ALL THE FEATURES I NEED WITH PLENTY OF POWER.

OK, THE PREVIOUS REVIEWS ARE RIGHT -- THE REMOTE'S A LITTLE WEAK -- BUT NOT SO BAD COMPARED TO OTHERS IN IT'S CLASS (YAMAHA, SONY ES, ETC.)

THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT IN REVIEWS ON THIS NICE RECEIVER.

I AUDITIONED JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING IN THE $700 - $1000 PRICE RANGE AND CAME AWAY WITH THE DENON. WHY? THE 5-CH STEREO IS A GREAT FEATURE AND FRANKLY THE SOUND SEEMED MORE MUICAL THAN OTHERS I AUDITIONED AT A SIMILAR PRICE POINT.

I LISTEN TO FAR MORE MUSIC THAN HOME THEATRE APPLICATIONS AND THE DENON CLEARLY FIT MY NEEDS. I KNOW THE SOUND OF A GUITAR, VOCAL OR PIANO AND THAT'S THE TRUE TEST OF A RECEIVER, DUPLICATING THOSE SOUNDS WITH WHICH WE ARE CLEARLY FAMILIAR.

IT SUPPLIES ALL THE POWER I REALLY NEEDED BASED UPON THE SIZE OF THE ROOM AND MY LISTENING TASTES WITH A PRICE POINT THAT DIDN'T BREAK MY BUDGET.

THIS IS A VERY FINE RECEIVER.

Similar Products Used:

SONY ES RECEIVER

Great 5ch stereo, excellent sound.

remote could use some major improvement

This receiver is outstanding. I cannot believe how pure a sound it reproduces. My only complain is the remote, it can be frustrating. I had a cheap Technics for a while, and I'm glad that I can finally toss it out the window. I love the 5 ch stereo especially when I listen to my CD's. DVD's are a dream too. I watch the subway fight scene in the Matrix over and over just to hear those bullets fly by. I definitely recommend this unit to anyone. I paid 600 even for mine. I couldn't be happier with this purchase.

Clean sounding amp, adequate power for most systems, DD/DTS encoding, 5 channel Stereo, "RE-EQualization" feature, bang for the buck!
MADE IN JAPAN... not in China, Korea, Malaysia as in many other japanese branded receivers

Lack of Surround pre-out, few DSP modes (not too important to me though), remote was fine..but not as bad as some people described it, electronic control for volume/bass/treble

This is my current AV setup:

Denon AVR2800
Pioneer DVD626
Panasonic PV4690 S-VHS
Definitive Technology BP 2000
Definitive Technology CLR 2000
Definitive Technology BPX


Overall, I was overall quite pleased and impressed with this unit.
This unit offered a very clean & robust sounding amp, yet enough power to drive most systems (unless you like to listen to everything beyond the "deaf" level. A word of advice to new buyers into the HT market, if you want loud, don't just depend on the receiver to provide the power, getting a high sensitivity speaker as well as an adequately self-powered subwoofer will do wonders for your system.

Both this unit and the Marantz SR-7000 offered very competitive sound and features (Marantz sounded abit warmer then the denon... good for music, but may lack the punch in movies), but I was quite surprised to find out that the Marantz receivers were all built in China...surprisingly too, the Denon AVR-3300 is built in Korea. Build quality would be an issue for me, and the AVR-2800 got my vote as it is a Japanese product built in Japan... I know this may not be an issue to some, but I do not want to wait to find out down the road all the trouble I may face in this scenario of build quality. I also demo'ed the Yamaha 795/995 receiver and found that they supplied very impressive power but their sound quality was truely lacking... highs were too damn harsh, and the sound was too "digital" and not natural. The Pioneer Elite 24/26/27TX line was also on my list of things to choose from. THe unit offered an adequately powered mosfet amp with THX specs and decent sound output (was sometimes abit on the flat side), but the one thing that turned me away from the Elite line was the pricing. The cheapest unit was about $250 cdn more then the AVR2800.
The HK AVR500 units offered adequate options and power, but was abit on the pricey side as well.

The 5 channel stereo on the denon's and the marantz may be a strong option for many... supposedly greatly for karaoke as well, but I don't think it would be an option that I would be using much myself. The DD/DTS decoding is top knotch as with most mid to high end receivers. The AVR-2800 also offers an option called RE-EQ ("re-equalization") which is very much akin to the THX process where movies which have very high "treble" output will be re-equalized/toned down to be properly matched with the front L/R speakers. You also get your standard DSP modes (Matrix/mono movie/dance/rock/video game), direct, and stereo.

I have also found that the AVR-2800 auto detection for DD/DTS signals is second to none. It is very fast and efficient. I have noticed on some other brands where there is usually some lag time before the receiver is able to detect the proper DD/DTS signals to startup with, and on some movies, it may affect the beginning portion and would be quite bothersome.

Those of us who live in Canada will have trouble finding most current higher end AV products at a substantial discount. However, I was able to get my hands on this until for $988 cdn locally, as opposed to the $1399 cdn retail price that most stores have it tagged for.

