Clarity, sound stage, home theater separation, THX certified without the logo,

Remote

I want to buy the Denon 5803 but after I had called my cousin who works at Denon in Japan. He told me to get the 3801 instead. He said that this model has been the best product that Denon has manufactured. He said that this model is a THX certified without a logo. Second, you can hear no difference in sound quality compared to 3802 or to that 4802 and 5803. The only difference he said is the power output, but all the circuitry are almost identical. As per him just ignored if this machine doesn't have the Dolby EX and Pro Logic II, it's just a gimmickry by the Dolby Laboratories to answer the DTS-ES. Even my cousin had told me this, I still try the 5803 and the 4802, as my own observation and findings he's right, I hear no difference at all. I am using JMLab Chorus 715LE and I say, great combo.

THX quality without the logo. A/V and stereo hifi quality. Lots os strengh and dynamics. An A/V receiver with a quality of a very good stereo integrated amplifier. Lots of features to develop if you can get to it.

Hard to configure and manipulate. Not much user friendly. Short and little information on the display. Remote difficult to operate.

Best receiver I had ever. Good Quality of construction and good quality of sound. Performs very well in A/V mode, Dolby Digital, Dolby Prologic II, etc ,and also is a very good pre/amp with stereo sources. I can enjoy a piano just as I would have a real one in front of me. I have a pair of Mirage speakers M-7SI with need for lots of power and dynamic to operate well. This amp has strengh enough to drive the speakers to a hifi level I have not yet experienced in A/V receivers. It has outputs for 7+1 speakers so you can get an all around source of effects. Sometimes I can feel I am really in the middle of the scene. Superb. These were the good parts. The bad ones are most of all connected with the lack of friendship management. It has been hard for me to configure and operate this Receiver; The manual is confusing and short for the needs of most people; the remote can get difficult to operate; and the display delivers little information, very difficult to see from more than 1 meter away. Also the On screen display is dificult to configure. For example: I couldn't manage, yet, to correct the bass and treble when I am in digital AC3 mode.

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Sony 50ES, Sony 555ES

home theater, stereo imaging, clarity, power, etc.

no THX Logo and Dolby Prologic II, but who cares

After a year of continous usage. All I can say is GREAT! This is a very good receiver both for home theater and music listening. I was a Yamaha fanatic before but when I tried to and rebirth by Denon. This is my first Denon product,I really don't have any regrets with all its capabilities as a receiver.

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Yamaha DSP A1 Denon DVD 1600 B&W DM 603 S3 Mission 782

Sound quality,excellent surround sound and stereo sound, "matrix" dsp mode the best I''ve ever heard for music,EX and ES (discrete),universal remote, flexible features (including recording options despite what a couple of inaccurate reviews said), plenty of power, good onscreen menus.

Only one coaxial digital input-why!, no bass management for 6-ch. input(but no one else provides this either).

This is simply an excellent receiver, especially for the price. I have had it for almost a year now, with no complaints. It gives you the best of everything you need for a fair price, and very little that you don''t. It gives you most of the important features of the two models above it add a fraction of the price. It behaves like a THX receiver, but without the logo- so you get the quality without paying Lucasfilm a fee. The 3801 is excellent for both music and movies, whether in stereo or multichannel. It has rich,full,warm sound. With this unit, you don''t have to sacrifice music to get great surround sound on movies. It has a great list of features that is hard to beat at this price. Some reviews hear complained that you get send a digital source out through the analog tape outputs- that''s just plain wrong. You certainly can, if you bother to learn how. The remote is great,too, for one that came with a receiver. The only thing that it should have and doesn''t is more than one coax digital input- just having one is ridiculous at this price. It has plenty of power, even to drive my inefficient NHT''s full-range. I''ve never been able to exhaust it. The features are more than the average person needs. I don''t usually like dsp modes, so I wasn''t bothered by the small number of them. Surprisingly, the "matrix" music dsp mode is the only dsp mode I have ever really liked for music. That one mode is worth more than the 75 crappy ones you get on a $2000 Yamaha. I haven''t heard PL2 yet, but I think the DTS Neo6 mode is pretty comparable, and it''s not bad either. I know the 3802 has been out for a while to replace it, but it can''t be much better than this (except for having PL2 and a flexible crossover point). It''s probably pretty much the same. I don''t think there''s a better receiver on the market right now at this price than a Denon.

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Sony, Yamaha, Kenwood.

Sound clarity to all channels even in high volume.

None

I have heard a lot Denon is a good receiver. Now I finally get to see it first hand. Compare to my old Pioneer Prologic, which I hardly can hear from the rear speakers, with Denon sound coming out of the rear in great clarity. Be able to tune the delay for each speaker in distance is a plus to me too, I do not have to deal with miliseconds anymore.

