Hissing is not normal in 5700. I hear no hissing whatsoever in the 5700. I hear no hissing in quiet passages. So I will put the 5th star back to a 4 star rating that the previous reviewer agreed to but chose to put 1 star for his experience. The Denon does not hiss. Sorry you had such a bad experience. But your experience does not represent all 5700's. Rate the product not an isolated experience.

The Denon AVR 5700 is an excellent all-in-one box solution for those not willing to break the bank to purchase separates. Having said this, I must be the most unlucky Denon owner ever!! My first unit generated what I thought to be an above normal(considering the cost of this receiver, about $4000 Canadian) hiss from all five channels that I could definitely pick up when watching movies with quiet passages. So I had my dealer take it back to Denon to get a technician to check it out. When I got the receiver back (Denon found the noise level to meet factory specs), within 2 days, I noticed a very loud mechanical noise coming from the rear of the unit--by the fan--when the unit got warm, which sounded very much like the drill at my dentist's office. Naturally, I asked for and got a replacement unit. The second unit lasted about four days before the volume control on the front panel of the unit completely locked up on me. At this point, I started to wonder what the heck was going on?? My dealer quickly apologized for the bad volume control on my second unit and offered to swap it for a third unit insisting that Denon's quality record was very good and that my experience with the 5700 was an isolated case. I foolishly accepted, thinking that three times would be lucky, but unfortunately I was wrong. The third AVR 5700 only lasted three days before the volume control locked up yet again. Trying hard not to slam the 5700, I think that I have every right to be upset at Denon's poor quality control!! I mean come on now, a bad volume control on two units in a row??? I could get a $20 transistor radio from Radio Shack that would have a longer lasting volume control!! Pretty poor quality considering that the 5700 is the flagship unit that Denon stakes its reputation on. All things considered, I still think that the AVR 5700 and the Yamaha DSP A1 are two of the very best that you can buy short of buying separates.
I rate the 5700 as a four star product when working properly!! The reason why I took a star off was because of the noticeable hissing noise from the speakers that the Denon produces.Denon says this hissing noise is normal, but I disagree, especially when they're charging $2800US ($4000 Canadian) for this receiver. Based on my particular experience with this product, I have to give it only one star, since I paid top dollar for what was supposed to be a top-flight product , but intead, got 3 bad units in a row with the most ridiculous problems.

Fortunately, my dealer refunded my money so that I could use it towards the purchase of higher quality separates. I now have a McIntosh MSD4 Pre/Pro paired up with the new Parasound HCA 2205A 5 channel power amp and could not be more pleased!!

The rest of my system consists of:

B&W CDM 1SE book shelf speakers (2 pairs, front and rear)
B&W CDM CSE center channel
M&K MX 200 powered subwoofer
AudioQuest Indigo Plus speaker cables for the front, and Type 6 for the rear
Straight Wire Rhapsody II interconnects (for CD player)
MIT Terminator 3 digital coax for DVD player
Sony DVP S7700 DVD player
Denon DCM 460 CD changer
Sony KP 48S35 projection TV

I listened to this unit this weekend at my local retail store.The build quality on this unit it very low. It has a cheap thin plastic door panel, cheap bass/treble/balance knobs, terrible ergonomics and overall flimsy look to it. The Denon 5700 was sitting next to the B&K AVR 202 and Yamaha DSP A1. Both of the other units looked and felt so much nicer.
I said to myself, don't judge a book by its cover. So I took a listen.
While the unit sounded good, it had an unusually large amount of hiss eminating from the center channel that I did not hear in either of the other 2 units.
I was also unimpressed by the forward nature of the tonal balance and felt it sounded harsh at times.
I do not recommend this unit at its price point. I feel the B&K and Yamaha are better sounding and better built machines.
I would pick the B&K AVR 202 first if music is your primary concern and the Yamaha DSP A1 second if you are more into home theater DSP. In any application, I would not choose the Denon 5700.

This is directed at Jeff. I don't know where DENON AVC-A1d fits in Australian A/V Market. As you say Australian Market is very small and anything over $5000 is considered as high end products. If anyone can afford to pay $5600 for an integrated a/v amp can easily put another couple of thousand bucks and go into seperates at entry level ( which is still better than Integrated stuff ). I have auditioned this unit from DENON and to me it does not sound like $6000 and I am not a Yamaha DSP a1 user like most other reviewers trying to compare the two. I have seperates and will not consider DENON becuase it is not good value for money. What I heard from the sales person at store is that they are finding it very difficult to convince the potential buyers for this unit because of the high price. According to him, the few units they sold are upgrades for people who already have DENON's. To me this sounds like a good a/v amp, but for $5600 !! No thank you.