My gripe with this unit is the use of electronic control (rather then motorized/knob control) for the Volume,bass,treble makes slight adjustments for these parameters quite difficult. The lack of surround pre-outs may be bothersome to those who intend to use external amps to drive their system. Also for those people who like receivers with ten thousand different DSP settings will find the AVR2800 lacking in that department (I don't care for too many DSP modes though)..

The remote control on this unit may be confusing to some initially because of the placement and the number of buttons on this unit. However, once I played around with it for a little bit, it was actually quite simple and intuitive to use. Its not the best remote out there, but it does the job quite adequately.

Overall, I think most consumers will be very happy with the AVR-2800 once they get over the minor issues with this unit.
After all, some other brands offer products with ten thousand and one bells and whistles, but it always comes down to sound quality in the end and thats where the Denon AVR-2800 excels in, at this price range.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer Elite 26/27TX, Marantz SR5000/7000, HK AVR 500, Denon AVR3300, Sony STRDB930/ES333/ES555, Yamaha 795/995

Clear and detailed surroundsound

In Stereo mode the sound is too harsh. The treble is bright and metallic

I auditioned this unit for a couple of days and was a bit disappointed by it. The unit looks great and quality feel is good too. I expected the stereo sound to be better than my 5 year old Denon PMA-915R amp, and I was let down. Treble was harsh and metallic though detailed, and imaging and soundstage was mediocre. Now you might say this is what to expect from a surround receiver, but I don't think that's reasonable considering the cost ($840 here). Dolby Digital and DTS performance was what I expected. Detailed and clear.I auditioned the NAD T760 too and found it to be incredible as stereo amp, and just as good as the AVR-2800 at surround sound.

Equipment:
CD-player: Denon DCD-1015 connected with Audioquest Turqoise
DVD: Denon DVD-2500 and NAD T550

Front speakers: Dali 450 biwired with Audioquest Crystal 2
cables.
Center speaker: Dali SC7
Rear speakers: Dali 202
Center and rear speakers were connected with Tara Labs Klara SC cables.

Similar Products Used:

NAD T760

Clean sound, 5 channel stereo mode

No A/B speaker switching, not able to directly select surround mode from remote

I purchased this unit as a demo from BrandsMart for about $400. I use it primarily for music and have it hooked up to 2 Cerwin Vega RE 30s and a Denon DCM-560. It sounds clean and warm and does not become harsh when the volume is turned up ala some other comparable receivers eg Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo when paired with the C Vegas.

As this is an older model 2800 there is no A/B speaker switch despite there being an extra set of posts. Believe Denon engineers intended this unit exclusively for bi-amping.

The remote can take a little while to figure out but once you get the hang of it it becomes second nature. There is however no way to directly select the surround mode from the remote and you will have to scroll through the settings to select the one you want.

Onscreen setup is a little clunky but understandable. Note that you can only do this via the remote so if you loose it good luck...

Overall I like the sound of this receiver quite a lot ; its warm and clear without being bright with no hint of harshness and excellent stereo imaging. As I'm using large speakers (10" woofer) I have not noticed a lack of bass as with other reviewers and would recommend this product despite it's limitations.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha, Sony, Onkyo

Sound, Build

Speaker connectors, Remote

I picked up a demo model since the AVR 2801 is out now.
Functions flawlessly so far and sounds great in all modes.
5 channel stereo is really good. I'm driving Mirage FRX7s
with them and the match is excellent. The Yamaha RX-V480
made the mirages sound a tad weak on midrange and gave a
little boominess on some frequencies. The Denon drives
these speakers perfectly at all volumes and the music and
cinema sounds are always pleasant and powerful at the same
time.

Downsides are that the remote is complex, setup is complex,
the manual tuner is only on the remote and the speaker
banana plug connectors are plastic and inconvenient.

I would strongly recommend this "warm" sounding receiver
with any good full range "warm to neutral" sounding
speakers.

As a note, before buying it, I compared it with the
Marantz SR7000, some pioneer elites, Sony ES, Yamaha RXV-995 etc. The Sony ES and the Pioneer elites fought
each other for the last place sounding the worst.

The denon quality of build is great and the front panel
is pretty well designed - simple and gives full functionality.


