Dear mind-numbed Denon dolt,

I just read your e-mail that you sent to me. Your comments make my case regarding the myth of Denon. People like you read magazine reviews and buy according to what the "experts" say. I made that mistake twice...and Denon got me both times.

I took the receiver to a local retailer, HiFi Buys, where they told me that the 3300 is reknowned for defects. I then did something that your little mind can't comprehend...I spent 2 hours listening to 8 different receivers in a listening room. The brands I compared were Denon, Yamaha, Sony ES, Carver, and Pioneer Elite. We tried them on Mirage, Acoustic Research, Polk, JBL, and Boston Acoustics speakers. I, for the record, have a theater built on Mission, AR, and JBL speakers that sound fantastic to me, all of which are connected with Monster cables.

For the money/value/experience, Sony's DA-777ES blew the others away in theater and music. No contest!!! Further, Sony's warranty is 5 years, as opposed to Denon's 1 year warranty. To make this simple for you, I'll repeat my thoughts in words of one syllable...I BUY WHAT I THINK SOUNDS BEST.

Personally, I could care less what you listen to. Feel free to enjoy your little audio world where everyone loves Denon because you're supposed to love Denon. I don't care if my receiver has THX stamped on it...I dare anyone to honestly tell me they notice a major, or even minor, improvement in their listening enjoyment because they dropped an extra $500-$1000 on a box with THX stamped on it. Again, if it makes you feel better to see those precious 3 letters adorn your receiver, then you're in worse shape than I thought.

I've grown weary of typing to you. I'll never get back the few minutes I've wasted by responding to your infantile comments. I guess I'll just punish myself by spending an hour or so enjoying my pitiful little system. Enjoy yours!

Great sound, lots of features, generous input and output connections, nicely designed front panel.

Poor quality control.

I really liked this unit when it worked. Great sound and lots of set up flexibility. Unfortunately, it suffered from the same problems many on this site have recounted. On my unit, the fan only ran at low speed, so as a result it would get hot as a fire cracker after about an hour or two and shut down regardless of if anything was playing or not. After reading others accounts of trying to get their units fixed satifactory, I decided to trade the unit for an upgrade to the AVR-4800. To my ear (I'm only a casual listener) the AVR-4800 doesn't demonstrate any clear superiority but does have some nice added features such as 7.1 channel capability, additional DSP modes, and more inputs/outputs. It is a much larger unit, but is built more solidly and I've had no problems with it whatsoever. It is significantly more expensive than the 3300 (+$650).

My other components:
Energy Encore HT system.
Sony SV 560 DVD player
Kimber 8TC cables.
Old RCA big screen TV.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR-4800

DVD movies, clean amp section, 5ch. stereo, remembers setups for each mode

Fan noise, useless sound modes, difficult menu's, very average remote, CD music

I got this reciever after owning the Yamaha Rx-V995 last year for about 3 weeks. The remote is much better than Yamaha's, but still is limited and kinda clunky. Overall it learned most of the other remotes I have, but still could use some improvement.

I got the AVR-3300 at Ultimate for $800 along with a set of Definitive BP2002TL's, clr2002, & Bp10B surrounds. A little after 1 month, the left rear channel died, and they gave me a new one, even though it was over the 30 day timeframe they have for returns (it would have been 2-3 weeks to ship it to SLC and repair it, but I made a call to the "honchos" using the 800 number and they had the store manager swap it out. I am not a fan of these guys, but my hat is off to them so far, they have been really good as far as customer service, and understanding my needs. I think they can appreciate when you spend some money you should get what you want).

Anyway, the second one will now also be returned, I can hear the fan when listing to quiet music, late night movies with the volume down etc..from over 15 feet away! Denon needs to re-engineer this problem. On the first unit, I never heard the fan, so it is a hit-and-miss problem.

The DSP modes are pretty useless, and I only use Pro-logic for VHS and Satellite (as my Dish audio/video runs through the S-VHS VCR for now until I upgrade), Stereo or 5 Ch. Stereo for CD's/Tuner, and of course 5.1 Digital for DVD's (using a 50' S-video cable and fabricated digital coaxial cable (Rg-6 and gold RCA connectors) ran from the bedroom PC w/DVD player, for now).

Saving Private Ryan, The 5th Element, and Eagles Live DVDs all sound outstanding, can't wait to be able to utilize DTS and see how much better it can get! For DVD's this unit is killer! I have never heard movies so clear, music so clean and sound effects so realistic. (Check out the 5th Element when Zorg demo's the ZF-1, when he tries the net launcher!)

CD Music?? Not so good, and I can't seem to get the sound I want. Always sounds like there is too much midrange, not enough "punch" to the bass. Even with headphones, the sound is the same. Believe me, I have moved speakers, adjusted bass/subwoofers/gains etc and it just doesn't quite do what I thought it should. There is no bass boost button for low volume listening, so you have to crank it to get any bass. (It could be the speakers, but thats another review).

