Dolby Pro Logic 2, DTS Neo, great sound quality, on screen display

manual and remote could be better

A few weeks ago I bought a 2802. It has all of the features that I was looking for - Pro Logic 2, great sound, 6 channels, on screen display. I also liked the Onkyo 696 and the Integra 6.2, and would have been happy with either one of them, but found a much better deal with the Denon. The Yamaha 1200 had all of the features that I was looking for also, but I really didnt care for the way it sounded compared to the others.

At any rate, I am very happy with my purchase. I have Paradigm Mini Monitors for the front left and rights, a Paradigm CC-170 for center channel, Paradigm Titans for the rears, and a Definitive Power Field 18 subwoofer, and it sounds incredible.

It is going to be used mostly for HT but some music as well.

I bought it from an unauthorized dealer. I took a chance doing this, and so far everything is fine. But I am very nervous about future problems. If I was doing it again I would buy it from an authorized dealer. But I have owned a Denon AVR-1000 since 1994 or 1995 and it has worked without any problems so I took a chance.

But if you buy from an unauthorized dealer, BEWARE of best-4-digital. They are listed at shop.yahoo.com . I ordered the Denon 2802 from them for $502. I was out of town when it arrived, so I had my girlfriend open it for me. Turns out they sent me the wrong one - the 2801. Unfortunately, she opened it before we realized this. So I immediately called best-4-digital, and they had the nerve to threaten to charge me a restocking fee because I was returning an open box. This receiver had never been taken out of the box, never been plugged in or used, and none of this would have happened if best-4-digital had done their job and sent what I ordered in the first place. I ended up driving down to New Jersey and returning it to their warehouse in person to ensure that no restocking fee was charged. This was my fault because I did knowingly go with the lowest price, and knew ahead of time that best-4-digital had poor service ratings. But I hope that this will prevent someone else from having problems with best-4-digital.

Clean power, 7.1 preamp outputs, 7.1 preamp inputs. Adjustable crossover points. Multisource/Multiroom

Will not accept a standard dual banana plug speaker jack. Must use indivdual banana jacks, very annoying.
Remote a little clumbsy. These are in very minor with respect to the strengths.

I noticed right away when I took it out of the box that this unit was made in Japan. I believe this is an asset. Most 'mid-fi' Japanese units are made somewhere else in asia or even in Mexico. The build quality is excellent. Dolby Pro-Logic II does a much better job with analog sources than its predicessor. Not an overabudance of annoying surround modes (yamaha, sony), only the ones that you need. High quality video switching, plenty of inputs. 7.1 preamp outputs, HUGE BONUS! The power was surprising clean, even when nearing maximum output the unit never sounded harsh. My only complaint is the spacing of the speaker output binding posts, they won't accept an industry standard dual banana jack (Come on Denon!). Other than that minor annoyance, I'm glad I replaced my Onkyo TX-DS777 with this unit.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo TX-DS777
Adcom GTP-600

Sound

Lot of functions need to be accessed via OSD.

Three brands keep appearing: Yamaha, Onkyo and Denon. I took Yamaha out because it had no PLII (when I was shopping around) and because it's more movie oriented than music. Then I took out Onkyo because the sound was a bit flat (although it had great looks). Onkyo is better for classical music I believe. Then apparently Sony rolled out a new model, but after listening for two seconds, I found out that music reprod. is not clear at all (worst out of the bunch). For punchy and lively reproduction, Denon is the one. Plus the fact that it is made in Japan is a bargain at this price range.

The remote is quite usable, although it looks rather cheap relatively to the amp itself.

Because I am using this for music (not connecting it to a TV), the use of OSD is a bit of a turn-off. As a result, I bought a computer tv box to connect it to my amp. Which shows, all the trouble is worth to get this amp running.

Actually I tried the lower grade 1802 and it took me no longer than 10 seconds to say to the sales "2802 please". Big time power difference (even at same volume level). Try to hear it for yourself.

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Tested Onkyo 595 and 797, Sony 1070, etc.

clarity & power

complicated instruction

I upgraded my Pioneer VSX 608 to Dennon AVR 2802. I am pleased with my upgarde as Pioneer receiver lacked clarity and bass. This Dennon has sufficient bass and clarity when I play movies, music as well as karaoke. The 5 channel stereo and Pro-logic II are amazing, especially for those LDs and DVDs without digital recording.
The negative thing are that the instruction is not quite unstandtable, and remote control is bulky.
I purchased this AVR 2802 at superaudio.com. The total out-of-pocket cost was $545.00 including shipping charge. This is the less expensive internet shop I could find so far. The shipment took about 3 weeks, it was long, and I could not reach them over the phone. However, their customer service over the email is pleasing, and satisfactory. I would recommend to purchase from them if they can shorten the ordering and shipment time.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo

Clarity of sound, fast steering, power, OSD.

At the price, nothing. (See comments about remote below)

In case US readers are wondering at the high price, yep, that was actually a cheap price here in the UK. It's recommended retail here is around $900.

The amp itself is excellent. Effects are handled quickly and with pinpoint accuracy. As for power, although it's rated at 90wpc it really is a floor shaker. Denon are well known for conservatively rating their power output and it's likely that this unit puts out closer to 100wpc. My previous Sony amp was rated at 100wpc and the Denon is WAY louder.

The Denon is also much crisper, clearer but with crunching bass. Watching 'The Fast & The Furious' DTS DVD was amazing. OK, the soundtrack is probably a little over the top but the Denon pumped out every detail with huge control and slam across all 5 speakers plus the sub.

I've just got hold of a second Centre speaker for the rear channel and am sure the 6.1 performance of this unit will manage to out gun the already excellent 5.1 sounds.

