
Firmware updates (I'm now on the latest)
Factory reset

Its as if the receiver is turning off the amp for the surround backs...

As far as I can see theres no settings I've missed. Its not just the initial setup that has the issue. Ignoring it and doing in manually later yeilds the same result.

I've had a search but can't find any obvious similarities with anything posted (though I might be blind :p)

Anyone have any ideas?
 
I think it only has 9 channels of amplification so you will need a power amp for the backs:
AVR-X3600H (denon.com)

AFAIK there is no amp-assign function on the 3600.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Yup I have a poweramp connected and the x3600h has the feature that allows either the 2 Fronts or 2 of the height speakers to be serviced via the the preamp connections rather than amp to speakers directly.

I'm using the option for the fronts (and center) as I have a decent 3 channel pre-amp.

Though it almost seems like the amp is turning off the surround backs rather than the 2 fronts (will have to test that...).
 
Go into the main setup menu - Manual Setup - Amp Assign and then select 11.1ch.

Then make sure the Floor Layout is 5ch & SB.

Then down to Height and set Height Sp to 4

For Layout choose which ones you want - Front Height/Rear Height etc etc.

Pre-Out - Set to Front

See if that sorts it.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Yup thats what the Setup assistant comes out with when I run through and configure 11.1.

Just to test, did a reset, skipped through all the Setup assistant, manually set the above then tried a test tone (speaker level white noise). Same result, no sound through either surround back's...
 
Hi,

Yup thats what the Setup assistant comes out with when I run through and configure 11.1.

Just to test, did a reset, skipped through all the Setup assistant, manually set the above then tried a test tone (speaker level white noise). Same result, no sound through either surround back's...

That does seem a bit strange. Are you using the internal test tones in the channel level menu or something else?
 
Just to check. Go into Manual Setup - Speaker Config. and check that they're all in there and enabled.
 
Yup, they are all enabled.

I'm using the test tone in Speakers->Manual Setup->Levels->Test Tone to check speaker output (outside of Setup Assistant).
20201123_153237.jpg
20201123_153256.jpg
 
All seems ok there so it's definitely a bit odd they're not working.

Have you tried the Audyssey Setup to see what results you get when that is done?
 
Yeah, Audyssey tries the test tones from all the speakers, gets nothing from the Surround backs so excludes them.

Its weird... I've seen a few youtube vids on this and I'm doing nothing different.

It doesn't seem to be an issue with the cables / speakers / sockets on the amp as that works in different config. So its not something drastically wrong with the hardware.

I originally thought it was a firmware issue, something like its disabling the wrong amp channels stead of disabling the 2 front channels like I'm telling it. But that can't be right if its not hitting other people?
 
Yeah, Audyssey tries the test tones from all the speakers, gets nothing from the Surround backs so excludes them.

Its weird... I've seen a few youtube vids on this and I'm doing nothing different.

It doesn't seem to be an issue with the cables / speakers / sockets on the amp as that works in different config. So its not something drastically wrong with the hardware.

I originally thought it was a firmware issue, something like its disabling the wrong amp channels stead of disabling the 2 front channels like I'm telling it. But that can't be right if its not hitting other people?

I guess there's the possibility it's got a fault somewhere. One last thing to double-check. In the Audyssey Setup menu go to the Amp Assign and check all is ok. Then go down to Channel Select to make sure it's set to include them all.
 
No luck there either. It tries to use them during the Audyssey setup but then gets no output from them.

Thanks for the ideas though!
 
No luck there either. It tries to use them during the Audyssey setup but then gets no output from them.

Thanks for the ideas though!

It's definitely a bit of a strange one. There is a way to completely restore the original factory firmware rather than just reset it. Wonder if that's worth trying?
 
I've got a ticket logged with Denon, hoping they can shed some light on this...

One thing I found a bit weird was that when I set the amp up for 9.1 (ignoring 2 of the height channels) I was getting a relay click from the amp when it went to the first rear surround speaker and then another relay click once it started on the first height speaker.

It did that consistently during the Audyssey setup, though it seems fine in normal operation (as far as I can tell I'm getting sound from all the channels it configures (9.1))
 
I've got a ticket logged with Denon, hoping they can shed some light on this...

One thing I found a bit weird was that when I set the amp up for 9.1 (ignoring 2 of the height channels) I was getting a relay click from the amp when it went to the first rear surround speaker and then another relay click once it started on the first height speaker.

It did that consistently during the Audyssey setup, though it seems fine in normal operation (as far as I can tell I'm getting sound from all the channels it configures (9.1))

My current Marantz does the same when running Audyssey. So did my previous Marantz. It should also click the relays when set to 11.1 so maybe that's the issue? It's not switching when required.
 

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