POWER! Appearance! It offered the most features that I could find in a unit priced at or below $1,000.

I haven't found one yet.

I am new to the Home Theater market, but the Denon really impressed me. It had all of the features that I was looking for with a solid ability to handle any expansion to my system. As I get further into this, I may find this machine has characteristics I find lacking, but for now...IT IS AWESOME!!

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I was also looking at the Onkyo DS656.

good feature set; great sound; good valu

remote not too easy to program; video switching confusing and more limited than expected

On a whole the AVR-3300 seems very nice so far. Sounds great is fairly easy to use and so far has perfomed flawlessly.

I was a bit dissapointed in the video swtiching flexibilty. I did not realalize until closer readin of the manual on some fo the limitations:

1) Using component video allows no on screen menus. The trade off here was to get the maximum bandwidth for the video path. I suppose this is a good thing, but unless your monitor/TV has a seperate component input you cannot take advantage of the component output. What goes in the the DVD or TV/DBS component inputs comes out the component Monitor output.

2) Same goes for mixing S video and Composite video. You must choose either S or composite (yellow inputs) for your sources if you have only one video input to your TV/monitor. I had no idea they could not be mixed. Annything that goes into S comes out S and anyting into composite comes out the composite output. I suppose this is not a big deal, but I would have wasted some money on S video cables if my TV (Toshiba CN36X81 HD) did not have such a flexible video input system. My plan was to use S wherever possible and composite otherwise. I was surprised when my VCR video did not work as I had it coming into a composite input. I was using only S output from the AVR-3300 so no video out for tape! I added a cable from the AVR-3300 composite output to the second video composite in on the TV and all was cured. The problem with this is you have to fool with the TV to play DVD, versus tape etc..

Besides this minor thing and I guess this would be true of most A/V receivers it is a great machine.

Howard Kaplan

Similar Products Used:

none

Clean sound, very good number of connections

Number of coax digital audio inputs (only 1)

I have been very happy with the Denon 3300. The Denon 2700 served me well, but the 3300 had 3 specific things that I upgraded for:
1) DTS Decoding
2) More power per channel
3) Even a better sound processing system

The DTS decoding was not a major thing, but I wanted to have it 'just in case' I every watched a DTS DVD.

The speakers I have (Carver 5.2) are not very effecient, so the extra power helps during very intense audio passages.

Some of the Dolby Digital movies I have watched seem to have better channel separation, but the 2700 was no slouch.

My only observations would be the 1 coax audio input compared to the 3 TOSLINK inputs. I think 2 and 2 would have been more flexable. Also, the new remote has more features and functions, but I seem to have lost the ability to remotely select a video source while listing to a specific audo source. (I would sometimes listen to the tuner while selecting the DBS input for video). One other thing is the fixed 80hz cross over. My speakers are designed for 100hz, so I have to up the Bass Tone control to compensate. The LFE works fine to the subwoofer.

All in all, a very good investment.

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Denon 2700

This is a very dynamic receiver. Fabulous Dolby Digital and DTS decoding make this receiver a great choice for hometheater. 0 background noise in direct and stereo mode as well as a large soundstage make it a good choice for music too. The surround modes work excellent and are very flexible. Seperate bass management for analog and digital can make this receiver a good pre-pro as well. The amps seem warm- neutral to my ear. This receiver does not run too hot, and will drive low impedence loads fairly well. Great on-screen setup, features and value.

May add a touch of extra sibilance to some recordings. However, this is mostly noticeable with extremely accurate speakers. Can sound a little harsh in the upper mids when pushed to exremely loud volumes. Could have more coaxial inputs. This receiver probably won't please audiophiles.

