Bang for the buck, Bigtime!

none really noticed yet

Have had my local HT dealer's demo model at my home for a couple weeks now and have to say that the 3801's performance is pretty impressive. This unit is replacing a Linn LK1/LK2(x2) passively bi-amped/bi-wired setup that was used to drive my Linn Kelidh speakers. I made the decision to go the HT route but still wanted good musical reproduction and stay within a resonable budget. Does it sound as good as the Linn bi-amp setup? No, but it is not much of a compromise either. The Kelidhs are not known for having a lot of bottom end to begin with and now with a single amp driving them they did get a little thinner. After adding a sony SA wm40 subwoofer (which is cut off at 100hz and set to aprox. 1/3 vol.) the missing bottom was back even better than before. Very musical when playing CDs, very powerful on DVD movies. My set up is comprised of the following:

Denon AVR3801
JVC 523GD (dvd)
Linn Kelidh (front)
Linn Kan (rear)
B&W CC3 (center)
Sony SA WM40 (sub)
Tributaries and Monster interconnects/speaker leads

Now here's an important note: ALL MY LINN SPEAKERS ARE RATED AT 4ohms! Can the 3801 drive them? You bet. Does it overheat? It has only gotten reasonably warm even after hours of music and/or movies at fairly loud levels. I have yet to have it go into protect mode and/or shutdown. The 3300 I had auditioned previously got frighteningly hot to the touch though. Can it get loud? It certainly gets loud enough for me. Once you get to about -15 to -10 on the volume you would be hard pressed to be able to have a conversation in the room which is about 13x20 with a 9 ft. ceiling. I couldn't be happier with my purchases having put all this together (excluding the Linn speakers, of course) for around $1600.00. My brother who has the Marantz 8000 and Pinnicle Classic Gold Towers and surrounds was over the other day and laughingly commented on my "dinky stuff". He piped down after a few minutes of Gladiator and Titan A.E.. This is a powerful, clean and very musical setup. I would highly recommend the 3801 to anyone who seeks performance at a reasonable price. I don't know how the wife will take this but, If I can't find a buyer for the LK1 & LK2s I may just have to integrate the two power amps and re-bi-amp the fronts!! That, my friends would merely be icing on an already delectable cake!

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auditioned the 3300

many

none

This receiver is the best at the moment,for price range and has the latest and greatest features.Not loud enough?some people must be losing their hearing!

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all

Features and value

Control may be a bit confusing

I am a bit consfused about John Henry's comment. If 3801 draws 7 amps of current, its wattage would be 110x7 = 770 watts, which is higher than any of other units mentioned in his post. It also matches the 105 watts/channel specs. So I don't see what the problem is.

With about a month of experience with 3801, I am very satisfied with its performance.

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Sony, Yamaha

7 channels all on board-no external amp needed

none found

At this cost its the best receiver I have listened to. I would have loved the AVR-5800 but its way too pricey for me. As other people on this review board have said the unit is great. It was easy to set up-Its totally changed the sound in the room- all for the better.

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replaced Denon AVR-2800

Everthing

not much

FOR PETER M GET YOU INFORMATION RIGHT FIRST!
Firstly may i tell you that There are more than 2 titles in DTS-ES Discrete. In addition to Chicken run and Gladiator there is also The Haunting, Se7en (Seven) Platinum Series etc and as Denon 3801 has one of the newest formats in decoding technology at the moment, there will be a graeter number of titles. The same happened with the PS2.

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Onkyo 787

Everthing

not much

FOR PETER M GET YOU INFORMATION RIGHT FIRST!
Firstly may i tell you that There are more than 2 titles in DTS-ES Discrete. In addition to Chicken run and Gladiator there is also The Haunting, Se7en (Seven) Platinum Series etc and as Denon 3801 has one of the newest formats in decoding technology at the moment, there will be a graeter number of titles. The same happened with the PS2.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo 787

Every thing

none so far

To John M
This site is for people who actually own the product (in this case 3801). People want to share their experience with others, who may be potential buyers of the product. Different people have different taste, just like you like the Onkyo better. Please don't use this site to insult other people. According to the Review Guidelines, if you don't own the product review here, please shut the F**ck up because you don't know what you are talking about.

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Onkyo 787, Marantz 7000, Denon 4800, Pioneer Elite

Has the newest features for a good price,sound quality

Eemote is a bit confusing

I would buy this receiver over again if i had to do it.I love it.Remote should have been better.to confusing.Oh well,i bought a pronto and does the job much better.DTS discrete is really good but you have to have the room for it to fully take advantage of it.I am a very happy consumer,thank you Denon!

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all

The sound is amazing and I would recommend this system to anybody.

None Found

I finally got an upgrade on my stereo system from the junk system I was using. The new system is a killer audio package from www.acousticsounddesign.com. I picked up Klipsch RF-3 Towers, a Klipsch RC-3 center, RS-3 rear surrounds, a new KSW-12 " subwoofer, and a kickin'
Denon Avr-3801AM-FM Audio video receiver for $2459. Just thought you all might be looking for a good price.

sound quality, DTS-Neo music/cinema, 5/7 channel stereo

I am new kid on HT, but

I am quite happy with the system except that I feel that the volume is softer than expected given the factory rated 105 wattX 5
I usually have to go as high as -25 to -15 to have a feel on the music or special effect. Is that the normal experience?

I also feel that the special effect from the rear is quite minimal, how can I overcome this problem? Is there any setting that I have to make on the AMP?

My HT system comprise of
Pioneer 636D DVD Player
Denon AVR-3801
Front Mission M72
Centre Mission M7C1
Rear Mission M7DS
Sub Paradigm PDR-10

I like to listen to both music and cinema and I am a casual listener. Can someone tell me whether the speaker system is good enough for this AMP. Do I need to further upgrade my speaker systems? There has been very few review/rating on the M70 series since it is a relatively new product.
Guys, Your help is highly appreciated and my sincere thanks to you in advance.

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