Denon AVR-988 7.1-Channel Multizone Home Theater Receiver Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This was a strong performing receiver at $1200. Now it is an amazing value. Why?
Pros
1) Clean high current power- in the end, the most important thing. Strip away all the bells and whistles and "features" and listen to it. Many receivers brag about 100 watts of power and yet sound thin. Denon is known for amplifier quality. This Denon receiver was designed for the $1200 instead of the $500 price point and has the parts quality that reflects it (good power supply, shielding, and separate circuit boards for Digital, Analog Video and Analog Audio) The receiver has 110 watts for 7 channels and will drive your speakers for better bass and clarity.
2) 1080P Upconversion- there is two types of upconversion. In other words, what are you doing to a VCR or other analog video signal to make it HDMI? Some receivers "Transcode", which means they convert from regular composite video, S-Video, or Component video to HDMI. This is done for convenience. You get all of your sources on one HDMI cable going into the TV, but don't expect any improvement in video quality. The other way of conversion is called upconversion or "scaling." Now you are taking a 480i signal and converting it to 1080i or 1080P. The quality of that process varies widely. Some upconverters make the image look horrible. Some only upconvert to 1080i. Denon uses a Faroudja FLi2310 video processor that provides video scaling up to 1080p resolution. On other words, it makes your old stuff look good. Not as good as true HD source material, but it is a significant improvement.
3) Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio- decodes them both.
4) Multi-Zone/Multi-Source: Use 5 of the channels for home theater and the 2 other channels to power a second zone (like speakers for an outdoor deck) with a different source. So you can watch movies in the family room and still have a CD playing outside. The second zone can be fed from the coax digital or optical digital input (rather than only analog), something that many other multi-source receivers can't do.
5) Auto Setup: Many people buy a receiver and never bother to set it up to compensate for their room and speakers. I prefer to set up a receiver manually for inputs, speaker size and distance and it can make a huge difference in sound quality. Denon makes setup easy. Once you plug in the microphone, the receiver automatically detects and enters in auto-setup mode. The Audyssey Multi EQ XT can be setup for 8 favorite listening setups...you can calibrate it for a couple watching movies vs a group watching a football game. There is a large difference among auto EQs, and Audyssey does a good job.
6) Auto Lipsync- Have you noticed the image not match up with the sound? Rather than put up with that movie experience, the Denon receiver will allow you to correct for the delays between the video and audio processing.
7) Shh...don't tell anyone, but this receiver is very, very close in performance to Denon's AVR 2808. Just less expensive!
8) Yes, it even still has a phono input.
9) Music restorer- Playing an iPod? Use this to make compressed audio sources sound less worse.
Drawback
Although it will convert other inputs to HDMI, it only has two HDMI inputs. For those who want more HDMI inputs, add a HDMI switcher box. One of the best reviewed ones is the Oppo. It works with Tivo, Comcast cable boxes, and with Denon receivers.
OPPO HM-31 Certified HDMI 1.3 and 1080p Switch

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A/V Multi Source/Zone Receiver

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Denon AVR-1908 A/V Dolby Digital Surround Receiver w/ HDMI Switching Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)After doing some research, I decided on the Denon 1908 because it had most of the state-of-the-art features of higher priced receivers, and I wanted to stay in the ball park of $1000 for both receiver and speakers. For the speakers I bought Harman Kardon HKTS-18 5.1 Channel Speaker System (which are amazing for their price!).
Setting up the receiver does take some effort. I fell into a few traps, and had a friend who is knowledgeable in home theaters come over and help me. Here are some things to watch out for:
(*) While it does have an HDMI out, it does not up-convert other inputs to HDMI. Simply put, the only signals which can be output through the HDMI out are those which are INPUT through HDMI connections on the receiver. It will not, for instance, take a component signal and output through HDMI. Thus, you must hook up all of the TYPES of connections from receiver to TV that you have INPUT types for. If you have HDMI inputs, you need to hook up the HDMI output to the HDTV. In addition, if you have component inputs, you must hook up the component output from receiver to HDTV. BOTH, of course, can be hooked up at the same time. Note that this also requires changing the TV input separately if going form component to HDMI inputs (a small hassle, and those with intelligent remotes can set this up to be transparent to them).
(*) The set-up screen will NOT output over the HDMI line! So, even if you are going to purely use HDMI connections throughout your system, you still need to hook up the component or S-Video out to HDTV to do set-up.
(*) Auto and Manual Setup must BOTH be done to get best results. The auto-setup is used to have the receiver determine best output levels for all speakers via a 6-point process of setting up a microphone (supplied!) at various location. BE sure to have a tripod during this operation (the microphone has a tripod connector on the bottom). The Manual Setup is used for other stuff. For example, one must set the speaker 'size' here (small or large, the difference being large speakers do BOTH bass and treble, small speakers dedicated to treble, as in most 5.1 speaker packages). But, most important, it is in the Manual setup you must TURN ON any self-powered bass speaker. This is also where the system can be setup to have all bass output dedicated to the bass speaker (leaving the other speakers to do what THEY do best!). Moral is, do BOTH the auto and manual setups.
(*) There are two remotes supplied. The MAIN remote has a 'hidden' feature. That is, if you turn it over, there is a door you can open up to another set of remote buttons, and these are the ones used for setup. At first one can think one was sent the wrong remote when looking at illustrations in the setup manual, but it turns out these are just the buttons 'hidden' on the BACK of the remote.
All in all, once you get it setup, this receiver is awesome! If I had a complaint it would be that the main remote could have more input selection buttons on the front (it has six, but one can hook up many more than six external components). Also, the names on these buttons do not reflect some of my components (e.g., I have a PS-3 hooked up via HDMI, but there is no 'game' input button on the remote). But one can assign any input to any button, so this is a VERY minor complaint.
The sound is great, and I'm VERY pleased with this receiver! :)


