AV Receiver Reviews

Denon AVR-X5200W Atmos-Enabled AV Receiver Test Bench

Two channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.1% distortion at 166.7 watts
1% distortion at 182.0 watts

Five channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.1% distortion at 112.5 watts
1% distortion at 125.3 watts

Seven channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads:
0.1% distortion at 78.9 watts
1% distortion at 94.9 watts

Analog frequency response in Pure Direct mode:
–0.04 dB at 10 Hz
–0.00 dB at 20 Hz
–0.23 dB at 20 kHz
–3.69 dB at 50 kHz.

Analog frequency response with signal processing:
–0.76 dB at 10 Hz
–0.22 dB at 20 Hz
–0.41 dB at 20 kHz
–60.27 dB at 50 kHz.

1114denonrec.meas.jpg

This graph shows that the AVR-X5200W’s left channel, from CD input to speaker output with two channels driving 8-ohm loads, reaches 0.1% distortion at 166.7 watts and 1% distortion at 182.0 watts. Into 4 ohms, the amplifier reaches 0.1% distortion at 213.5 watts and 1% distortion at 240.8 watts.

There was no multichannel input to measure. THD+N from the CD input to the speaker output was less than 0.006% at 1 kHz when driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load. Crosstalk at 1 kHz driving 2.83 volts into an 8-ohm load was –92.40 dB left to right and –97.35 dB right to left. The signal-to-noise ratio with an 8-ohm load from 10 Hz to 24 kHz with “A” weighting was –107.83 dBrA.

1114denonrec.vidmeas.jpg

From the Dolby Digital input to the loudspeaker output, the left channel measures –0.02 dB at 20 Hz and –0.28 dB at 20 kHz. The center channel measures –0.01 dB at 20 Hz and –0.17 dB at 20 kHz, and the left surround channel measures –0.01 dB at 20 Hz and –0.17 dB at 20 kHz. From the Dolby Digital input to the line-level output, the LFE channel is +0.01 dB at 20 Hz when referenced to the level at 40 Hz and reaches the upper 3-dB down point at 118 Hz and the upper 6-dB down point at 121 Hz.—MJP

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COMMENTS
Rob Sabin's picture
Submitted by Rob Sabin on November 21, 2014 - 9:46am
Dan frequently mentions his reference speakers in other reviews,and he may have discussed them in the "Atmos Here" article that accompanies this review. These are a no longer available set of Energy Veritas stand monitors that offer an exceptionally even tonal balance with (I seem to recall) just a tiny bit of high end sparkle that helps bring out ambient detail. Coincidenally, (or not so coincidentally) Tom Norton's reference speakers are Energy Veritas towers of the same generation.
dlaloum's picture
Submitted by dlaloum on November 23, 2014 - 3:41am

My major question is whether this AVR (like most) downsamples audio to 48kHz when applying room EQ?
I keep hoping that manufacturers will put the necessary horsepower in these to allow Room EQ with Hires Audio formats (without downsampling!)
thanks

ptcolombo's picture
Submitted by ptcolombo on December 2, 2014 - 8:07am

I have the little brother to this, the AVR-X2100W. One of the specific reasons I got it was it was one of the few AV's out there that handles Sirius/XM. To my disappointment, it doesn't seem to be able to play Sirius for more than about 30-60 minutes without freezing up (got it to go 2 hrs once). Did you find this in your testing, Dan? Denon has been useless in addressing this and I check for firmware weekly. I don't seem to be alone in this problem looking at some of the forums. Perhaps you can affect some change using your journalistic platform if you saw the same.

jdesan's picture
Submitted by jdesan on December 30, 2014 - 3:20am

Well it appears " Atmos" is the next Format to be shoved down our throats. I love great sound and have a Moderate HT setup. But my hearing has suffered and it's all I can do to get a pleasing sound with a 7.1 setup. I have hearing aids ( read expensive ) and they are absolutely horrible for Music. ( read no fidelity ) I have no interest in Atmos. Just another gimmick to keep the Dollars rolling in. As far as the Review, I think way too much is written about how each Album or song sounds. Nobody is going to have that same setup. Stick with the Specs.

twiseman2's picture
Submitted by twiseman2 on May 7, 2015 - 2:20pm

I'm seriously looking at upgrading my current AVR-4306 series Receiver with this model. One of the primary drivers is that my receiver will not pass through my Media Server HDMI and Blue-Ray 3D signals, making switching inputs a real nuisance, as my projector only has an input selector that cannot be hard coded (just changes from 1, to 2 to 3 and back to 1). Has anyone tested this receiver with a PC Media Server and Blue-Ray 3D player? My guess is that it will work with the latter, but not sure about the former. I would think my 4306 would have worked with a PC, too! Appreciate any information on this.

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