Denon 5700
This is in reference to Simon's review. Huh??????
I have the 5700 and love it and can understand differences of opinion but, huh?
Next time try to make some sense.

I will agree that a home theater system comprised of high-end separates may sound better than the ARV-5700. However, not all separates will outperform the Denon unit. I have owned separates (Parasound) and when shopping for more up-to-date technologies (DD and DTS), I evaluated very carefully a number of separates-based systems. Several systems could not outperform the AVR-5700; those that did cost nearly twice as much for the preamp/processer alone (Meridian 561, Theta Casa Nova, among others). Larger companies (Denon, Yamaha, Sony) are more likely to offer significant discounts on their products than smaller U.S. or Canadian high-end companies. It is already possible to find the AVR-5700 discounted 20% or more from list. One must factor in 2.5 pairs of interconnects for separates as well. Finally, the AVR-5700 does offer an upgrade path; if one requires superior amplification, then one can add a separate five channel amplifier. Bottom line: separates are not always better and are nearly always more expensive than even a relatively expensive home theater receiver.

Great sound, the most versatile Receiver out there, the smartest remote 140 watts at 8 ohms and 186 at 4 ohms.
What else you want?

This is the best.

Jon, the reviewer below, reads as poorly as he writes. He is misreading SURROUND MODE for SURROUND SPEAKERS in the Denon manual. The power output is measured at 20Hz to 20kHz for the STEREO mode (140W x 2ch) and ALL 5 SPEAKERS are measured for power output at 1kHz, the SURROUND MODE, and measure 140W x 5ch (8 ohms).
It's sad....the level of immaturity and ignorance on this site seems to be growing, a reflection of the entire country.

Yamaha puts out a terrific product. I seriously considered the DSP-A1 when shopping for my new receiver, as most who have purchased the 5700 have. I'd be happy with a DSP-A1 too, but I prefer the Denon.

To put an end to the amateur bantering, read the review of the 5700 in the May issue of Sound & Vision (formerly Stereo Review). The review might also be on their website, which is www.soundandvisionmag.com. We all know the Yamaha has received great reviews since it came out.

This cyber pi--ing match is obviously going to go on endlessly.

I've owned a 5700 for a couple of months. It' a fine, quirk-free receiver. It puts out EQUAL POWER to all channels, including the surrounds. The only limiting factor as to how LOUD the surrounds are is the source. Most movie directors know why they're called SURROUNDS, and they're are not SUPPOSED to be as dominate as the main, front speakers....but if that's what you want, you can easily crank up the level of the surrounds with the remote. There are numerous ways to tell if the surrounds are putting out as much sound as the fronts. The easiest way is to use the Test Tone feature built into the receiver. If your surrounds aren't the same as, or as efficient as, your fronts, then turn them up! It works beautifully. I watched "Crimson Tide" last night and was totally enveloped and "surrounded" with wonderful, clear, detailed sound and chest-thumping bass. The remote works everything I own and is easy to learn and use. If I didn't like the 5700, I could easily sell it or put it aside and buy something else. There's no reason to...it's a great piece of equipment that, for me, has been trouble-free. By the way, spelling and grammar count in these reviews.

The 5700 is for the person that likes things lound and warm. It is a good amp with allot of thought put into it. The only problem is its lack of soundstage and depth. It makes every speaker that i have every heard it on into a a wall of sound. Everyone sounds like thier are lined up and singing in a line. In home theater the rears must be turned up because the power sent to them is not the same as the power to the fronts. The rears are rated at 1k and fronts are 20-20 giving the rears statement of 150 a little overated. I think that if you want to spend this much money go with seprates. The sony 9000 combo is a great deal, but if you want somthing a little cheaper go with the dspa1. The 5700 also is having major repair problems. I have seen 5 broken ones all with diffrent problems from broken displays to bad decoding chips. If a person does not like to hear every little detial and perfers more of a warmer sound or likes rocking out to 5 channel stereo for some ungodly reason go with the 5700