I don't use this amp for 2-channel or hi fi listening as I believe it's unfair to expect a surround sound amp to do both things well. Therefore I can't comment for those looking for a dual purpose unit.

The remote control: yes, it is bad. Too big, too childish and cheap looking. It doesn't do the unit any favours but, and this is a big but, since when did the remote influence the sound?

Overall, at around £500 (UK), I can't belive there are any surround sound amps that will touch the Denon.

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Sony 930

Great Sound, excellent price, for this mid level reciever, dolby PL 11, Best unit I could find after many grulling hours shopping & searching the net. A+

manual hard at first / after abit it grows on ya - then you can take this beast to the limits you prefer, after 1 week the remote still needs some tweeks to make it above average, but what the heck, you dont listen to the remote unless your pitching it out the window.

By no means am I a pro. If I had the money I would have spent thousands for a flagship system, how ever down on earth for the working class- you cant go wrong, unit sounds great with my mid priced mirage speakers (satalite system)& my room is 18'x 12', It fills the room with a spectrem of sound that even my 40 plus year old ears can detect. Many never heard sounds from my old sony prolodgic system while playing DVD's. If I ever upgrade - it will be due to increase of needs. For the average sized room like mine, it has plenty of un heard horse power & then some.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Yamaha

Almost everything.

F.M. tuner seems a bit weak.

I run a home systems company in Mobile Al. We install Denon equipment as our prefference. Of coarse each customer has their own opinions and we sometimes find ourselves dealing with other brands. Some of these prove to be worthy peices but rarely equal the Denon product for performance at the price.Even though the 2802 retails at $ 799.00 I would venture to say that it is the best product of its kind available for under $ 1,000.00

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Several other brands at this price point.

Home theatre sound reproduction is powerful, distortion free, with no extraneous noise. Build quality is obviously high. Versatile / flexible at price point. PLII is worth every penny. Handsome, quality-looking unit.

Manufacturer recommends two back surround speakers (for DTS-ES, etc.) but supplies only one amplifier section for such use (must use external amp or only one speaker). Manual is difficult to follow and very condensed and requires several readings to fully understand. Audio sonic quality for stereo music sources (CD, FM, etc.) is several notches below high-end; thin and not very manageable other than by digital manipulation (DSP). Unsatisfactory for anyone used to or expecting audiophile level reproduction. FM section sonically poor. Personally would prefer different allocation of digital inputs--50-50 would be better than 3 to 1.

I researched my *** off before I bought this unit. I've used it for two months and it is fabulous in 5.1 mode for Dolby Digital and DTS. Movie and A/V DVD's reproduce exactingly well with an abundance of power and sonic depth, and an absolute lack of harmonic distortion. I have friends with a much more expensive Elite receiver and this one is every bit the match--or more so. Pro Logic II is great in particular for stereo television watching. For a novice home theatre person (like I am), this is one complicated component. I learn something new that it will do almost every time I use it, although the initial set-up was quite straight forward and the manual worked well for that. The manual works less well for the more complex abilities the receiver has. I'm 50+ and have had great stereo systems all my life. I'm glad I still have one, as this puppy does not fill the bill when it comes to music listening. Buy it as an A/V receiver and you will be estatic, but do not expect much from it as an analog audio-only receiver. Now that I'd like to expand the unit to 6.1 use (DTS-ES), I'm disappointed to find that Denon recommends using two back surround speakers but amplification for only one. That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me.

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No true hands-on A/V experience. Looked hard at Onkyo, Sony ES and Elite.

Excellent piece with all the bells and whistles that you could ask for. Very clean sound in both video and audio modes.

Manual

First off, the review by Eduardo should be removed by this site's sponsor as it contains nothing of value. It only serves to bring down the overall rating on an excellent piece from one of the best electronic companies in the market. If I had to guess, Eduardo is probably a competitor selling Onkyo or some other electronic gear in LA.

This unit is quite comprehensive, and your success and happiness with it depends on how well you read the manual, which can be difficult to understand at times, and depends on how well you set it up. The build quality and excellent attention to design detail is there. Best bang for the buck!

Hitting the wrong selection during the comprehensive but intuitive setup will cost you in sonic quality both for video and audio. For instance, bet most don't know the difference between the Direct mode and Stereo mode, or fumble with how to properly set up the speakers or what cables to use. Lurk at some of the chat forums and get to know this receiver. Also, I can't say enough good things about Tony at the corporate office. He has held my hand on numerous occasions with the setup. He is a well seasoned pro that offers solid advice with a touch of humor thrown in - great Denon support!

The back surround channel can handle two speakers with the internal amp in a 6.1 mode simply by hooking up two 8 ohm speakers in parallel. The receiver is high current will do fine with the ensuing 4 ohm load.

Want more and have room to grow? Using the pre-amp outs, bi-amp using an outboard electronic crossover and two outboard amps, one driving the mains, one driving one or two subs. The mains are then set to "large" in the speaker setup menu. Clean and very musical! The internal amps' power, damping factor, low distortion, etc. is more than adequate to drive the center and surrounds at very high volumes when the receiver's internal crossover filter point is set at 80, 100, or 120HZ. These speakers should be set to "small" with one or two subs handling the low frequencies whether you're bi-amping or not.

Get to know the receiver, have some fun tweaking it, and it will reward you for many years to come.

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Onkyo, Yamaha, Sony

very musical and great dynamic range for HT

remote and manual. But you are not buying this unit for a good remote and manual, are you?

Eduardo, your review was very informative (saecasm. This post is to help raise the rating that you dragged down with your inane post. This is a great receiver. Anyone considering this unit will not be disappointed.