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Denon AVR-5803 - AV receiver - 7.1 channel - black Review

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(More customer reviews)Possibly the best A/V Receiver on the market (although recently succeeded by the AVR 5805, which seems to have more amp channels than a reasonable person could use). One problem, however, is Denon Link compatability (a proprietary digital connection that only works with other high grade Denon equipment). The Denon Link is now available in three different forms, series 1, 2 and 3. If you have an AVR 5803 with the series 1 Denon Link and have a Denon DVD player that also has such a link, you want to make sure that they are of the same series or they may not be compatable. Denon offers free upgrades of these links, but that entails your retuning your component to them and waiting several weeks to get it back. This is sort of inconvenient if you have to send your receiver away for a month or so, since your A/V system needs a receiver (or pre-amp and amplifiers) to work. If you have a spare receiver sitting around that is OK, otherwise it is a pain.

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Denon AVR3310CI 7.1-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The AVR 3310CI is loaded with nice features. Excellent sound quality, inputs for just about anything, and decent menus for setting up and using the receiver. The amplifiers give a very good quality sound, not as good as my MacIntosch system but not bad for the money. Construction is good and it runs fairly cool being it is in a somewhat enclosed area. Technical support is good in that there is little wait time when calling.
Now for the bad. I have now gone through 3 AVR 3310CI receivers trying to get one that works. I believe that most if not all of the issues I have are due to firmware problems as the hardware seems to work just fine. I would try to update the firmware but there are even problems with this function as it takes forever (many hours) and most of the time it will abort or hang in the middle of the download/update process so you have to try and try again. My first unit eventually got into a hang state in that it couldn't update the firmware and as a result the receiver just kept on trying with no success. During this time the other functions were not available. According to Denon there was no over the phone fix for this problem and suggested I either return it to the store and send it in for repair but that I am responsible for the shipping costs.
My second (and as of Saturday my 3rd unit) has two out-of-the-box issues. First is when connecting to Internet radio I get a "Please Wait" window. Sometimes this hangs the system and sometimes I can recover from it. On my recently installed unit this past weekend I immediately got this message and waited 15 minutes or longer and still no resolution. I turned off/on the unit and after a while the message went away and I was able to use the Internet function.
The second problem is when selecting the setup menu button. The menu comes up fine but within 5 seconds it starts to go dimmer and dimmer and to the point that you cannot see the menu on the TV screen anymore. This occurred with units number 2 and 3. I am afraid to do a firmware update due to the many problems that I had with the first unit and I was told that others had the same problem (even Denon admits to this and recommended to me NOT to perform updates).
I have spent many hours on the phone with the Denon Techies and they say to just send the unit back and they will repair it. However, I have to pay for the shipping costs (estimated at $50). I refuse do this on out-of-the-box problems. These are design problems and not normal failures.
So at this point in time I'm considering switching to a different model number and hope that it has a more stable design.
One other area is in regards to the search and general navigating capabilities on the Internet. Given the price of the AVR 3310CI this function could be a lot more sophisticated as the current function is pretty basic.

