I love the Denon 5700. Had it for a few months now with my NHT2.9's. Amazing sound and clarity for both music and movies. I use it more for movies though. As for the previous post, sounds like a dealer to me. I got mine for 2100.00 and many others have gotten similar deals. 2350.00 plus shipping - a deal? I think not.

I would like to say that this is the best surround sound receiver on the market hands down. At 140Wx5, which is a fairly conservative rating, this has the most clean power in a receiver that you're going to find. Don't let any salesman in any big chain store try to tell you that Onkyo is even close. This is the REAL DEAL! If you're looking for the best, you just found it. Save yourself the time and agony of looking any further, unless you're considering about $10,000 in separates.Also, on a more personal note, for all you guys who buy all you're gear via the web, please do your research on the web as well. Please don't go into your local stereo shop and yolk the poor salesman for hours knowing you aren't going to buy from him. His time is valuable. Put yourself in their shoes next time you're considering doing that. Thank you.

Excellent sound quality for both music and movies. The sound quality is noticeably better than with the Denon AVR-3200 and Millenium DTS pre-amp which I had before, but the improvement is not huge (the AVR-3200 is very good already.) There's a significant improvement in the bass. Some minor gripes:- There's no button on the unit for switching from standby to on; you have to do it with the remote. The only way to turn it on without the remote is by turning it off and then on. This can be annoying sometimes.
- The receiver doesn't switch automatically from stereo mode to surround mode when a DTS CD is played after a stereo CD (and vice versa). You have to press a button on the remote (or the unit itself) to select the correct mode (stereo or surround).
- The THX processing doesn't seem to be useful (but I've tried it with only a few DVDs so far.)
- The remote could be better.

Bottom line: excellent and highly recommended!

I've had the 5700 for about 1 month and I love it. The sound is very naturaland has the power I needed for home theater. For the price It's a great deal. This unit is very clear and defined. The remote works very well for me - controls all my electronics.. dvd, ld, tv, satellite.

System:

Front: Klipsch 10.5 synergy towers
Surround: Klipsch KSF-S5
Center: Klipsch KSF-C5
Sub: Paradigm PS1000

DVD - Panasonic A310
LD - Pioneer CLD 504d

It Rocks!!

The Denon AVR-5700 is simply superb! Like several others listed in this forum, I initially had a problem where one of the surround channels produced horribly distorted audio. HOWEVER, this is a trivial problem to fix!!! To ANYONE who purchases a AVR-5700, the first time you plug the unit in, simply reset the unit before you do anything else (as noted on page 54 of the manual). This receiver has one very small problem. It contains a backup power source which will maintain system settings for up to a week when it is not plugged in (good!). However, if it has been unplugged for a week, as will usually be the case with a new unit, the unit does not always properly detect the powerfail condition, and the CPU and DSPs can run without ever getting initialized. This can result in distorted channels, no surround sound, garbled surround sound, failing surround modes, channel noise, etc. To fix this, just hold down the Direct and Stereo front-panel buttons while applying power. That's it! With this simple step, the AVR-5700 will produce sound quality which is simply stunning.
The flexibility and power of this receiver makes it an ideal basis for a serious home theater system, and it is performing exceptionally for me - I recommend it highly!

Best Regards,
Mark

Equipment List:
Denon AVR-5700 (Upgraded from a Sony DA90ESG)
Definitive Technology BP 2000 Mains
Definitive Technology CLR 2000 Center
Definitive Technology BPX Surrounds
Sony CDP-EX70ES CD
Sony DVP-S7000 DVD
Sony SAT-A2 DSS (soon RCA DTC-100 HDTV)
DVDO iScan (TView Quadscan on the way)
Hughes/JVC G1000 D-ILA Projector
VuTec 120" Screen (Draper M2500 coming)

I have had the Denon AVR-5700 for a couple of months now and am extremely pleased. It was more expensive than I originally went shopping for but was worth every cent. As far as comparing to the Yamaha DSP A-1, there is a local dealer where I live who allowed me to take both of these units home at the same time and compare them side by side. It was a close call as far as sound and build quality. Both are excellent. It came down to 2 things for me: a built in tuner and the 5 channel stereo mode, which is NOT a DSP mode as some on here have tried to claim. It adds absolutely no DSP effects to the stereo input. It only duplicates the input onto the surround and center speakers. My dealer was only charging $250 more for the Denon over the Yamaha, and I thought that was very reasonable for the added tuner and 5 channel mode.
As a side note, if you scroll down through the reviews here, have you noticed that the people who actually OWN a 5700 have almost unanimously given this unit 5 stars? Enough said!

I've had the 5700 for about 4 months now. Decided it was time to get intohome theater, so I swapped out my preamp/poweramp combo for this unit. Really wanted seperates, but it would have cost at least $6000 for interconnects, tuner, surround sound preamp, and 5 channel power amp that would sound noticebly better than the 5700 when listening to music. For Home Theater, though, I doubt the seperates would sound much better than the 5700 unless you have an extremely large living room and so need a powerful 5 channel power amplifier. Denon's digital/analog conversion and surround sound processing is state of the art.

I think that the DSP-A1 has a little better value, but you still have to buy a tuner if you listen to the radio. I didn't want a seperate chassis for the tuner. I've always felt that if you're going to seperate reciever modules, you should put the power amplifier in a seperate box and leave the preamp and tuner together, like Adcom does.

I think the DSP-A1 and 5700 are very close in performance and either are valid choices. As others have commented, I felt the Yamaha had a slightly bright sound and the Denon sounded a bit warm. Yamaha does multi-channel music DSP very well, but I like 2 channel music.

If your looking for an AV reciever with excellent Home Theater performance, and good to very good 2 channel music performance, try the Denon AVR 5700.

Do not waste your money on this receiver or the dsp-a1. Buy seperates and you will be much happier. Try acurus or anthem. They will sound much better (larger sound stage) and will cost only a few dollars more. Enjoy...As for a comparison between the denon 5700 and the yamaha dsp-a1 buy the dsp-a1 it has a much better processor of the two and all you would have to do is buy a nice two channel amp for music say the Anthem mca 2 multi channel amp for around $700.00 and you will blow the denon 5700 out of the water everytime...

Hay GDS Do you still recon DSP A1 is better than AVR 5700. This is the best receiver in the HT Market at present.
I was a proud owner of a DSP A1 until I auditioned this one from DENON.
I gave away my A1 at half the price I paid for it for this baby.
DSP A1 is excellent A/V Amp, but is no match for 5700 and
it outclass A1 in every aspect of HT. Better Sound in Movies,
Better Sound in Music, More Power with less distortion and top up this
with a DAC which is not available in most of the seperates.
I will buy this baby for the DAC alone. Given all the flexibility and
the use two seperate sets of Surrounds for Music and Movies,
plus 5 channel stereo, this will more than satisfy the hardest critics.

Had the 5700 for a week now and I'm very pleased with it. Listening to music in stereo and 5 channel stereo compares favorably with the separates that I had. The 5 channel stereo is particularly enjoyable for me as a new way to listen to music. Set up was easy and the remote is quite functional. DVD watching, particularly in the THX mode, has been amazing. I highly recommend this receiver for anyone wanting a functional, attractive, and fun to use central nervous system for audio and visual entertainment.