Incredible Dynamic range,clarity and definition.

None, except for the owners manual.

I have owned one of these units now for about three weeks,and can only speak very highly of it.The first thing that struck me, after having removed it from it's shipping carton is the immediatelly apparant look of excellent workmanship and quality. Having owned McIntosh equipment in the past,where quality of workmanship and good looks is of paramount importance, it came as a welcome and pleasant surprise to see the same quality evident in the Denon.
Having made the necessary hook-ups, I sat back to hear if the unit measured up in sound, to it's quality appearance.
To say I was impressed would be an understatement. The incredible dynamic range, clarity and definition was indeed something to behold. For the first time in years, since owning a pair of Legacy Focus speakers, I could hear the incredibly clean and open midrange, of which the Legacy's are capable of. Dialogue in particular is excellent. Actually there was no single aspect of the sound, both with music and hometheater that was not absolutelly outstanding.
I am entirely convinced that Denon, with this model, has succeeded in closing the gap between separates and receivers for good.
I found that the top of the unit ran fairly warm to the touch. I solved this problem by obtaining a 12 volt D.C. computer fan from Radio Shack that I conected up to a little 7 volt D.C. transformer-(The kind usually used for supplying D.C. to small tape recorders or transistor radios.) The 7 volt output results in the fan not running full speed, thereby ensuring practical inaudibility. Placing four rubber feet on the four corners of the fan,enables me to place it right on top and slightly to the front of the unit, resulting in an excellent dissapation of the heat generated by the Denon.( I once read in some McIntosh literature, years ago, that every 10 degrees C. rise in temperature, results in a 50 percent cut insulation life expectancy.)
The only critisism I have is with the owners manual, which I suspect was translated from Japanese. The remote, allthough seemingly complicated at first, once masterred, is apleasure and a delight to use.
I therefore have no reserve in recomending this unit whole heartedly to any-one who still vallues quality and absolute state of the art performance.

Similar Products Used:

Only seperates.

Excellent features, Remote after 3.13 firmware up-date.

None

I don't know why everyone complains about how hard this unit is to set-up. It was very easy and rather straight forward. The remote is quite straight forward to program using a computer infact I like it better than my Marantz 5000i touch-pad. It is a very advanced piece of hardware with a ton of features so you would hope that their would be a lot of configuration settings. It takes time to get the hand of it if you are not handy with electronic gadgets but it is well worth the extra effort.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha RX-V995

1. Tremendous connectivity
2. Massive, undestorted power
3. Decodes almost all surround fomats with future ungradabilty.
4.Instruction manual is very detailed.
5.Remote is very powerful and versitile.(see summary).

1. Remote has a counter-intuitive set-up and operation.(see summary).
2. Volume level is very small on the display and is not displayed on the monitor.
3.There is no front video/audio hook up for camcorders or games.
4. There is only one sub-woofer pre-out.
5. Large size and hefty weight(~61 lbs).

I have owned an Onkyo 939 since 1997 and was very pleased with its performance. I felt it was time to upgrade since so many new surround formats are around now that I was unable to decode. The denon AVR 5800 is tremendous. Its soundfield is noticibly wider and deeper. The sound quality is improved as well (probably about 5-10%) which is saying alot at this level. Ive noticed that I can now hear and understand dialog better than I could with the onkyo.
I will say that the Denon was more difficult to set up than the onkyo. I still had the main unit up and working in less than an hour. The remote is a different story. The remote required 2 hours of "open book" study. Dont think you can figure this thing out without a manual. Once you pay your dues with it,I think you will see its virtues. Once I got the hang of it I threw my Marantz RC 2000 in the drawer and forgot about it. The remote comes with a charger base which doubles as an RF transmitter for multi-room operation.
The manuals as I said above are very detailed but are poorly written (translation?). Thus, I had to read some parts more than once. I feel the manuals are still acceptable.
Overall this is a fantastic unit with some minor shortcomings. Once you get used to working with this baby you will not want to go back. Face it, in this category of receivers there are very few players. There is the onkyo 989 which has good features but is marred by the dreaded fan noise. There is the Marantz SR 18 or 14 which are great but dont have 6.1 or 7.1 formats. To me if you want a top of the line receiver instead of separates this is the best way to go. I understand denon is close to releasing an improved 5800 (maybe a 5801 or 5900). This may mean bargan prices are close at hand on 5800.