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The AVR-3310CI is a technological tour de force, designed for consumers wanting to network their AV system. Ethernet connectivity opens up your AV system to host of exciting capabilities like audio and jpeg photo streaming and Internet radio. Additionally, subscription music services like Rhapsody and Napster are supported. The AVR3310CI packs a punch with 7-channels of onboard amplification producing 840-watts of total power (120 per channel). The amplifiers can be assigned for 7.1 channel surround sound, or a 5.1 channel system in the 'main" room and power a pair of speakers in a second 'zone". This only scratches the surface of the AVR3310CI Multi-zone (3) / multi-source (3) capability. Enhanced power amp assign features, second and third zone programming feature allow the AVR3310 to be the hub of a sophisticated whole house system. For video connectivity, the AVR3310CI is equipped with 1080p compatible HDMI 1.3a Repeating technology, delivering both audio and video to your HDTV with single HDMI cable. This HDMI connectivity supports the latest generation surround sound formats available on Blu-ray disc, including Dolby TrueHD and DD+, dts-HD and dts-HR. Also included is Dolby Laboratories new Pro Logic IIz Matrix decoding featuring front height effects channels that expands front soundstage. The AVR3310CI boasts a number of Audyssey technologies. Advanced Audyssey MultEQ analyzes a speaker systems interaction with room acoustics, and then delivers custom tailored correction processing to optimize clarity and tonal balance throughout the listening space. Audyssey Dynamic Volume is an automatic volume-leveling system that tracks audio dynamics to eliminate the irritating volume swings between TV shows and commercials. Audyssey Dynamic EQ is also on board to ensure rich bass and smooth tonal balance at low volume listening levels.

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Denon AVR1610 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver with 1080p HDMI Connectivity Review

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(More customer reviews)Based on a sub-$400 budget, I focused on this and the Yamaha 465. In researching it, a toss-up really emerged and the decision was made in talking to a very knowledgeable guy at Crutchfield. Having set it up last night and having played with it the better part of today, I am very content with my purchase. I fired up some Blu Ray's with both PCM and DTS-MA/ True HD and was very pleased with the upgrade over standard DD/DTS. The soundstage was just bigger. The opening scene from my kids favorite movie, Cars, was no longer weak. The opening race scene was clear and appropriately loud. The bump on my stars comes from the fact that the manual is awful. I gave up on it early on and went with the trial and error approach with the on-screen menu, which is more than adequate, but you need to have a basic tech sense in order to take that route. On another set-up note, the microphone setup is well done and made a big difference in the sound generated from my SS speakers, before versus after.

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The Denon AVR-1610 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver - Performance, technology and affordability are the hallmarks of the AVR-1610. A powerful 5 channel x 75W amplifier section delivers detail and dynamics to music and movie soundtracks. It's equipped with 1080p compatible HDMI 1.3a Repeating technology, delivering both audio and video to your HDTV with single HDMI cable. This HDMI connectivity supports the latest generation surround sound formats available on Blu-ray disc, including Dolby TrueHD and DD+, dts-HD and dts-HR. Also included is Dolby Laboratories new Pro Logic IIz Matrix decoding featuring front height effects channels that expands front soundstage. The AVR1610 boast a number of Audyssey technologies. Advanced Audyssey MultEQ analyzes a speaker systems interaction with room acoustics, and then delivers custom tailored correction processing to optimize clarity and tonal balance throughout the listening space. Audyssey Dynamic Volume is an automatic volume-leveling system that tracks audio dynamics to eliminate the irritating volume swings between TV shows and commercials. Audyssey Dynamic EQ is also on board to ensure rich bass and smooth tonal balance at low volume listening levels. In addition to enhanced HDMI 1.3 repeating (3 in, 1 out), the AVR1610 features component video switching (2 in, 1 out), analog to HDMI conversion (480i to 480p) and seven analog inputs. A front-panel audio/video input allows quick and easy connection of camcorders and game systems. System setup is simplified by a new, enhanced icon-based on-screen display that is delivered over HDMI. System expansion is available with optional accessories. For media networking, use the optional ASD-3N and ASD-3W. For iPod connectivity, use the ASD-3N/3W, as well as the ASD-11. When connecting iPod and other MP3 players, the AVR-1610 features Denon's exclusive Compressed Audio Restorer to improve sound quality and dynamics.

