Great sound!

Noisy bushing fan for cooling

This is one GREAT receiver with one major flaw in design. The cooling fan they used is a cheap bushing fan that whines and vibrates during quiet passages of audio material. I'm replacing the fan with a ball bearing fan made by Agusta purchased from Mouser Electronics. The OEM fan is a 24 VDC 0.15 A 3.15" x 1" square fan. The one I'm replacing it with is a 24 VDC 0.13 A model. This should quiet the cooling down qite a bit. I'm just surprised Denon cut corners on quality this way. If you own one of these receivers, it's not too difficult to get to the fan.

Great sound!

Noisy bushing fan for cooling

This is one GREAT receiver with one major flaw in design. The cooling fan they used is a cheap bushing fan that whines and vibrates during quiet passages of audio material. I'm replacing the fan with a ball bearing fan made by Agusta purchased from Mouser Electronics. The OEM fan is a 24 VDC 0.15 A 3.15" x 1" square fan. The one I'm replacing it with is a 24 VDC 0.13 A model. This should quiet the cooling down qite a bit. I'm just surprised Denon cut corners on quality this way. If you own one of these receivers, it's not too difficult to get to the fan.

Power, Clarity, Outputs

None so Far

I have been very impressed with this unit's performance, and I have not experienced any of the problems mentioned in this review area. I wonder if the people with the over-heating and fan problems are all using these "refurbished" models. You usually get what you pay for, and to take a chance to save a few hundred dollars is fine if you have calculated the risk ahead of time. I was told by many not to buy any stereo equipment off of the internet, or from chain stores like Best Buy, because they actually sell the same products with different parts on the inside. Not sure of the validity of that comment, but I heard that enough to go to a dealer with a good reputation, who guaranteed the product.

I do not stack anything on top of this unit, and yes it does get warm, but mine is properly ventilated and I have never heard my fan kick on, and I have watched 2 DVD's in a row, and then left it on for music later, and never had a problem.

I am running this unit with some Energy speakers and the sound is fantastic. The DSP's are great, and the DTS and 5.1 playback always gets the attention of my guests.

I would highly recommend this unit to anyone, but I would also tell them to get it from Tweeter, and not to pick it up on the internet for much less, because I believe there is a reason those units are so much cheaper, they ARE much cheaper. Pay for the parts that were intended, and you will be thrilled with the 3300.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Marantz

Sound. Ease of use. Value.

Speaker terminals too close together for large wire.

I've owned this unit now for a year and a couple months. It's been nothing but a joy so far. I purchased a re-furbished unit and from what I gather, the original fan had been replaced. I was afraid of the over-heating problems others have had, so I placed it in my audio rack with an open back and a few inches of clearance on both sides and the top. I even purchased a small fan to attach to the back of the unit drawing air out as extra insurance, but have never hooked it up. Maybe I will one day for safety. Anyway, I have had no problems with over-heating or with anything else for that matter. The Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound have been superb. To me it's easy to operate and does everything I need to produce gorgeous movie sound. I will definitely consider Denon receivers again in the future.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha. Onkyo.

Sound. Ease of use. Value.

Speaker terminals too close together for large wire.

I've owned this unit now for a year and a couple months. It's been nothing but a joy so far. I purchased a re-furbished unit and from what I gather, the original fan had been replaced. I was afraid of the over-heating problems others have had, so I placed it in my audio rack with an open back and a few inches of clearance on both sides and the top. I even purchased a small fan to attach to the back of the unit drawing air out as extra insurance, but have never hooked it up. Maybe I will one day for safety. Anyway, I have had no problems with over-heating or with anything else for that matter. The Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound have been superb. To me it's easy to operate and does everything I need to produce gorgeous movie sound. I will definitely consider Denon receivers again in the future.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha. Onkyo.

As as update, still fabulous, no fan, easy to use, great sound

Uh, others who claim fan noise

Well, it's been 7 months, my unit is still running great - and I love it! No noise/fan problems. But of course, I keep it at recommended distances from the enclosure. Plus, my unit is a refurb with a (2) year warranty, so, so much for those that critisize both internet and reburb purchases. Can't imagine spending hundreds more for a product from a Denon dealer, but if that keeps a few momma's boys happy, so be it.

This unit is still to be found on a few sites like eBay and uBid at a great price (if not used). It is a steal and is upgradable for those of you that want 8 speakers in your room. Does lack the newest DVD processing, but since you must purchase a DVD with this new processing ability and most DVD's are not recorded this way, not sure what you are missing .....yet.