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Pioneer, Kenwood

Many

None

Cant really say much that hasnt already been said except I am very happy with the receiver. As far as I am concerned it ranks up there with the best of them. I would have to agree that there are a few drawbacks to the manual as far a clairity and the remote is somewhat cumbersome to deal with which seem to be Denon''s shortcomings but the remote issue was solved with my addition of a Pronto TSU 2000 remote. It is a little annoying to see people bash the features of this unit when it comes to features and quality of the unit, once I got the unit set up about 9 months ago I havent had a glitch or complaint from it. Overall I would say it is a great unit for the price just too bad that i didnt wait 6 months to buy the 3802.

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Sony, Yamaha

price, sound, power

no a/b front speaker/remote is not that bad but could be improved

I purchased this unit about 3 weeks ago because I was tired of listening to music on the Yamaha rxv496. I owned the yamaha for about a year and I stopped listening to music because it was so bright. I decided to research everything and try to find a warmer receiver for home theater for under $1000. I looked at everything, marantz, rotel, NAD, onkyo, higher end yamahas and anything else I could find. I think for music, the rotel and the NAD sounded the best(not alot better), but their major draw backs are lack of options and power. For options, I don''t mean DSP modes, I mean inputs and the fact the you can have a second source output. The onyko was great, but for the price the denon just had more. Marantz sounds great but they have reliability issues. When I hooked up the Denon, the difference from the Yamaha was remarkable. There is no more brightness in the sound. The sound is very warm and clear. This unit is very powerful and easily powers all my speakers without a problem. I am fairly new to this hobby, but this Denon sounds great especially for what I paid. It is not an audiophile unit but if you can find this deal or better, I don''t think you can go wrong. As far as a comparison to other brands, it is truely what your preferances are and what speakers it is driving My set up: Paradigm Reference 20s for front and back Paradigm Reference CC Paradigm PDR12 Sub Denon 3801 Cheap yamaha 5cd rack

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nad 751, rotel rsx965, marantz 7200, onkyo 797

Quality of sound in 2-channel stereo, build quality

No Pro Logic II (AVR 3802 has it), tight binding posts, overstated wattage in multi-channel reproduction

I think this is a very good receiver. It''s essentially THX certified (check the specs, it meets all the THX criteria), without the label. It''s well constructed and of high quality. 2 channel stereo is quite good. If Denon had included their remarkable ALPHA 24 processors in the 3801 as they do in their higher end receivers, it would even be better. I''ve found that the DACs in my Denon 3700 DVD are better than those in the 3801, so I biwire. For CDs I use the analogue out of the 3700 and bypass the processors of the 3801. For DVD play, I obviously have to use the digital out on the 3700 (I prefer coax to TOSLINK). I don''t believe that the 3801 puts out a true 100 watts across the spectrum in multi-channel play, as most "100 watt" receivers don''t. It''s probably more in the 75 watt range for 5 channel and 50 watts in 7 channel. Switching from 2-channel stereo to any of the multi-channel formats creates a huge dropoff in volume, clarity and presence. The remote has a lot of functions, but it certainly isn''t very straightforward. I haven''t been able to get it to "learn" the remote codes for my Sharp monitor. The 3801 manual is pretty bad, I had to read it five or six times (yet it''s still better than the completely unintelligible manual of the Marantz SR7200). The user interface is not intuitive. It''s not unmanageable, but it''s not designed for the novice. I shopped several competing 100 watt receivers. The Onkyo TXDS696 is well built and sounds good, but I think the Denon is cleaner and smoother at higher volumes. The Marantz SR7200 is a high quality machine and sounded terrific in 2 channel stereo (maybe better than the Denon) thanks to some really good DACs, but the Marantz uses vastly inferior DACs for multi channel, which is a terrible engineering decision. As well, the Marantz uses matrixed 7.1 processing, versus true discrete 7.1 for the Denon. The Denon may be a slightly lesser receiver for music, but is much better than the Marantz for home theater. The Yamaha RXV620 processes natural sounding home theater, but it wasn''t nearly as musical as the Denon, the Onkyo, or the Marantz. Overall, it sounds very good. I wouldn''t have paid retail for it, I wish it had PL II like the 3802, but I''m going to keep it.

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Marantz SR7200, Yamaha RXV620, Onkyo TXDS 696

Clean power, DTS ES, and Dolby EX processors.

Manual sucks, would be nice if volume would show on tv display.

Has performed flawlessly, great clean power. I really have nothing bad to say, it is an awesome receiver. I have pushed it and it NEVER runs hot, and again it always sends a clean signal!

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plenty.

Sound quality, dts es 6.1,(discrete), 7.1, 8 preouts, built quality.

none

I must say this reciver sound so clear! Plenty of power to drive almost any speakers! I usaed yamaha rxv about 2 weeks and i think sound produced by yamaha is little too bright on both music and Ht. Sony sound little better, but Denon sound much much better! CLEAR!! Reciver is Made in Japan.


My system:

Denon 3801
Sony s560 DVD
Onkyo cd player
Paradigm monitor 9 (front)
paradigm LCR 350 center
Paradigm LCR 350 sourrand

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yamaha Rxv1000, sony strv555ES