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Denon AVR-3311CI 7.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver with HDMI 1.4a (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)Having listened to mid-range receivers from most of the major brands, I liked the sound of the Denons the best..a bit warmer than the Onkyos, which is better for music. The Pioneers sounded nice, but lacked Audyssey (using the proprietary MACC instead). Marantz sounded great but aren't as fully featured as comparably priced Denons.
I wanted a receiver that's up-to-date with all of the latest surround sound formats and is relatively future proof, since I don't plan to upgrade again for several years. The 3311 seemed to fit the bill perfectly and I'm very happy with my purchase so far. The sound quality is great. I thought that my old Onkyo sounded pretty good, but this surpasses it by far. Audyssey MultiEQ XT does an excellent job at tailoring the equalization to compensate for the acoustical flaws in the room. I've never had a system that sounds so balanced, detailed and immersive. There's plenty of power to drive most speakers (even my inefficient Polk RTiA7's) to their potential. I was initially concerned about the reduced weight of the newer Denon mid-range receivers compared to older models, but this concern seems to be mostly unfounded, as the performance and adequate power speaks for itself. Pre-outs are included to allow for the addition of external amps, if desired. Last year's models apparently suffered from networking problems. Fortunately, these issues seem to have been resolved in the 3311 and the network features have worked flawlessly so far. By the way, the upcoming model AVR-991 is priced $200 lower and is basically the same as the 3311, except it has no pre-outs, a couple less inputs, one less zone and one remote instead of two.
To me, this unit (or the 991) is the sweet spot in the new Denon line as far as performance, features and value. It's reasonably priced, being $300 less than last year's 3310, yet has more features and probably better sound, due to the upgrade to the "XT" version of MultiEQ. It'll cost a lot more to step up to the next higher model (4311?) and, based on comments I've read, the difference in sound quality is likely to be marginal at best. The 3311 comes with a 3 year warranty (the AVR-991 warranty is only 2 yrs).
Based on my experience with this receiver so far, I'd definitely buy it again and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a friend. Tip: try to get it on sale. I got mine for 25% off list price despite being a newly released model.

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The Denon AVR-3311CI 7.2 Channel A/V Receiver: Premium Technology and Performance gets Networked. The new AVR-3311CI is a technological tour de force, designed for consumers wanting to network their AV system. It's also one the first to come equipped with HDMI 1.4a connectivity, including 3D pass-through (Broadcast and Blu-ray), along with Audio Return Channel. Ethernet connectivity opens up your AV system to host of exciting capabilities like audio and jpeg photo streaming via as well as hundreds of Internet radio stations. Pandora is supported along with subscription music services like Rhapsody and Napster. Flickr photo streaming is also featured. The AVR-3311CI packs a punch with 7-channels of onboard amplification producing 875-watts of total power (125 per channel) delivering detail and dynamics to music and movie soundtracks. The amplifiers can be assigned for 7.2 channel surround sound, or a 5.2 channel system in the 'main" room and power a pair of speakers in a second 'zone". This only scratches the surface of the AVR-3311CI Multi-zone (3)/multi-source (3) capability. Enhanced power amp assign features, second and third zone programming feature allow the AVR-3311CI to be the hub of a sophisticated whole house system. For video connectivity, the AVR-3311CI is equipped with 1080p and 3D (all formats) compatible HDMI 1.4a Repeating technology, delivering both audio and video to your HDTV with single HDMI cable. This HDMI connectivity supports the latest generation surround sound formats available on Blu-ray disc, including Dolby TrueHD and DD+, dts-HD and dts-HR. Also included is Dolby Laboratories new Pro Logic IIz Matrix decoding featuring front height effects channels that expands front soundstage.

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Denon AVR-391 5.1 Channel AV Home Theater Receiver with HDMI 1.4a (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Denon AVR 391 does not have a lot of bells and whistles, but if you are looking for a high quality receiver at a reasonable price, you could do a lot worse. This unit has four HDMI ports on the back...and that's about it. It doesn't have any component hookups. It has a few composite connections for audio and video. It also has a few digital audio connections (coaxial and optical). It does not upconvert analog video to 1080p. If you can live without a few of these features you will likely be impressed with what you do get. It decodes pretty much all of the current HD audio codecs. Blu-ray movies look and sound phenomenal through this receiver. I have my PS3 and Xbox360 hooked up to it and my games sound incredible. I even have my Wii's audio passing through this receiver and it sounds good too. I'm not really in to 3D, but this receiver supports HDMI 1.4a, so if you've got a 3D compatible player and TV you're good to go. Generally speaking, it's very simple to hook up and operate. It does not have on screen menus, but configuring the speakers is pretty easy using the units display (it all has to be done manually). The remote isn't great, but it's not bad either. It's fairly intuitive and easy to read. It's not backlit or anything like that. It'll control your iPod via a Denon dock though (which actually does have an on screen menu, but it's not much to look at). If you're just interested in getting the basics (audio and video), then this receiver is a good way to go, especially if all of your components are HDMI.

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Packed with great features that assures a superb 5.1-channel surround sound experience, the Denon AVR-391 supports Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding and it includes the latest HDMI 1.4a technology, which provides for 3D pass-through capabilities to your HDTV (broadcast and Blu-ray). It also features Dolby Pro Logic IIz, a technology that adds a vertical dimension at the front for a more exciting surround sound experience.

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