Well, after reading the many reviews on this receiver I decided to take a chance and bid for a remanufactured one on Ubid. I have to say I initially loved this receiver. After taking the time to read the manual, hook everything up, get everything configured etc it was working great. This is a great sounding receiver, especially in dolby digital 5.1. I never had a problem with cooling fan noise or the unit overheating but I did the cooling fan mod anyway described by some others on this site. About a week ago I started having problems with the audio cutting out when switching between sources and especially when switching between stereo/pro-logic/5 channel mode. I tried plugging/unplugging, resetting the microprocessor, etc... It's gotten so bad that when turing the receiver on I don't get any audio more than half the time. Unfortunately I didn't get an extended warrenty through Ubid which expired after one month. Luckily I used my visa which doubles my warranty so I'm hoping they take care of it. Anyway, I guess I'm one of the unlucky ones with this receiver. When it works right it's awesome but I realize now there's a reason there are so many of these remanufactured units being auctioned off on Ubid. I'd highly recommend going for the extended warranty if you buy one.

awesome build design

none

I was thinking of picking this reciever up cause i found a good deal on it, and reading through the reviews i got pissed , some idiot john cocktosen(guess hes a fletch fan- and obviously to smart for anyoine else in this forum to figure out)purposely wrote 5 1 star reviews on the product and claimed he purchased at circuitcity which honestly i didnt even know they cariied it there, but i just wish that the mods would eliminate the new posts that are obviously bogus, and it still never ceases to amaze me that a site with such good intentions to really help out consumers can be ransacked by idiots with nothing to gain. I mean really how cool could it possibly be to ruin a rating for a stereo component,guys need to get out and socialize with the other human beings. As being said i give it 5 stars and this will not save the 5 - 1 star ratings but i just really wanted to post something about this

Similar Products Used:

onkyo 676

sound quality, inputs,features,current pricing

no simple A/B switch !!!

this is a great toy, you can control each speaker you run at an individual volume to really tweek surrond specifics. the on monitor ability to set up sound preferneces is fantastic. it brings alive my dahlquist dq-18's and the build is infinatly better internally then the 2 previus sonys i have owned (the internal contacts in them were fradgile at best) the remote is very user friendy and allows complete control (just read some of the manual) no fan noise from the unit. no hum or static noise when music not playing . very good power for normal sized rooms,loads of surround options and you can find them on line for less then 650.00 new .

Similar Products Used:

most recently a couple sony av units

fair build quality, clean and powerful sound for the price, 7.1 input, preout terminals

cheap and not flexible speaker posts
(can not make any comments for overheating as in many reviews since it is pretty new, but currently it is very quiet, I think some users could not consider the necessary space requirements for the units)

I decided to buy this 6-7 months ago but waited till yearend, because it was overpriced in my country (1300-1500 usd price range). Since Denon produced its successor 3801, price went down here and finally bought it.
I tested avr-3300 against different brands and models and got the idea that for its price range it has a real value. First I auditioned Denon family, 3300 was significantly better than avr-2800, but had some weaknesses against bigger brother avc-a1d; but at domestic listening levels for a movie, the difference was not worth the money for my taste. AVC-a1d was better with stereo but I do not listen to music with surround amp/receivers since I have a different setup for music. I did not need extra 2 rear speakers for 6.1 or nextcoming 7.1 formats for the time being and actually do not have enough space so i did not go for 3801. I did not like Yamaha sound, it was dull against Denon. Marantz units that I auditioned were good performers but had weakness with multichannel music and stereo against Denon AVR-3300.
I use the unit for 2 months and the result is very satisfactory. 3300 has a clean and sweet sound, crystal clear dialog, handles the hardest effect scenes so effortlessly with a dynamic ,accurate and fast response. I think it is mainly due to 32 bit SHARC processor inside the unit which the bigger models avr4800 (avc-a10se w/o tuner)avc-a1d (avr 5700 w/o tuner), AVC-a1se (avr-5800 w/o tuner) also use (even TagMclaren av32r processor has SHARC inside). Usually I do not force the power limits and use it upto -10db so its power is enough for me. I have B&W Nautilus range speakers, AVR-3300 is directly connected to center and rears but i use preamp outputs for fronts as my N803s are directly connected to stereo setup. I never felt a power lack for the time being, 3300 drives well my center and rears (but for very power demanding listenings it might be well to get help from 3 ch power amp and preamp outputs for all channels enable more power).
One surprise was its musical ability for its price. Although I listen and prefer stereo setup for music, 3300 was not a bad performer. 5 channel stereo is really interesting and I sometimes listen to music with 5 ch stereo and music surrounding is a different experience, but it requires same or similar speakers.
By the way, I had no problems with remote and its learning functions, it is very easy and flexible. I programmed my tv, cd player and dvd player's main buttons, so I only use 3300's remote for 4 components.
I think I wrote too much for a 1000-1100 usd receiver. Definitely worths the money, great for HT, also can beat many stereo amps within price range for music too.
associated equipment:
fronts: B&W Nautilus 803 (use preamp outputs of avr-3300 to stereo setup)
center: B&W Nautilus HTM2
rears: B&W Nautilus 805
sub: JM Lab Cobalt SW-27
dvd player: pioneer dv-515
tv: philips 32' widescreen
(5 stars for value, 4 stars for overall because if you pay much more there are well better performers and sky is the limit, but why?)

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR-2800, Denon AVC-a1d (avr-5700 w/o tuner), Yamaha rxv-795a, Marantz sr-5000, Marantz sr-7000