Not sure of the exact model year, I bought it In 2000 as a high school graduation gift to myself. I still have it, and it works as well as it did the first day I plugged it in. I have moved a few times since then. There is nothing I do for entertainment that i don't turn this on. Every time i played PS2, PS3, and now PS4, I had the receiver on, Its been on for every movie I have watched and on for when my wife has her cleaning day. I still have the Sony surround sound speakers I bought for it the same exact day. (2 speakers of which recently finally gave out). There's no doubt in my mind of whether I'd buy another Denon or not. It's just a matter of when. I'm super pumped at the thought of being able to give this to my my son as one of his high school graduation gifts. Then I will have an excuse with the wife to be able to purchase and up to date model.

I purchased the AVR-1601 back in 2002 refurbished off of ubid.com. The unit has been very reliable over the years. The only issue is that after the warranty ran out, I started to use all of the auxiliary inputs and found that the video input for the VCR does not work(probably refurbished incorrectly). No matter, the unit still has plenty of room to handle my DVD player, PS3, PS2, and Wii. The sound has always blown Bose enthusiasts away when they visit my house. I try and tell them , "all highs, all lows, it must be Bose", and they never believe me until they hear the Star Wars Episode 1 race scene. [ The Infiniti dedicated subwoofer helps.] I will be upgrading soon to take advantage of HDMI and the sound of the new DTS modes BD provides. BTW, any DVD with DTS sounds incredible on this receiver. It may be a lower model, but the clarity was revolutionary for this price. I know there are many better units on the market now than my AVR-1601, and I will skip over all of them to buy another Denon product.

Thanks to this review site, I picked up my 1601 2 years ago on Ebay for $150.00 plus shipping. Fantastic investment. I bought a TEAC at a big boxr store a few months earlier for a lot more money. The difference is astounding. With the Denon, all music I play sounds live, whether it is a CD, DVD, or MP3 at 192 kbs. I pick up sounds that I only heard before in high end headphones -- like the sound of Jimmy Page plugging in his amp.

I am NOT an audiophile, but I do notice a difference between my Denon and almost anything else I listen to. I bought this unit for my bedroom surround system, and it blows the TEAC I have in the family room away. I am going to buy another Denon for the family room and give the TEAC away.

I use Klipsch THX speakers for the surround, center and sub woofer, and they put out a very smooth, full range sound. My dog went wild when one of the tracks I played had a cat in it.

I know this unit is old, but it is a good one that will probably last a long time.

Sound

Soldering problem, apparently widespread (= quality control).

Had the soldering resistor problem as the unit would switched back to stand-by after turning on. Ultimate knew of the problem and fixed it without charge. Unit is great sounding. Beats the other brands at this price range even with the slight problem.

Good for movies and stereo

UNRELIABLE

This unit quit on me 10 Days after the 2 year warranty expired. It's a good receiver I liked it, but I would not recomend anyone buy it due to how many people have had the same problem. Avoid it. Spend the extra for a newer model.

OK.. i just want to let everyone know about these failiures on the 1601 model... i got this thing like over 1 year ago.. and the same thing happened to me. One day i turned it on and then it shut off and go back into standby.. i took it to the denon warranty shop and they fixed it..(this thing failed 3 months after i bought it) anyways.. the problem IS a Half watt Resistor for the power supply.. nothing big.. anyone could change it with a bit of soldering experience.. anyways.. it seems that almost all the 1601 models have this faulty Resistor, and they will die on u sooner or later.. i hope for u ppl that are still under warranty that it will fry while the warranty is still good, cuz this is the only problem ive ever heard with this denon.. overall its a great receiver

Simple to set up, user friendly surround modes, not a lot of extra junk that is confusing and never gets used.

It fried after nine months; remote is poorly laid out, as well as ugly and multicolored, and does not have universal capability to control other common components. Does not have Pro Logic II.

I really liked the unit and thought it was a perfect entry level piece. However, it gave up the ghost after nine months of use. It would turn on and then immediately power off. I returned it to HiFi Buys, where they credited me full purchase price towards an upgraded unit. i asked about teh reliability of this model, and the salesman said he had seen numerous returns on this model, but not on the higher end Denon models. I purchased a Denon AVR 1802, and the sound quality difference is astonishing. the extra power makes a huge difference.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 1802 (Superior to this model, so far).

Volume control is great many inputs, has a brillint sound that goes very LOUD but still maintains composure

remote buttons feel dodgey but hay it still works without a problem

Dont listen the the man that said the the coax digital port dosent work, he dosent know how to operate this HI TECH pice of equipment!. You simply have to set it in the setup menu that you will be using coax not optical. ne way this is a great amp ne one that knocks it has is a fool or has way too much money. this amp will run any speakers you throw at it!

Transparent, balanced stereo sound, dynamic and enveloping soundstage for movies. Lots of connections.

Remote control (who hasn''t complained about this); spring clips for speakers, weak bass response (if no sub is connected); front display is too small to read from a distance.

After checking the reviews on HK products and their reliability problems, I decided to purchase my first Denon. I''m very impressed by the transparency, balance and smoothness of this receiver in plain stereo mode for music - especially for classical recordings, and its excellent soundstage presentation for movies. Depending on the source, the music/movie reproduction is astounding. Although rated only at 60w/channel, it has more than sufficient power for a small to moderately sized room. I''m not a fan of DSP modes, but I really enjoy listening to my CDs in 5 channel stereo...fills up the room. Nothing beats this basic receiver in this price range.

Similar Products Used:

HK AVR-20 & AVR-100

Lots of jacks for everything. 5 channel stereo. Ability to change different speaker volumes depending on how far away the speakers are from the primary listening point.

Remote is ugly, and very small.

Great receiver. I am glad I have a Denon, rather then some Best Buy/Circuit City receiver. I got mine at quite a good deal and I am very satisfied. I was afraid maybe 60 watts per a channel was not going to be enough, considering my previous receiver had a total of 480, compared to the Denon's 300. It may say 60 watts, but it sure sounds like a lot more, and I have a rather good size listening area, and it fills up the room pretty well.

The 5 channel stereo is great, I use it over the Dolby Pro Logic and VHS because it just sounds so much better. I have yet to get my DVD player for Christmas, so I can't comment on the Dolby Digital/DTS.

What I really love, as mentioned above, is the ability to change the volume on each one of your speakers. In my listening area my right (wall) speaker is probably 6 feet farther away then my left one is. You have the ability to change your speaker level's volume on this receiver by telling it how many feet away your speaker is, for example my right front speaker is 12 feet away, and my left is about 6, I can put that into the receiver and that way everything equal from both sides. What a great function.
Overall, love the receiver, and will have to comment more on it when I get a DVD player.

Similar Products Used:

Aiwa AV-X220