Denon 4k receiver recommendation (1 Viewer)

[Osato]

I have an older denon avr 2112 receiver from 2012 or so. I upgraded to 4k last year but held off on upgrading my receiver. I since purchased an Apple 4k tv and I would like to now upgrade.

I looked at some newer denon receivers (650 and 750) earlier this year. I also considered the 540 but the reviews were not good for that model.
I have a 5.1 setup so really I just need the receiver to do 4k video and audio pass through. It doesn’t have to be the latest model or even new for that matter.

I would like to stay around the $200-$300 mark.

I would appreciate any recommendations for denon receivers that would fit my criteria.


I’ve looked on eBay a bit and I try to watch sales too.

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[Todd Erwin]

$400-$500 is more realistic, unfortunately.

Best Buy has the AVR-S650H for $399.99 - 5.2 channels, DV & HDR10 support, eARC, 5x HDMI inputs. New 2019 model. Amazon does not seem to carry this model. This would be the model I would recommend, the S750H if you can go an extra $100.

Otherwise, you are looking at entry-level units like the Denon AVR-S540BT ($279.99), Sony STR-DH590 ($279.99), Yamaha RX-V385BL ($279.99), or Onkyo TX-SR593 ($249.99).

I think you may have missed the clearance time by a few months, as the 2019's are just about sold out and no longer going at clearance prices because the 2020's have now been delayed due to importing restrictions related to COVID-19. Supply and demand.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

You can also get some good deals on discontinued and refurbished models at Accessories4Less.com :

www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/avreceiver/home-audio/receivers-amps/home-theater-receivers/1.html?brand_f[]=DENON

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah, A4L is probably your best way to go. Don't buy the bottom model. You can get the S650H at A4L for $320.

 

[Robert_Zohn]

I love Denon's new AVR-S960H for $649 all in and delivered. It's Denon't latest 8K HDMI 2.1 capable 7.2 Dolby Atmos/DTS:X receiver. Here's the .pdf spec sheet.

 

[Osato]

I love Denon's new AVR-S960H for $649 all in and delivered. It's Denon't latest 8K HDMI 2.1 capable 7.2 Dolby Atmos/DTS:X receiver. Here's the .pdf spec sheet.

thanks Robert. I was hoping to stay in between $300- $400 for a 4k denon receiver.

mat this point I may wait until November or January. I’ve seen the 650 and 750 models both in that range.

are those 2 denon models continuing on or will they be replaced this year?

 

[Jim517]

I have the Denon 750 and I really like it. Bought it at Costco.

 

[Osato]

I have the Denon 750 and I really like it. Bought it at Costco.

I saw they had it back in stock online for a few days last week or so and then it disappeared again.

I looked in store as well.

 

[Jim517]

When I bought it it was online.

 

[Osato]

Bought mine today. The 750 at Costco. $80 off even though the flyer said it would be $50.
$320 plus taxes.
My saga ends... I hope!

Just have to get it set up when it arrives later this week.

Let me know if you have any setup tips.

I previously had a denon 2112c

 

[bocat]

I just bought the 750 and love it. Breeze to set up and I really like the HEOS app.
I updated from a Pioneer SC-71.

 

[Clinton McClure]

@Osato How do you like your Denon S750H receiver? I bought one this morning from Best Buy and will be picking it up after work. I'm upgrading from a 21 year old Yamaha RX-V995 so I'm sure there will be some definite shock value after setup.

 

[Osato]

@Osato How do you like your Denon S750H receiver? I bought one this morning from Best Buy and will be picking it up after work. I'm upgrading from a 21 year old Yamaha RX-V995 so I'm sure there will be some definite shock value after setup.

Yes! I love it. I’ve only done some minor adjusting with it after initial setup.

Let me know your thoughts when you get yours setup too!

 

[Clinton McClure]

I was able to remove my old receiver and amp this morning and connected the new Denon, but I didn’t even get to power it on before I got pulled away and probably won’t be able to get back to setup until tomorrow morning at the earliest, but probably next weekend. *sigh* So close, yet so far away.

 

[Osato]

I was able to remove my old receiver and amp this morning and connected the new Denon, but I didn’t even get to power it on before I got pulled away and probably won’t be able to get back to setup until tomorrow morning at the earliest, but probably next weekend. *sigh* So close, yet so far away.

Holidays are coming and hopefully you will have more time?

 

[Clinton McClure]

I got an hour of free time earlier today so I powered on the Denon and ran through the setup. This is my first go-round with Audyssey, or any room correction for that matter. I can’t tell if it made anything better or worse but I did have to go back and change the size of my mains from Large to Small, set the crossovers to 80Hz all the way around, and raise the LFE trim level from -12dB to 0dB.

I only had a brief window to test a disc so I put in my Star Trek 2009 Blu-ray and watched the opening scene where Nero’s ship attacks the Kelvin and the beginning of the scene where Uhura walks through the doors into the bar on Earth and the bass from the music kicks in. In the Nero / Kelvin scene, I was hearing subtle bridge noises I never noticed before and the ship to Starfleet HQ transmissions were audible and clear, whereas they were kind of garbled noise previously. Some of George Kirk’s lines, however, are now almost completely inaudible so Audyssey has done something weird in that frequency range. The explosions in that scene don’t have the forceful impact they did before either. In the Uhura bar scene, the bass from the music is deep and crisp but doesn’t give me that kick to the chest that I am used to. I have to turn the volume up to about 60% to get the same loudness that I was getting at 45% on my Yamaha + Anthem combo but the sound is cleaner, which I’m sure is a combination of newer, more efficient equipment and a lossless audio track.

