I recently upgraded from my Sony 50ES to this super piece of equipment. It is connected to my Paradigm Studio 80 speakers (fronts), and studio 40's (rear) and the 5 channel stereo sounds hot. That alone is awesome.

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

Which is better the Denon 5700 or the Marantz SR-18? Any thoughts? I can't decide which one to buy.

Larry, this is a page for receiver reviews and OPINIONS. This is not the seperates section. While Yamaha and Denon are both good receivers, people are intitled to giving their likes and dislikes. There will always be people bashing units," usually the ones they dont own". A credible review is obvious and a bash is even more obvious. Take it easy, some folks dont have the space or extra dough for seperates, and besides there is no way you can buy seperates that will exceed the performance of todays high end receivers for the same amount of money.

Well, it was after great anticipation that I finally got my new Denon 5700. Read all the specs I could get my hands on, and was convinced that this was the reciever for me. The dealer called me when he got it in, and I flew to his location to pick it up. I have had it set up for a week now, and I am disapointed with it to say the least. The first thing that I did was listed to some music. I put on some 10,000 Maniacs, and It sounded good, not great, but it still wasn't broken in yet. I then watched parts of the Air Force One DVD from my Sony 7700 DVD player, and was amazed at the Digital processing power of the Denon. It sounded incredible. I then noticed that there was a hiss coming from the center channel speaker that I never noticed from in the showroom. It didn't make any difference how loud the volume was up. The hiss level stayed the same. It was loud. Loud enough that I could hear it during quiet passages during the movie. With the THX 5.1 mode on, the hiss was all but absent. I believe that it is because THX bypasses the tone control circuit in the Denon. With no db of gain in the tone, the receiver didn't make a sound. Problem is with that feature on, my B&W Matrix 805's didn't sound all that great without about 4db of treble gain. The dealer is going to get me another one to try. I don't think that a reciever in this price rage should make a SOUND coming from electronics. Ill let you know what happens with the new one.

HelloDoes anyone know where I can get a great price, and still get factory warranty? Thanks---please email me at rwalsh@umich.edu

I just got my denon a week ago and I love it. I traded my dsp-a1 in because it sounded just awful and 3dsp-a1s later, the sound did not improve. I have always loved yamaha but I guess they just don't buld them like they use to. I also got the b@k 202 after the A-1 it was alot better but it was still not what I wanted just yet. My sales man told me to give the denon a try I was little sceptical at first but what the hell what do I have to lose. I am sooooooooo glad I did,this thing soundes so good. I love the 5ch stereo mode I can't say much for the "THX" mode but hey nothings perfict if there was such a thing the 5700 whould be it. I give it 5 for sound 5 for over all quatly.

i enjoy the denon products. but after listening to the 5700 next to the sony 50es i bought the 50es. similar power and features. but to me the sony sounded better with my paradigm reference speakers in both 2 channel, dolby digital and dts. and when you consider the denon costs 3 times as much(real world pricing) its just not worth it. any seperates will sound better then a receiver so wouldnt make sense to me to buy the denon 5700 with so many decent seperates for similar money. a prime example is the sherwood-newcastle 9080 preamp and 5 channel amp which sells for simialr money to denon but seperates.3 stars for sound but im judging on common sense, and common sense says this receiver isnt worth the cash since it has priced itself into seperates territory.
i just read a review of the b&k top receiver. the reveiwer hooked up an adcom amp to its preouts(and adcoms arnt nothing to write home about) and the reviewer even said even the adcom amp gave new life to the receiver. so my point is that once you get over the 1500 dollar range go seperates.

I spent a month listening to the AVR 5700 and DSP-A1. When is comes to DSP, The Yamaha has all the bells and whistles... and sounds great. But I wanted the best theater experience I could create in a single box solution. After hearing both on Polk, Definitive Technology, Mirage, and Paradigm systems, I made my decision. The AVR 5700, to me, re created the theater experience with greater detail and clarity. The features and functionality were an added bonus. I'm not a huge fan of DSP modes, because they color the sound in ways that are sometimes really good, and sometimes just plain terrible. The DSP-A1 included. Besides ProLogic, DD, DTS, and THX (sometimes!!!) processing, I'm not really interested in altering my sound fields to make my room sound like a night club or stadium. I do like the 5 channel stereo mode on the Denon. It doesn't color the sound, just moves it to more speakers. And it is pretty cool.
But the big thrill was when my buddy came over who owns a lexicon. His ears perked up, his eyes widened, and he said this receiver gives his $3800 pre amp a run for it's money! He has 8k invested in speakers, amp, and pre-amp. I have $3700 in speakers and my AVR 5700. I'm very happy with my investment and look forward to using it for at least the next 5 years.

I've had mine for 2 weeks now, and one word describes the 5700 - AMAZING!!!
Everything sounds so wonderful - CDs, DVDs, DirecTV... Heck - even my old turntable sounds great again!

I was listening to an old Don McLean song I haven't heard in years - Chain Lightning - brought tears to my eyes because it sounded so fresh and new...

The sound totally fills the room even when running in direct mode from a CD.

Don't get me started on the DVD performance. The Eagles' Hell Freezes Over in DTS was incredible.

One note - I found that the 5700 needed a few days of "break in" before it hit its peak. I know solid state stuff should be OK right out of the box, but I swear that the performance drastically improved after a week or so...