Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I just purchased this item and am thrilled with the difference in sound when compared with my older Onkyo TX SR705 or even my Yamaha RX-V1400. A few months ago I was just looking for better sound and tried to join forces by using the pre-amp from my Onkyo with the stronger Yamaha amplifier. There was some improvement, however I still felt the need for an upgrade. My wife just shaked her head and said another one of those black boxes for your collection, my justification: it is Christmas time darling.
After reading a large number of reviews even from different countries, I came down to Onkyo's TX-NR808 and this model. For sure Onkyo provides a great value for the money, mainly once prices start dropping, however after reading multiple reviews I had the impression that Denon's AVR-991/3311 would deliver the warmer and more detailed soundstage that I was looking for.
Denon's Audyssey setup was a breeze, menus are nice and easy to understand. It was the first time ever that I haven't had to adjust the settings after auto calibration, neither YPAO nor the older Audyssey on my Onkyo could deliver such an accurate calibration.
Once calibrated I turned on Pandora and my jaw dropped, I didn't know my B&W speakers and Velodyne subwoofer could deliver such crisp clear highs, and thight and precise lows, they always sounded great, but this was like if I had just installed a brand new HT system all together, I never thought this new Denon would make such a difference. My friends were always impressed with the sound in my HT, but this is awesome, it fills the room with incredible precision remaining pleasant even when playing loud or during movies action scenes.
My family room is large wiht high ceilings and open to the kitchen, this receiver can easily fill the room, it almost gets too loud at 0db reference volume. The front speakers seat appart at about 60 degrees from each other, after setup was like if they came closer together. I no longer feel any need for additional wide or high speakers, which I was evaluating before my unit arrived. I was even looking for a larger subwoofer, but after concluding my Denon's setup, both projects were dropped.
The dynamic volume and dynamic EQ come as excellent add ons, it would be worth to replace an older receiver just because of those features. It doesn't matter anymore at what volume we watch our movies or listen to our music, it is always pleasant and like a good wine, full bodied.
Once I started testing first BluRays it was unbealievable how natural and clear the voices were coming out of the center speaker, almost like if the actors were in our room, no longer that boxy sound from the center, all became more spatial / 3D. The level of detail is just amazing, when watching Knight Rider I could hear many surprising details in the back stage, the scene in the bank was so real,like it it was happening right in my room. Many sounds that I haven't heard before and didn't even knew they existed were suddenly very noticeable. The 3 dimensional and dynamic sound between front center and rear speakers makes you imerse even deeper into the movies. Once I tried my old Matrix DVD, the first I ever bought, it almost looked like BD, with the sound quality at a couple of notches up when compared with my older receivers. You need to re-adjust the settings on your BD player and TV in order get the best out of it.
In the past I was never much of a Denon fan because it used to be very user unfriendly and pricing wouldn't justify the difference that I could hear or see. Onkyo still has a more intuitive interface but once you understand Denon's logic it is fairly simple to accomplish your tasks, some minor things I still find odd, like you cannot choose all different sorround or effect modes by simply scrolling through without accessing Denon's menu to makethe changes (i.e Pro-Logic Music/Movie/Game).
The only little problem I had during setup was the updating process, some error message popped up at the very end, after the system re-tried updating several times I just followed the instructions to re-set the unit. After reseting the update was quickly completed, had to re-run Audyssey though, but nothing that you won't do better and faster the second time.
This is the first product review that I ever wrote and am just doing it because this product really exceeded my expectations. The sound, image and build quality you get from a Denon is like they define themselves, for discriminating folks, it is definately worth every penny. If for you quality comes before features I would higly recommend it. Happy 100th aniversary Denon.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Denon AVR-991 7.2-Channel Networking Multi-Source/Multi-Zone A/V Home Theater Receiver with HDMI 1.4a supporting 1080p and 3D (Black)
The new AVR-991 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-991 packs a punch with 7-channels of onboard amplification producing 1120-watts of total power (160 per channel @ 6-ohms) 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". For video connectivity, the AVR-991 is equipped with HDMI 1.4a Repeating technology with 3D pass through capability 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 AVR-991 boasts a number of Audyssey technologies. Audyssey DXS processing (Dynamic Surround Expansion) adds front height and/or width channels to expand the soundstage. 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.
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