flynavy

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.20 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $200.00 from Ebay

Summary:
Had a couple of average quality AV units from Pioneer and Onkyo, but my best Pioneer crapped the right channel a month ago so I started shopping. Found this on Ebay and the price was so good I couldn't pass it up. I finally got all the speakers hooked up and all inputs filled. (both satellite TV and Digital Cable, DVD, VCR, and 2 CD players). This thing rocks! Runs my Infinity fronts and Bose rears with fantastic clarity! I have a low end sub that I was thinking of upgrading, but I'll wait to see what it does with this Denon. I shopped for others at Best Buy and CC, but never heard anything close to this one for the money. It retailed for 1200 new, so I was psyched to get it for under 200. the remote is a little user unfriendly, but thats a small price to pay for the fantastic denon sound. Bottom line is you can't overload this thing, its a workhorse, I have every input plugged with something and it cranks fantastic sound from them all. I only gave it a 4 for value becaue I don't think I would have dropped 1200 bucks for it new.

Strengths:
Variety of inputs clear bass and highs

Weaknesses:
its a stretch to call the remote a weakness, but thats all I have as a weakness

Similar Products Used:
Pioneer, Onkyo

morgansklee

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $700.00 from Off E-Bay

Summary:
I purchased this product off e-bay about 5 years ago and couldn't be happier. Although I'm not much of a movie watcher, I use this receiver primarily for music and video games. Very crisp sound and a decent amount of base. I used to own Infinity SM-125s and the sound was ok but the speakers were just too big and required too much power for the receiver. So I decided to upgrade to a better brand of speakers that required a little less power. In my opinion, for the money, Monitor Audio's are the best speakers on the market. I have the silver 6's for my front and center channel and a B&W 12 inch sub that blows the roof off my apartment. My rears are kinda weak however, Advents. When I get some money I'll definitely upgrade to M.A. rears to go along with the rest of my system. The only trouble I've ever had with the receiver was completely my fault. Like a dumb ass I once plugged a space heater into one of the power outlets in the back of the unit. Not surprisingly it quickly blew a fuse. But I was able to replace it with no problem. I highly recommend this unit to anyone who appreciates crisp sound and nice base with no distortion.

Strengths:
Crisp clean sound Nice bass No distortion

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Monitor Audio Silver Six Fronts Monitor Audio Silver Six Center Advent Rears B&W 12inch Sub

Price Paid:  $1200.00 from American TV

Summary:
Was rated at the time (1996) as one of the best 'bang for the buck' DD receivers. It was solid but not spectacular, ending last weekend (1/3/04) with a bang (and flame and smoke) as it repeatedly clipped trying to play a SACD (Stones - Out of Our Heads) with the Volume at -20 (if you have this receiver, you know this is not that loud) eventually culminating in a bolt of lightning coming out of the back and lots of smoke. It is now a boat anchor. I will not be purchasing Denon products again (DVD-2000 crapped out 2 months ago, just up and stopped working)

Strengths:
Decent set of features/options for the time/price

Weaknesses:
Receiver blew up trying to play a SACD at -20 volume! Volume control on remote ultra slow. Incompatible with other Denon products! (DVD 3000 does not work with it) Poor build quality (across their entire line)

Similar Products Used:
Carver Marantz Outlaw

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Good Guys

Summary:
I was trying to build a good surround sound system. One day I visited electronic stores, I tested their system in a sound room. I had listen a lot of systems. I was satisfied with this Denon Model AVR-3200 get a long with Energy Speakers. So I built my system the way I like it. Even since I have this system, I've never like any other systems. it just can't compare.

Strengths:
Clean and true sound. and especially for the action movie seems like I was in movie theater. For music are good as well.

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Kenwood

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Ebay auction

Summary:
I think the reviews reflecting confusion over set-up must have come from people who weren't used to using AV receivers. I didn't have any trouble at all, but was used to working menus/on screen displays from my Sherwood.

The quality of bass sent to the sub is much better than my old Sherwood, and there's plenty of 20-20 power to all channels. No fudged specs here.

My situation was this - I had a DVD player that decodes DTS and DD, and wanted a generally better quality of prologic decoding and power, plus the 5 channel stereo I've heard so much about. I use the 6 channel direct inputs and have separate monoblocks to amplify the mains.

I haven't been disappointed in the least. A terrific product on the used market if you don't care about DPLII and have a DVD player that decodes DTS.

This receiver won't be embarrassed on a high-end equipment rack. A nice product. The tuner works fine for me with a set of TV rabbitears (ok, the rabbitears are a little embarrassed on the equipment rack, but what the hell...)

btw: If I lost DTS alltogether it wouldn't ruin my day. Exotic formats are BS (SACD, DVDA, DTS). But Hell Freezes Over by the Eagles makes it worthwhile to have DTS.

My value rating is based on the used market price <$400.

Strengths:
Simple straightforward AV receiver - plenty of power and heavily constructed.

Weaknesses:
None that I didn't know of going in.

Similar Products Used:
Sherwood RVD 9090R. Teac Prologic receiver.