rohan4

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $630.00 from Sevenoaks

Summary:
I bought the player, not for it's DVD qualities, but for the SACD and DVD Audio reproduction. I was always aware that the CD side was considered poor, but I had a Arcam CD73, so this was not a problem.
Unlike the reviews, I found the CD side superb. Far more lifelike than the 'over posh sounding' Arcam. This was soon sold on Ebay.
Over the years, The 2500 never failed me as a player. It always sounded true.
Now that I have added Sonus Faber Gauneri Homage's to my set up and still using the incredible NVA Integrated Statement amplifier, I thouht it prudent to 'upgrade' my CD player and purchased the highly rated Arcam FMJ.
Not to discredit the Arcam, which sounds great... but still to posh for its own good - the Denon, as a CD player still holds its own.
The DVD-Audio and SACD have always be exceptional; the DVD Video always superb and now I can confirm, regardless of the reviews, the CD player is pretty fab as well.
I have seen it on ebay for £150.00 - for the love of god, this superb piece of kit is only the price of 'modest' interconnects.
Buy it - enjoy what SACD and DVDA's are on the market and while you are doing so, remind yourself that what you are listening to is possibly the best sound you are likely to get from a front end.

Strengths:
Picture quality (although it predates HDMI)
DVDA
SACD
CD playback
Well made and looks incredible.

Weaknesses:
Transpot on DVDA makes an audible noise, but over the years I have discovered that many others do as well.
Reviews of the CD player put people off... they are missing out on something wonderful.

Similar Products Used:
Arcam CD73
Arcam FMJ

Price Paid:  $1000.00

Summary:
First of all, I've been kinda surprised to see the average price in dollars that most of you paid for this DVD player. More then two years ago I bought my DVD player at the same time as my Denon AVC-1AD amplifier, B&W speakers... but I paid about 1000 euro's for it ! But compared to the other components it was still rather "less expensive". Nonetheless, I am extremely satisfied with the quality, both image and sound. At one time I had 3 DVD's that weren't accepted by the player so I went back to the store. They sent it back to the factory and after two weeks it was fixed for free. (and my warranty was expired) The DVD player plays all DVD's without any problem, even 'problem' DVD's that other DVD players won't play.

Strengths:
good audio quality , good picture quality, never any problems when playing DVD's

Weaknesses:
no support for CD-R's

Price Paid:  $199.00 from AAFES

Summary:
After reading some of the negative reviews from previous owners I was a little hesitant to purchase the unit. But for the amount of money I couldn't pass it up. I actually bought it for a second bedroom system but ended up loving it so much I replaced my main system player.

Never a picture problem yet. No skipping.

I was compelled to write this because the previous reviewer had so many bad things to say. Be careful when purchasing from the Bad eh I mean "Good Guys" I have read countless audio horror stories from people purchasing from them.

Denon makes quality products. As with every type company there are problem components.

Making "overinflated" ratings in this great audio review column screws it up for everybody.

Strengths:
Everything.

Weaknesses:
Nothing....yet. Ya never know!

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic

Price Paid:  $650.00 from The Good Guys

Summary:
It seems to be a moot point to do review this product now that it's no longer manufactured but my experience with this product has been less than stellar and I want to share this with you in case anyone is reading.

I bought this unit in 1999 and exactly 31 days after I bought it, it started to screw up about an hour into almost every DVD played. I bought it back to the Good Guys and wanted a replacement, but since it was a whole day out of their 30 day return policy, they said I had to turn it in for warranty service.

If this ever happens again, I am going to demand a replacement.

This ticked me off enough as it was since I was now the owner of a $650 refurbished unit (they replaced the pick-up assembly).

Here it is, late 2001 and after playing maybe 50 movies if that many, it now won't accept any discs without inserting them over and over and over again until the unit recognizes it. Otherwise it reports that "this type of disc can not be played. Please insert a disc of the correct format...."

So I brought it to the Good Guys for repair. They said the pick-up assembly needs to be replaced for $319!

THREE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN DOLLARS!!! I can buy a much better player than this one ever was for that much now! AND they are replacing the SAME part they replaced before!

So not only am I stuck with a piece of garbage, I have to buy another player.

And all this wouldn't be any better with an extended warranty as they are usually $50-$100 per year and here it is two years later anyway so for about $200 or so of extended warranty, I'd only be saving about $100 so it's not even worth it either way!

So no more Denon products for me. I am definitely writing to the company and speaking my mind about the quality of their "cash and trash" products.

Strengths:
Decent functions, easy to use

Weaknesses:
Lemon laws don't apply to Denon DVD players

Similar Products Used:
None......YET!

Price Paid:  $600.00 from Home Theater Store

Summary:
I have been extremely disappointed with this player. The three stars are because it seemed great for the first 2 months and because this isn't entirely the player's fault.

While I understand that more expensive players do exist I did expect this one to play movies completely through. I had problems from the beginning and being my first DVD player I wasn't sure what to expect. I spoke with the dealer (yes they are authorized) 3 times and they refused to believe it was the player. After a year of dealing skipping movies and finally movies that wouldn't play at all I had it looked at. It was repaired for $200 by a supposed to be authorized company (recomended by dealer) and still had problems. Now two years into it and a HUGE struggle with Denon and the shop that I bought it from they are supposed to be sending my a 2800 replacement. I believe this has been a rare case but the customer service has been horrible and I would not purchase another Denon product. I can only hope that the 2800 will live up to Denon's reputation and that my AVR3300 (purchased at the same time) will last longer than it's warantee. Perhaps this is generally a good player, but mine was a bad apple.

Strengths:
Great sound quality compared to the first generation pioneer CD player that I am accustomed to. Picture looked great on my mitsu 50" HD ready

Weaknesses:
Extremely suceptable to scratched DVDs would only work for a short periods of time before stopping play all together.

Similar Products Used:
none