I've had the Denon 3300 since July 99" and I have to say that I'm very pleased with it. I was shocked by the lack of background noise in "direct mode", and my surrounds scream without cranking them up to +10db during movies. The Nak 10 I owned had a little more ooomph, but it also had plenty of audible background noise, and the D.D. decoder did not sound a clean and smooth to me. The only thing the Nak 10 has over the 3300 is a bit more power(headroom) into low impedance loads, and slightly more spacious and airy voice rendition(not enough to notice on all recordings.) On the other hand, the 3300 has the 8ch. inputs, 2 more amp pre-outs, an on-screem menu, the option of running your mains full range with a sub, and an extra set of surround capability-not to mention the component ins and outs-all for $200 less.

I use mine to drive MA silver series speakers. It is a great match but is not on the same page as good seperates. This Denon 3300 should work best with 6-8 ohm speakers. For a receiver at this pricepoint, I'd say that the Denon is loaded with features and has the sound qaulity to compete with some of the best receivers out there. I'd say 4 to 5 stars for a receiver, and 5+ for one in this pricerange.

Similar Products Used:

Nak AV-10, Denon 5700, Yamaha 995, Marantz SR-780; 880, and HK AVR-65.

great design and lots of features
very nice clean sound
looks pretty spunky and studly and sophisticated

cannot adjust to compensate for different input levels
remote seems cumbersome and non-intuitive
fan driven cooling instead of heat sinks
size (so large it does not fit into my audio rack!)

I'm not sure if I can add much more to the 200+ other reviews on this site, but here goes ...

It was not long after I purchased my DVD player (Pioneer DV-626D - see my review on this site) that I started yearning to be able to listen to DVDs in 5.1 rather than mixed down stereo. However, I had some trepidation - I have been listening to my NAD 3300 amplifier for over ten years and I was very used to the sound. Everyone seemed to be saying A/V receivers don't sound as good as stereo amplifiers because they cram too much circuitry in the box and the "sound" is optimised for movies (explosions, dialogue etc.) instead of for music. Since I don't have space to keep both a stereo amp and an A/V received it's one or the other and I wanted to make sure I was not compromising on sound quality.

My local dealer told me that A/V receivers can sound as good as stereo amplifiers, but I should be prepared to pay twice what I would pay for a stereo amplifier to get the same quality of sound. Since the equivalent of my NAD today would cost about A$1000 I needed to be looking around A$2000 - he showed me the Yamaha 2095, the Rotel (can't remember model number) and the Nakamichi AV-10. The Yamaha and the Nak are closer to A$3000 than A$2000 - way out of my budget. The Rotel seemed to be feature poor and underpowered compared to the others, although it probably will sound very good.

I had an immediate problem with most of these models - the pre-amplifier section is in the digital domain, so most of them will convert all analog inputs to digital and then reconvert them back to analog prior to power amplification. Since I listen to a lot of non-digital music (radio, cassette, LP - yes I have a turntable) this analog/digital/analog conversion thing seemed unnecessary and potentially degrading the sound quality.

So I started looking at Denon. I've always been impressed by Denon equipment (I own a Denon CD player and a tuner) - they seem to take a no-nonsense pragmatic approach coupled to clever engineering and it was refreshing to see Denon apply the same philosophy to A/V.

Take the "Direct" mode, for example. In this mode, the entire digital section is completely bypassed - the only circuitry between the line input and the power amplifier is a bunch of switching relays (which makes the "clicking" sound when you change souces) and a volume control - just the sort of thing that would make an audiophile beam. Similarly, if you do not like fake surround modes, the 5ch stereo just pumps the stereo signal to all 5 speakers with no DSP trickery.

Someone offered me a Denon AVR-3600 (discontinued model) at a very attractive price (A$1500) and I was ready to buy except the unit arrived dead so the dealer offered the new AVR-3300 (normally seeling for A$2400) for A$2000. It was on the edge of what I was prepared to spend but I bought it anyway and have not regretted it.

The ACR-3300 seems to be a very good compromise of features against money. You don't get THX (not a big deal to me), digital outputs (I don't have a digital recorder), a lot of surround modes (I do not like these anyway - I like to listen to music the way the artist/recording engineer intended - all that surround processing sound very fake and cheesy). You do get the latest/greatest decoding processing, high quality DACs and amplification, reasonable radio, more inputs (including phono!) than most people would want.