and associated ranges of product

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V480

DDS, DTS, 5-channel stereo

Difficult remote

The sound quality and solid construction are what made my decision to buy this unit. There was absolutely no camparison to the JVC 884 it replaced. I originally went shopping for new front speakers, but one of the many salesman I talked to recommended I try a different receiver first. Compared the Denon and the Marantz SR7000. The sound from the Marantz was richer, not to mention the superior remote. The main reasons I went with the Denon, besides the excellent sound quality, was the price ($200 cheaper) and the fact that the Marantz did not have an A/B switch for my outside speakers.
With the Denon, the separation of sound from my Infinity fronts was awesome. This receiver brought out crisper sounds from both my DVD and CD I thought unobtainable from my current speakers. Plus the depth of sound from my sub was unbelievable. I actually have to turn the SW sound below midpoint or it will absolutely overpower everything else.
The remote is rather cheesy, but workable. It has learned every component I own, but the constant switching of slider buttons is irritating. The learning function is nice and the ability to program sequenced commands does alleviate some of the tedious switching.
I bought this from Sound Approach (authorized dealer) for $629 delivered in March. Great company and excellent customer service and delivery. Highly recommend both the receiver and company
My componenets are as follows:
Denon 2800 receiver
Denon 460 CD
JVC VCR and 32" TV
Sony satelite and B-50 receiver
Toshiba 2109 DVD
Audioquest Turquoise interconnects
Audioquest S2 video
Audioquest Type 4 speaker cable

Similar Products Used:

JVC 884, Marantz SR7000

clear and warm musical sound, 5-ch stereo,
flexible input configuration, very low noise of the amp
24-bit/96khz DAC, sensitive tuner, good value

5-ch stereo does not work with 24bit/96khz signal,
poor faceplate and remote ergonomics
cannot tune to radio stations without remote

5-ch stereo is addictive. I prefer the brighter sound of Yamaha and would go with 995 except it did not have this feature nor the 24/96 signal handling. Yamaha was also much easier to operate (controls, display etc) and its enhanced Dolby pro-logic works better than Denon's prologic mode with TV and satelite programming.

The 2800 amp is so quiet in the direct mode that you can detect its noise only when listening a few inches from the speakers with the full power on (and no input signal of course). The DSP modes are not that quiet. I found Sony much worse in this area (they seem to tweak their product specs to look better on paper than they really are).

According to the manual, 2800 unlike other Denon models (3300,4800) does not support the 5-ch stereo with the 24-bit/96khz digital stereo signal. It might not be a big deal now but many DVD players on market already support this format and who knows how the mainstream audio technology will actually evolve.

The faceplate and controls in this and other Denon receivers are exceptionally poorly designed. For exmple, you cannot tune to a radio station without the remote in one hand and the receiver manual in the other.

Similar Products Used:

sony es333, yamaha 795a/995/1105, pioneer elite 24/26, onkyo 777

5 Channel Stereo, Dolby Prologic mode

Lack of Bass

I have had this receive for three months and think it is great. The 5 channel stereo is fantastic.I'm not sure I would even enjoy regular stereo after listening to this receiver. I also love how the Dolby Pro logic Mode breads up the sound when watching a DVD movie. If anyone is thinking about not getting this receiver because it doesn't have a bunch of fancy modes, don't worry about it. You will only use 5 channel stereo and Dolby Pro logic anyway. My 13 year old loves watching DVD movies in the 5 channel mode. That is not the way DVDs should be listened to but it does sound really neat. I don't have a problem with the remote or the manual. In fact my 15 year old son, loves the remote. He uses it to control all the equimpment we have. The one item that I was disappointed in was the bass. I wish it would allow you to lower the bass more. If anyone has any thoughts on that, let me know. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Low THD, clean sound, 5-channel stereo

Retro-remote, display information, manual

Good stuff: Very strong amplifier section. If good clean sound is what you want, stay away from SONY (the company that put the scratches back in....). From surround wattage, to dynamic range to strong DSP circuitry, this receiver does a nice job. Backplane includes SVHS and some switching but it's been a study to get it all to work.

Needs Improvement: As John mentioned below...does anyone at Denon do usability testing? Of course not. The only HF people I know of work at RCA/Thompson group...take a look at their remotes sometime. Since engineers don't like and aren't trained in human-device interaction, I don't expect ANY respect for the way features are represented in this device and I was not disappointed. Features are mixed up across controls, representation is different from remote to front panel, sliders (yep, they're back) are used to enable component control (and those will last how long?), labeling was probably done by the 'new guy' with the CAD station. It's a hoot! I've kinda mastered some of it, but I've told the kids not to touch anything (which is a crying shame). Mostly, I try to set it and leave it along.

The manual is, likewise, a disaster. Written proof that writing down all the control names does not a manual make. Most of the juicy stuff seems to be in the 'notes' like some hidden treasure. Note to Customer Ed: Take the 'notes,' write a manual around those and politely dismiss all references to controls. Once again, they patronizing miscalculate the intelligence and motivations of their audience.

In sum, I like the sound but running the sethurts my tired brain. I'm going to give it some stars but wish I had more categories with which to rate. So, in keeping with my own selfishness, here they are:

Amps - 5 stars (value for the money)
Tuner - 4 stars (integrate the AM antenna)
Power - 5 stars (value again)
Cabling Flexibility - 4 stars (most of it's there)
Features - 4 stars (I like the tape monitor loop, nice work)
User interface - 2 stars (how did they do it? simple and difficult at the same time?)
Remote - 0 stars (Ready, aim, pullllll (plink...)

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STR-DE 935 (from household item to doorstop in easy step)