Hi,

I wanted a home theater amp that would make movies sound powerfull, and i wouldn't wonder "how would it sound with more power???" and it accomplishes that task hands down!
But IMO, the strong point of this beast is sound quality in pure direct mode, this amp would eat most of the AV receivers out there when it comes to music!
the expression "they don't make em like they used to" applies perfectly for this monster.
Maybe the newer mid range HD receivers would outperform it when it comes to digital sound for movies, etc.
But for pure power the A1SE delivers seriously! Just by lookng at it and picking it up, you realize how serious Denon was to have the best TOTR receiver out there at the time.

Was very happy with this amp until it started to fail on different speakers (front ,centre,rear,sub) took the amp in be fixed ,was told it is unable to be fixed as Denon dont make the parts that have broken down.So I have a great amp the is no good any more .Not happy. Anyone else had any problems ?

Easy to set up and plenty of grunt when you need it.

Not enough coaxial inputs and ouputs.

I spent about 12 months looking around, asking lots of questions and reading many many reviews before I bought this amp. I was after an amp with Dolby Digital and, if possible, THX. All the sales people said that any amplifier in the $4,000 plus range would easily meet the THX standard even if it wasn't certified by Lucas Film. But the difference is, the amplifiers that aren't certified don't have the THX circuitry built into them. (You can tell the difference when you are in THX mode which is basically a sound stage enhancement circuit, also videos and especially DVD's that are THX certified sound vastly superior to standard ones).

Just before I bought this amplifier I read an article on the net which really describes this amp. It went something like this, "Yes I agree with all the other reviewers. Denon could have spent a little more time on the stereo side of the amp, but hey, who buys an amplifier like this to listen to stereo. This is a BIG amplifier for the BIG movies and it scores 10 out of 10 all the way".

I totally agree with this review. The stereo side of the system isn't great, but then again it's not bad either. I only use a few of the DSP's, namely; Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround, 5 Channel Stereo and Direct. The other modes don't interest me so I can't really comment on them. One tip with the 5 Channel Stereo mode, make sure that at least your front surround speakers are set to large, preferably the rears as well, otherwise the sound will be very flat and lifeless with very little or no bass at all.

This amplifier has loads of grunt. It easily drives my two pairs of NHT 2.5i's (front and rear surrounds), the NHT Audio Centre 2 and the M&K subwoofer. The NHT speakers are considered fairly inefficient at 6 ohms and 86 db but the AVC-A1 didn't miss a beat when I hooked them up recently. The only thing I noticed was that I had to increase the volumn by about 6 db to compensate for the lower efficiency and changing from the small to the large speaker setting.

This is an awesome amplifier and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an integrated amp in the $4,000 to $5,000 price range. They are a bit old now and you can pick them up for lot less if you shop around.

P.S. You can get a DTS chip upgrade for the amp, so if you are thinking of buying the newer model with both DD & DTS, it might work out cheaper buying this one and upgrading it.

SOUND, this thing has power, I use it to drive a set of MK 750 THX speakers. When first set up and played with this thing shocked the socks off me. I run it with a projector, and I can no longer justify going to the cinema.

BIG. HEAVY (though this could be a strength given it is essentially burglar proof) crazy cabling, but fun. Biggest issue I have with it is detecting the sound, and having the centre channel sound sweet. It used to, then something unknown has caused the dolby modes to sound muffled. This though is something I can probably fix

This this is huge, big sound, I run it in a warehouse with a projector and MK 750 THX speakers. Its mad. The scene in Rules of Engamement with the machine gun fire practically resulted in the police turning up at our house.

The remote is good, though takes a bit of fiddling, make sure YOU SAVE your settings implicitly as I lost a few versions before I realised, the cabling at the back is not intuitive, but not impossible either. As an engi it was a lot of fun.

The manual is brief, very brief, and I am currently in the process of trouble shoosting my muffled sound now, I am sure it will be easily resolved.

Its loud, and crisp, with great speakers CD's sound amazing, movies sound better then ANY cinema I have attended due to the close personal sound field. Nice one

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Bose Lifestyle system

A bit fiddly to connect the speaker cables, making the ports big enough on all connections to be able to use banana plugs would make life much easier. Manual confusing at first. Supplied remote is a nice touch but is poor in comparison with the Pronto.

This is a great system for watching movies & really makes itself indispensable when watching movies with es or ex soundtracks. I spent a large ammount of time testing various systems but then managed to arrange for a TXH approved engineer to demo the unit connected up to my B&W speaker system I bought it on the spot along with the two extra speakers.

Superb sound stage and detail.Ability to hear intricate detail of all sources

Price. You need to rob a bank to afford it

I have enjoyed this product for quite awhile and look forward to the next offering from Denon.Currently use aDenon 2500 DVD player and find the picture superb also.This is on a Phillips Rear projection TV 120 cm

After long deliberation (it IS pretty expensive) i bought this 24 KG monster (don't put it on a small shelve), and i am very very pleased with it's performance. I chose this model in stead of the AVC-A1D which has DTS, because i do not have a DTS source, and it's not really a standard. Since it is the 'old' model you can get a good discount! It has several digital connections (optical and coaxial), 5 * 140 Watt output (enough to blow up a small living room), on screen configutation menus, a very nice remote (with learning functions), stylish looks and it sounds superb. It has several (about 9) digital sound processing options, one of the nicest is 5 channel stereo. Play your favorite CD with a subwoofer connected and you get a extremely powerful sound which will amaze you. Or use the "Stadium" setting while watching football or baseball.
The dolby digital performance is extremely good, just make sure you use quality cabling (Monster, IXOS) to connect everything. Good cabling really makes a difference with such a powerful machine.
Best Audio purchase i made sofar.

Good DD sound

Stereo sound. Expensive.

I have been using my AVC-A1 for more than a year. About 20% of the time is for watching DVDs and 80% is listening CDs. The DD sound (THX5.1 mode) is awesome. The bass output through my Energy ES-8 sub-woofer is stuning. It offers two modes for playing CD music - direct and stereo. The stereo mode is not good whereas the direct mode is OK if you have a good CD player.

Sound (Stereo & D/Digital, build, looks.

Remote Control not in keeping with the quality of the amp considering the price

Dont expect this amp to sound good out of the box because it dont! give it 50 hours or so to settle in and then the fun starts. As a home theatre amp it will amaze, but it dont stop there, partner it with sonus faber Concertino's,
and a musical sub (i chose Rel) you will be rewarded with Stereo Sound that easily rivals so called HiFi exotica.

Expensive it may be, but you get a whole lot of amp for your money, and with the advent of DVD Audio it can only get better.

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Most high end AV products.

There's a big amp for big sound

Little complicated to use, must be an engineer to really
Set it up and operate properly

There's a big amp for big sound, this is what best describes this amp. For your home cinema, this is the kind of thing you want. This baby is ready for some serious abuse of your speakers and neighbours, so hook up, get out those mean movies and enjoy.

Why do I give it 4 stars only ? Because it could be easier to use and a bit more intelligent in recognizing the kind f signal it is fed. Sometimes you have to fiddle around quite a bit to make the movie sound great.

Still, don't go for any of the small toys they want to sell you as surround amps. This one is BIG and it delivers.