I am not going back to Denon, I just found out that Yamaha has a new model to upgrade from the -995 and -2095 series, that incorporates 5 ch. stereo and should be in the warehouse by July 20, so we'll see if that unit is any better. (They HAD to have redesigned that terrible remote!)

I also gave a hard listen to the comparable Marantz unit (S-8000, I think) and could not tell a lot of difference for CD's, but it did not have a sub available so I was only comparing the main speakers. The Denon actually sounded a little better, with a slightly wider soundstage, but it wasn't a long a/b comparison. Need to do more listening tests.

If you do buy this unit, buy local so you can take it back if you have the fan or any other problems. Good luck if you own or plan on buying one of these receivers. If it works and does not have the fan noise, it is a excellent choice if you listen mainly to movies/home theater.

Similar Products Used:

RX-V995

Excellent DSP, Power Amplifier, Component Video Switching, Digital Inputs, Excellent Value for the Price!

Speaker Binding Posts are to Cheap!

Purchased a refurbished unit several months ago and so far so good. The fan noise is very low in level and can only be heard when my ear is placed right at the receiver cabinet, so no problem with that common complaint. Be sure to provide at least 4 inches of OPEN area above the receiver for moderate heat venting, and the fan will rarely run. The DSP surround decoding is excellent, and the amplifier section drives my 4 Ohm input KEF speakers with no problem! This receiver's performance is way beyond anything I ever heard from the Yamaha RXV-870 in every respect. Clearly the Dolby Pro-Logic decoding from both analog and digital inputs is much improved over the older Yamaha. I have connected the Toslink optical output from a Dish Network 4700 satellite receiver into one of the receiver Optical inputs and WoW, this sounds incredible with automatic switching between standard audio and Dolby Digital modes. The amplifier section seems to have plenty of reserve on even the loudest passages, so no reason to doubt the amp design at all in this receiver. The remote is a little awkward with the slide switches, however I have had no problem using it and find it to be just fine for the task. The build quality is above average, however not top-notch as with Sony ES products. On screen displays are easy to use, and the manual is just fine if you already have some home theater set-up expereince. The speaker output binding posts are weak and do not support spade lugs, so be careful with your speaker wire choice. The AVR-3300 is a great buy and after extensive research, this is the best value by far in home theater receivers right now. 5 stars all the way! Every reason to buy, no good reason not to!

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RXV-870, Sony ES

Not a review of the Denon 3300

Many

I just wanted to add to the conversation (and agree with Matthew Kornhauser). I had the Denon 3300 for 2 weeks before tiring of the heat and the fan noise. I returned the unit for the Marantz SR19 (and another $500+). Now that I've had a little more experience with the Marantz (2 weeks) I can say without hesitation that the Marantz is a much better unit, more musical (more depth and width to the soundstage, great reproduction of piano and voice, and very tight bass). I had not planned on spending this much for a receiver (I was looking for the best $1000 receiver, not the best $1500 receiver). I am glad I spent the extra money. Sometimes you actually do get what you pay for!

Great mix of features, quiet amps, lots of inputs, Clean power at higher volumes, tuner is better than expected.

Runs hot, remote is cumbersome, some key controls not on unit (ex: headphones only control, tuning radio from remote and unit is a pain.

I have only had this unit for about two weeks and have been reading through quite a few of the reviews here. That said, here are some of my thoughts and observations regarding some issues raised here.

There have been some comlaints regarding the sound quality of movie and music playback. I too witnessed this. However, I spent about a week slowly adjusting the speaker volume levels and tone control for each of the modes I use such as the CD, Dolby Surround, etc. This was definitely worth the effort as I am quite pleased with the results. Music from videos in Dolby is very smooth. CD playback in either digital or analog mode is indistinguishable coming from my elderly Denon DCD-910. The Direct Mode is my favorite for CD playback. BTW - each of these settings has its own memory. But be smart and write down your settings in case you have to reset the microprocessor.

As for the heat issue - yep, it runs hot. My fan kicks in as designed when needed and I have not witnessed the fan noise described in earlier reviews. Perhaps my unit is from a different production run or I'm just plain lucky. I wish I had found this web site prior to my purchase. I would have contacted Denon directly regarding this. I still plan on doing so only after the fact. Let's see what they have to say. Also, I don't know if this had any affect but I did not run the unit at more that moderate volumes for the first 8 hours of use. This probably prevented it from overheating during that time. All I know is my fan is still quiet at this time.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the 3300. I still think it provides the most for the money in this price range. I am very pleased with how quiet the amps are within the volume range I listen. Now that I've tweaked the Dolby Surround settings, its sound is very smooth and balanced. CD's sound warm overall with occasional harsh highs. I'm actually considering hooking up my turntable to it to see what that's like. I have a DVM-3700 on order so I have not experienced any Digital movie soundtracks yet - I'm looking forward to that. I'm going to keep an eye (ear?) on the fan issue for a few more weeks. If things change with that, so will my review.

