This Denon is top of the line. While it is not quite the DSP-A1 it is a worthy opponent. The DSP is integrated so has no tuner. The Denon does. If that is important to you. "Otherwise build quality is great and the sound is superb.

it doesn't have much DSP functions as the Yamaha A1. But the sound is excellent and it has the most powerful amp (140W/ch)to able to drive some of the low impedence speakers.The 5Ch stereo mode is kind of interesting but I prefered the direct mode when listening to the music.

The 5600 is an awesome receiver, and for hometheater I have not found anything in its THX realm for the price. If you want to listen to music, you must be certain that is used in DIRECT mode, and not STEREO. I run mine thruKlipsch K-Horns front mains, KV4 center channle, KTDS dipole sounds, M&K MX700 subwoofer. The only thing better so far that I have liked is the DVP8000, but I didn't want to spend the money on external amplification. As far as DTS goes will when some wants to create source media worth buying I will think about it.

I recently purchased an AVR-5600 from the Good Guys for $999.99. Although the AVR-5600 is precise and detailed when playing CD's its music reproduction capabilities leave something to be desired, music seems to take a rather "dry" and colorless quality when played through this system, I felt that my Onkyo 838 did a better job. However the AVR-5600 really seems to shine as a home theater unit, especially when reproducing 5.1 dolby digital material. AC-3 movies that I've heard time and time again through the Onkyo seem to take a new life and liveness, small details that I never noticed before such as the sounds of footsteps and other low level pieces of background information spring to life. In addition to noticing the "small things" the "big things" such as gunshots seem to carry far more weight and authority on the Denon.
Although the Denon's music reproduction characteristics could be described as detailed and uninvolving the Denon's detail and authority when reproducing 5.1 audio tracks more than makes up for its flaws.

5 stars for home theater
3 stars for music
5 stars for value, at least in my case

The Denon 5600 with Jamo THX 7 speaker set (two passive subwoofers hooked up to Hafler amp) offers tremendous value for cinema-like movie performance. I agree that music is ok but not sterling - however, I have not heard a system uner $5000 yet that beats this setup.

i auditioned the denon avc 1,the onkyo 939 with a boston acoustics home theatre system, vr 40 fronts, vr12 centre, vrs surrounds and vr 500 sub.on movies i thought the two amps were pretty close in performance but as soon as we played cd's the onkyo was bigger sounding and more smoother and the amp just seemed to fill the room with music better.i never bought either one,instead i bought the onkyo 919.the 919,although not d/digital is still is pretty good on d/prologic.but it's in the cd music play were the 919 is way ahead.

Give me a break. What is it with people posting ones just because they don't like the site. Well, go somewhere else because you are part of the problem. Now, in dealing with the business at hand, IMHO, the Denon 5600 deserves at least 3 stars. The sound quality is really good but the price isn't. It is not the best anymore (see the 5700) and maybe the price will go down. In terms of Denon, I generally prefer the sound over Yamaha; however, in this case, I would have to say there there isn't as much difference. If you wait a year, you can find it on sale. At that point, the Denon would definitely deserve 4 stars. Of course, the other side of the coin is that those fancy features might be outdated. IMHO, I would recommend buying an older DD-Ready Denon (which is better than a comparable Yamaha) and upgrading the processor periodically. This would definitely be the best way to spend your money and get the best Denon sound available. The Denon deserves a 3 but I will add a star for each of the disgruntled visitors because in a year, it will deserve at least a 4.

I`ve done alot of homework on Receivers,Amps,processers ect.If your going to spend that kind of money on a Receiver your a fool.Upgrading is out of the question and you don`t get much from the amp if your speakers are somewhat ineffecient.You can get a good amp from ATI,PARASOUND just to name a very few.Processers are within reason for a good one if you do your shopping.I`ve had Denon,Yamaha,Onkyo Receivers and thats fine for a low powered system.Do yourself a favor and shop carefully before you dump that kind of money on a Receiver that will be obsolete well before a seperate system will.BEEN THERE DONE THAT.