When I get more free time, I’ll test out a few more discs and try listening with Audyssey turned off and see if it’s any better. If so, I’ll just leave it off and set the distance and trim levels manually for each speaker like I’ve been doing for the past 20+ years.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not unhappy with the Denon, I’m just not blown away like I hoped I would be but I’m sure I can tweak the sound and make it more to my liking.

 

[JohnRice]

I have to turn the volume up to about 60% to get the same loudness that I was getting at 45% on my Yamaha + Anthem combo

I really want to emphasize this. That means absolutely NOTHING. It is completely unimportant. It has nothing to do with anything that makes any difference. All that matters is it goes to 100 and you will never, EVER need to get anywhere near 100. So, don't give it a second though. In my systems, you can't hear anything at 45. They're quiet at 60. when I crank it up, I'm in the 75-80 range.

If it's really important to play back at a lower setting, I can tell you how to accomplish that, but there's no reason to do it.

Room correction almost always seems to set everything to Large. So, set it to small and go on. It sounds like your center channel may be too low.

 

[Osato]

I got an hour of free time earlier today so I powered on the Denon and ran through the setup. This is my first go-round with Audyssey, or any room correction for that matter. I can’t tell if it made anything better or worse but I did have to go back and change the size of my mains from Large to Small, set the crossovers to 80Hz all the way around, and raise the LFE trim level from -12dB to 0dB.

I only had a brief window to test a disc so I put in my Star Trek 2009 Blu-ray and watched the opening scene where Nero’s ship attacks the Kelvin and the beginning of the scene where Uhura walks through the doors into the bar on Earth and the bass from the music kicks in. In the Nero / Kelvin scene, I was hearing subtle bridge noises I never noticed before and the ship to Starfleet HQ transmissions were audible and clear, whereas they were kind of garbled noise previously. Some of George Kirk’s lines, however, are now almost completely inaudible so Audyssey has done something weird in that frequency range. The explosions in that scene don’t have the forceful impact they did before either. In the Uhura bar scene, the bass from the music is deep and crisp but doesn’t give me that kick to the chest that I am used to. I have to turn the volume up to about 60% to get the same loudness that I was getting at 45% on my Yamaha + Anthem combo but the sound is cleaner, which I’m sure is a combination of newer, more efficient equipment and a lossless audio track.

When I get more free time, I’ll test out a few more discs and try listening with Audyssey turned off and see if it’s any better. If so, I’ll just leave it off and set the distance and trim levels manually for each speaker like I’ve been doing for the past 20+ years.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not unhappy with the Denon, I’m just not blown away like I hoped I would be but I’m sure I can tweak the sound and make it more to my liking.

I’ve never been that impressed with the audessey mic setup. I know I should try it again this time as the receiver is newer but I didn’t even use it with setup this time. I did change the audio settings and did the manual equalizer settings.

I haven’t needed to this time but in the past I did turn up the center channel a bit too.

I haven’t done very much adjustment so far though.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I really want to emphasize this. That means absolutely NOTHING. It is completely unimportant. It has nothing to do with anything that makes any difference. All that matters is it goes to 100 and you will never, EVER need to get anywhere near 100. So, don't give it a second though. In my systems, you can't hear anything at 45. They're quiet at 60. when I crank it up, I'm in the 75-80 range.

If it's really important to play back at a lower setting, I can tell you how to accomplish that, but there's no reason to do it.

Room correction almost always seems to set everything to Large. So, set it to small and go on. It sounds like your center channel may be too low.

I’m going to bump the center channel a few dB and retest if I get time today. I also realize that, according to the spec sheets, I’m dealing with much less power than I was before (75 watts per channel on the Denon vs 170 watts per channel on the Anthem) so I have to turn the volume knob higher to get the same output (and we all know how accurate output power ratings are on the mfg spec sheets). That doesn’t bother me, I just pointed it out as a difference. If I was having to turn it up to 90%+, I would seriously be complaining about it.

Since I have a dedicated HT room now, I don’t have to worry about watching at lower volumes. The walls are pretty well insulated and the floor is carpet over concrete so LFE doesn’t travel too far. In our old house, the HT was also the living room which was against the master bedroom and the walls were thin and poorly insulated. Most of the time, I only had time to watch movies early on Saturday or Sunday mornings and I used headphones so it wouldn’t disturb my wife while she was sleeping. Now she’ll be upstairs and have no idea I’m watching the opening D-Day scene from Saving Private Ryan.

 

[JohnRice]

I also realize that, according to the spec sheets, I’m dealing with much less power than I was before (75 watts per channel on the Denon vs 170 watts per channel on the Anthem) so I have to turn the volume knob higher to get the same output

What I'm saying is it doesn't work that way. That's a remarkably common misconception. I'll explain it this way. An amplifier (whether it's in a receiver or external) does two things. These two things are referred to as "stages". Amplifiers have an input and output stage. These are also called the voltage and wattage stage. The input (voltage) stage applies gain, which is solely responsible for how loud the signal is. The output (wattage) stage provides watts, as in power. So, gain, which makes the signal "loud" and power (watts) are two completely separate and independent things. An amp can have high gain and low power, or lower gain and high power. In fact, manufacturers have been fleecing customer for decades by using high gain inputs stages, which is cheap and easy to do, to give customers the impression their amps are "powerful" when in fact they are quite weak. While gain is cheap to increase, power is expensive.

So, once again, the bottom line is, how loud a system plays at a given volume level has absolutely nothing to do with power.

In addition to that, you can go into the channel levels and turn them all of them up 10dB, and your playback volume will go down 10dB, You didn't suddenly get a more powerful amp. There are more variables than that, because the efficiency of speakers changes how much power you need, and works the same as increasing gain and power.