Similar Products Used:

None. First A/V receiver

As listed in the many previous reviews

High Pitched Noise Coming From the Fan

It's been a little over three months that I have had the AVR-3300 and guess what it's in the shop as I write this. Before I get to that let me discuss my general feelings of this receiver.

First off I have to agree with the general consesus of the reviews listed here. This unit truly has some very special qualities that set it apart from others in its price range. The amplifiers are dead quiet, 5 channel stereo is great, direct mode is very revealing and connectivity options are abundant for my purposes. I have enjoyed many countless hours of critical listening with this unit and couldn't be more happy with it on that basis.

As far as the constant complaints on the remote all I have to say is "get a life" or really just get a good universal remote (I own the Marantz RC-2000). I mean did you buy a reciever or the remote. The Denon remote is fine if your controlling the receiver.

Now on to my unit being in the shop. I too have been stricken by the fan noise problem that seems to be talked about more and more here recently. This isn't the loud noise of the fans pushing the air. No!! It is a very high pitched, whining noise that absolutly can not be ignored. What good is a quiet amp when you have to deal with the sound of a dentists drill coming out of your receiver.

So I took my 3300 into be repaired thinking I had a bad fan. So the technician calls me today and tells me that the fan is operating correctly and the noise was a by product of the fan moter. I requested a new fan (under warrenty) and am hoping that does fix the problem. Also I will be trying to reach a Denon support person to verify the technicians claim that the fan is opperating correctly.
I can not believe that Denon would design a product in which this type of noise was deemed acceptable.

Can anyone tell me if they have had to have their fan replace and did it solve the problems. I'm guessing that this problem has to be isolated because belieive me if you heard the sounds I do this unit would be blasted in this forum.

For now I'm going to give an average review and will be back to update it if the fan noise problem is satisfactorlly fixed or not.

PS
In case anyone is wondering about how hard I push the unit I can tell you I live in an apartment and rarely push the volume beyond -30 db through my Klipsch Synergy speakers. Its just too loud in this enviornment.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer VSX-07TX

5 channel stereo;value;future-proof

The obnoxious fan noise;only one coaxial digital input;runs hot;remote;"click" from function control

Boy, where do I start? I like many audiophiles did some extensive research in my quest to find the ultimate A/V receiver for around $1000 or less. My search lead me to the Denon 3300 for a number of reasons. First, Denons reputation. Second,5 channel stereo. Third, the build quality (or so I thought),and last the Denon marketing machine. Based on all of the above and more I became a big fan of the 3300 and decided to purchase it. Well, it is a good thing that I did not purchase it off the internet because it turned out to be a nightmare! Not long after I took the first unit(you get the idea)home I began to hear a loud whiny noise coming from the fan. This continued so I had the unit replaced with a second brand new 3300 hoping that it was just a fluke. Well, it wasn't! The second unit made the same obnoxious noise. I returned the unit asap and set up my third 3300 hoping for the best. Keep in mind that the install was done by the retailer's best people. Anyway, the third #@$%* unit had the same loud noise coming from the fan! Denon, three strikes and you're out!!! I was a beaten dog and begged the retailer to swap out for a new Marantz SR8000. The retailer obliged my request (after I came up with another $100) and my fan problems were gone forever. The local Denon rep. was consulted and acknowledged that the fan problem was a reoccuring issue and that it is a problem! I give the 3300 a negative five review and urge you fellow audiophiles to use caution before purchasing this unit. By the way, the Marantz SR8000 rules. It is more musical,powerful, and has a much better remote.Maybe it was fate which drew me to the Marantz SR8000 afterall.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha 995;Marantz SR8000;Pioneer Elite 26

Sound quality, flexibility

Digital audio input not output to VCR analog out.

I have had this receiver for 6 months and I am very happy with it except for one problem. I have my DSS coming into the receiver with S-video and digital/optical audio. My S-VHS VCR is connected by S-video and analog audio. When I try to record a show off sattelite the audio is not output to the VCR. I have heard that this is true with other receivers so I didn't factor this into my rating (even though it is annoying).

Luckily I haven't experienced any of the noise problems others have. The sound quality is superb.

System:

Denon AVR-3300
Paradigm Mini Monitor front
Paradigm PW-2200 sub
Paradigm CC-350 center
Paradigm AMS-200 surround
Panasonic A-120 DVD
Panasonic PV-S9670 SVHS
JVC AV-3260 TV

I like the non-distorted sound of this receiver.

A little too quiet.

I do think that this is a good receiver for a person who likes to listen to music at a moderate level. I just don't think that the volume level goes up high enough. I like to listen to classical music, but I like it up loud and with pretty high levels of bass. When I turn this receiver up past the half way point I still find it to be more quiet than I would have thought it would been. I have two kinds of speakers from the same brand (B&W 603 and B&W 602). I find that even with the smaller speakers hooked up to my Technics they are louder than the bigger speakers hooked up to the Denon. All in all I do think this is a wonderful receiver and good for all my purposes.

Similar Products Used:

Technics SA GX-690