Features that I wasn't looking for but may find useful eventually - component video switching, surround speaker switching.

Things that I didn't like: no adjustment to compensate for relative loudness differences across line inputs, I keep forgetting to switch modes on the remote.

So, how did the sound quality compare to my NAD? Initial perception was like, wow! It seemed to be much fuller, cleaner treble, deeper bass, etc. The impression was clean, effortless and accurate amplification. The imaging seemed to be very precise - when watching the Matrix we could actually pinpoint the bullets whizzing around in the living room. (The speakers are B&W DM603/CC6/DM601). Even though we don't have a subwoofer, the bass coming out of the DM603s was very convincing and deep and were causing our sofas to vibrate! Listening in direct mode with 2 speakers felt like listening to 5.1, the music was effectively "enveloping" us instead of just coming from the front.

On subsequent listening - okay, the soundstage is not as impressive as we originally thought - it seems to be prone to over-exagerration giving an impression of artificiality. The D/A converters are very good, but still not as good as the 20 bit/8 times oversampling D/A on my Denon DCD-1520 CD player bought over 10 years ago (of course, in today's money that CD player would have cost more than the AVR-3300!). The bass seems a touch over-done and out of control - suddenly EVERYTHING sounded bassy - but then this could be a fault of the DM603 rather than the Denon - maybe the amplification is so good we are starting to hear inherent faults in the speakers? Interestingly, the bass is much more controlled and realistic when playing LPs - maybe this is due to the roll-off inherent in the medium.

Final verdict? I would still rate this as better than my NAD, even though on paper the NAD appears to be better speced (lower noise, distortion levels, higher current). Overall, I am very happy with it and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone in a similar situation as myself.

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This is my first A/V receiver, I previously owned a NAD 3300 stereo amplifier
Compared with similar products from Yamaha, Onkyo, Rotel, Nakamichi, Pioneer

everything,BUT......................

adjusting speakers with spl meter is a must!!!!!!!!!!!

after listening to this unit for about 2 months, i decided to purchase the radio shack spl meter to see if it made a difference in sound quality. Whoa!!!!!!!!!I am now floored by this receiver. i thought it was a little dull and flat before, but after this tweaking the sound for both HT and music is killer.everything is now crystal clear, from the bottom to top.i knew something was missing,and ther $35.00 meter was it!!!!!For anyone here who purchased the 3300, do yourself a favor.Buy the meter and make the necessary adjustments. youll see and hear what i mean. let me know what you think of the 3300 after youve done this.Also, check out the Thomas Crown Affair, great to demo your 3300 after your tweaking.

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Onkyo 777

Great sounding Dolby Digital/DTS
Great 5-channel stereo mode
Excellent 2-channel stereo mode for the price
Easy to Set-up
user-addressable digital inputs

The Remote Control is awful!
Dolby Pro-Logic decoding
Component switching not compatible with HDTV

Overall, I think the 3300 beats everything in its class. The Dolby Digital and DTS Home theater modes sound crisp and clear. I don't think you can find a receiver retailing for 1K that has better 2 channel stereo sound than the 3300. I also enjoy listening to CDs in the 5 channel stereo mode. I thought it was very easy set-up as well.

On the negative side:
1. I think the Pro-logic mode is very weak on the 3300. Since almost everything on TV is still only Pro-Logic (with the exception of a few DirecTV channels and a few HDTV shows) I think it is important to have good Pro Logic decoding. Almost nothing gets spread to the Front LR and rear, even after making adjustments to the settings. When compared to my older Denon AVR-1500, the difference is substantial. The old 1500 sounds way better in Pro Logic.

2. The AVR-3300 component video switching is NOT compatible with HDTV component! It only works with DVD component! I learned this the hard way. When I tried to run the HDTV receiver through the 3300, my HDTV produced wavy lines of and the picture could barely even be seen. I went back to the store and they tested it on their equipment and got the same results.

