Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I have used this reciever constantly for 8years with no failures, or any other problems at all. It has been in my dedicated listening room for the entire time. I now have it connected to a PS3, and Pioneer LX70a BLU-RAY player. The Pioneer is linked via 7.1 output and the PS3 via an HDMI to 7.1 converter from Lektropacks. Although the LX70a is deffinately a more serious piece of AV kit, the PS3 with the downloaded upgrades to the audio processing does a very good job with BLU-RAYS, so all that is left is for the 3801 to relay the decoded audio to the amp circuits and on to the speakers. Simple really. I should mention that 4 years ago i bought a SONY STR DA 1200 ES because it had the now universal HDMI input. But after 2 weeks use i removed it and replaced my 3801! I still believe you would have to spend a hell of alot more than the £900 i paid in 2001 for this reciever to get any real world improvements on audio reproduction, but still would need some sort of converter or a player with analogue audio outs to take advantage of the new HD audio formats.

Price Paid:  $900.00 from 6th ave electronics,

Summary:
Everthing is awesome about this receiver. I did major research on this before buying. I love all the settings- even has 7.1(THX) without the expense.

Strengths:
Sound quality, many settings, build quality, denon demands respect from all who know the name.

Weaknesses:
Remote- but who the heck cares. In this day and age anybody running a home theater uses a programble single remote. Let's not get stuck on a moot point.

Price Paid:  $380.00 from Ebay

Summary:
I love this receiver & totally recommend it to everyone. You can find the 3801 in very good to excellent condition with a remote & manual for between $380- $475 with shipping on Ebay & I totally recommend you purchase one from a seller who has numerous positive feedback in the USA. If you have a Universal Remote you can sell the Denon Remote for $35- 50 on Ebay. Anyway, as I said, I love this receiver. I have my CD player, DVD player's audio & digital box/DVR attached to it (I have my component cables from my DVD & HD/DVR straight into my HD TV. The sound is awesome. I actually prefer with the equipment I have now to use optical cables in it for the best sound. I know this is heresy to say, but for CD's, I listen in the all 5 channel & sub stereo mode which outputs the left & right front & back output without reprocessing the signal, the sub & the center channel is a combo of the left & right output. This gives my CDs much more depth. if you're sceptical, try it. Anyway, this receiver is a bargain & it gives great sound which you can play in 5.1 or 7.1 modes for DVDs & TV. The only thing lacking & it wasn't a problem for me whatsoever is there is no built in microphone to set DB levels & EQ's. As you can do this yourself within 2 hours or so & fine tune as necessary, I think its worth saving $1,000 & not buying a newer Denon Receiver with this feature.

Strengths:
Great sound Easy to Use The Price The All 5 channel & sub Natural sound mode for playng CDs, the tones Just great!

Weaknesses:
Doesn't have built in microphone to set DB & Equilization levels- you can do this yourself, big deal!

Price Paid:  $1400.00 from Hifiteam Voorburg

Summary:
Well,

I have used this product now for a few years. It is a fine product, with some strong but also some weak points.

First of all the HT performace is what you get. Loads of power, adequate steering and smooth on high volumes.
It does all valid formats, and has worked flawlessly. It has no fan, so no background noise. It even dos not get very warm

The manual is written by someone who wrote a manual for the first time. It has no structure and because of this things are hard to understand.

The remote plainly sucks, but I won a Pronto anyway.

The OSD is easy to understand. Thats a plus, so you do not need that manual.

The ablolute weakness is its Stereo performance. The sound is flat, has no detail and most of all the bass is muddy. Do not use the tone controls. Thats even worse. Using the 5.1 input is better then the CD input. It seems to be more direct than the CD input. Even when you use the direct mode.

Now for the good news, I heard both the 3802 and the 3803. Amazingly their stereo performance is no better, I rate even the 3802 as worse.

Problem is that a 500 Euro Rotel RA-02 trashes the 3801. On the entry level speakers like JMlabs chorus it was very audible.

Strengths:
All relevant sound formats
7 channel amps
pre-outs for all channels
Good build quality

Weaknesses:
Stereo performance not acceptable
Remote is bad
Manual even worse

Similar Products Used:
Rotel RSX-965

Price Paid:  $999.00 from Krish AV

Summary:
I bought the unit in May 2001,well the sound was miles ahead of my previous prologic technics receiver. Clean continious power. dd,dts & the various flavours ommisions of 7.1. The units has perfomed flawlessly since may 01.
Set up of this receiver was extremely straightforward and easy, the only problem i seem to experience is components in/out dont seem to work,but it does not bother me. DTS Neo cinema matrix is on equal par with PL II

Strengths:
Excellent build,perfomance & good values for money

Weaknesses:
hate the remote,manual is completely misleading,only one coaxial and optical inputs.

Similar Products Used:
Technics Receiver and dd processor