3. The remote is a disgrace. However, you cannot judge a receiver by the remote. My simple fix was to go buy a Philips Pronto. The Pronto is a GREAT remote

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Yamaha DSP-2095
Denon AVR-5700

Quiet in all modes, 5 channel stereo, dynamic, excellent in Dolby digital, even better in DTS, expandability, terminals for 2 sets of surround speakers is convenient

clicking


Clicking sound when switching inputs, hard to understand manual, remote is a little confusing at first

I purchased my Denon in November and they were hard to find. They were backordered in many of the stores I had visited. Tough to get a price break when they are in high demand.

I was impressed with the solid look and construction. The front panel display is clean and simple. I'm not a fan of receivers with a Xmas light display. Actually this is one of the reasons I bought the Denon. It looks high end and I don't want the display to be distracting especially when I'm watching a movie.

Excellent dynamics on Dolby digital. Matrix, Saving Private Ryan and the Haunting on DVD comes alive on the Denon. The Eagles "Hell freezes over" on DTS is incredibly spacious and detailed. There is a lot of power on this unit. I rarely get close to -10db on volume control and the wife starts complaining. The bass output is excellent.

This is an extremely quiet receiver. No hiss or hum, you cannot tell that the receiver is on. The only complaint I have is when you switch components (DVD to CD, for example) there is a clicking sound. It's not annoying but I wouldn't have expected this from Denon. Another complaint is the owner's manual. It's very difficult to find a specific topic. There is no logical order in the instructions and was quite confusing. The remote is cumbersome and takes time to learn. Once you are good at it, I like the programmability of the remote. 2 pushes of the keys and you can turn on your receiver, TV, DVD and switch the receiver to DVD input. At least my wife and kids were impressed.

Not many DSP surround modes but you really don't need them. I only keep this unit on DIRECT when I'm listening to CD's and I find the DSP sounds artificial. The 5 channel stereo mode is quite pleasing especially if your speakers are matched up in tonal balance. I have Paradigms for fronts and center and will be getting Paradigm surrounds in the back. I'm not a fan of the fake sounding surround modes. Just too gimmicky for me.

This is one receiver that will outgrow all of my other components. I know I will be looking for the next best thing in a TV, DVD, speakers. This receiver does it all and does it well. It easily expandable and I said before, the aesthetics will never go out of style. I highly recommend if you can find one.

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Sony STR-D790

Everything about this receiver is a strength. This unit is awesome!

None that I have found as of yet.

I do not understand some of the reviews I have read where users are whinning about the remote or how hard it is to set up.

I bought this unit, took it home, opened the box and did something, I bet the majority of people who buy this unit and are complaining about the remote or how hard it is to set up are NOT doing. I read the manual...for your techies, you all know what RTFM means.

This unit sets up very easily and the remote is perfect. I have only had it for a couple of days, but as of this review, I LOVE IT and highly recommend it to anyone looking to upgrade their system.

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Onkyo TX-DS676, Onkyo TX-DS777.

Very clear sound at all volumes, great 5-ch stereo, tons of ins/outs

Remote isn't quite universal

Sometimes when you hear too many good things about a product, you begin to think it sounds too good to be true. Well, this unit sounds even better. I'm amazed at how many "quality" receivers have a hiss or humming when you crank up the volume, but not this baby. I can plug in absolutely every piece of electronic equipment I own and there are still a bunch of unused ins/outs. (Okay, so I don't own a LaserDisc player) My only disappointment was with the remote control; I have to use my DVD player's remote to play, fast forward/reverse; why can't I find a truly universal remote??? I know people love to debate which receiver is best in this price range, but I'm not going to put down any other product or say that this is the best bar none. I'll just say that I'm extremely happy with my purchase.

The biggest problem I had was actually finding one in stock back in November & December. The salepeople I talked to said they flew off the shelves and several had waiting lists for it. I finally found one store that had exactly one left and I had to pay full retail for it. Oh, well!