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo 939

It has everything that any Home Theater connoisseur can demand .

I just believe that the manufacturer had to conserve the tape/monitor that the previous equipment had.

Simply excellent. It is the best receiver of the market. It has almost all the existing formats, and it has update capacity. Its power is good. With this equipment it´s really necesary to buy separated components?. The remote control is very good, although some aspects of edition could be better.(This could improve can be solved with the editing software that can be obtained in the Denon website). I really recommend this receiver to everyone who wants a powerful surround system, and the best home theater. In fact, I have proven other good marks like to Yamaha (DSP-A1 and RX-V1000), but only now my theater sounds powerfully well.

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Yamaha RX-V1000

everything, this product can do anything any other reciever can do just as good or better

manual is difficult to read but eventually you can figure it out

this is the best reciever money can buy. my friend bought this reciever and lent it to me for about a week. wow. i rarely left the house. thx is amazing, especially at 170 watts! dvds on this will give you an experience that is unmatchable. this reciever really does a lot, especially compared to my jvc entry level reciever. i could never afford something this nice but if u can, than go for it. this denon will give you years of enjoyment. ive had the chance to use a marantz sr-18ex and even that was not as good, (although still spectacular). if you are not sure about value, true, it is a darn good bit of money, but its worth it. just take it home, hook it up to nice speakers, and turn terminator 2 up to its peak and you will know just what i am talking about.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz SR-18 EX, B&K, other Denon products, Pioneer Elite

CLEAN POWER!!! DTS-ES Discrete, Number of Channels, Shouldn't be obsolete for the next five to ten years, Number of Connections, & HDTV pass-thru...

Price, and a piece of sh!t remote (for $600)...

When I finally recieved the Denon I almost broke my back trying to get it into my rack. It weighs 75lbs. Two hours later I had finally connected the whole thing and proceded to demo. First I played the sampler Super-Audio CD on my SACD player/DVD player (sony s9000es) and I was blown away. I used the pure-direct mode which dedicates two channels to analog playback. The sound was phenomenal. With my old sony DA555ES I wasn't impressed by the SACD format it didn't sound different than regular CD's but the additional power cleans up the sound...

For my hometheater system I utilized the extra four channels this reciever offers, two for the side and two for the discrete rear channel. I then played my only DTS-ES6.1 DVD and was impressed. The Denon has so much power to spare, it results in a huge dynamic range. In other words you leave the volume down and hear dialogue comfortably and have the room shake when the fight scenes come along. I have never heard a reciever do this alone.

I then spent the entire next day trying to figure out the damn remote control. All I can say is that it is a pain in the ass. The only thing it's good for, is to adjust the volume from different rooms (it has a UHF transmitter).

VERY IMPORTANT!!!

When I first got the reciever I noticed a high noise level in the background and I suspected the power cord. The Denon comes with a very cheap, two-pronged (no earth ground) power cord. Throw it away immediately. After I switched to a regular three prong cord all noise was eliminated.

CONCLUSION

This is the ultimate HT reciever, absolutely perfect for a large HT. It has great analog playback. It is upgradeable via an RS232 connection. If you have the money buy this baby. If you can't afford it then look at the lower end Denon or Pioneer products...

Thanks,
Chris

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Sony DA555ES

power, versatility,

remote sow and cumbersome

I have ended my search forht eunit of my dreams. I am very picky about my sound and I want every available feature out there to date. This unit has allowed me the honor of sitting back and listening with mere satisfaction. I thought Onkyo was the unit of choice but was taled into trying this monster @ the local electronic store. I am hooked on the sound. This unit sounds like separates and has the versatility to make even the most primitive of analog sounds to sound great. I like the fact that the THX is voluntary and you can even get it in an analog playback. I have had it for more than a month now and am pleased the way it never becomes pass'e in my 17 by 22 family room. I think this is the ultimate sound. I was a bit pricy but after waiting a while and bargaining for a few months, I got mine for 2500. I think anyone who really is into sound and detail sound will be satisfied. The only prblem I had was with the remote. Iwished it was just a plain remote with on screen and maybe an LCD display. I hate to have to go to a unit then work the controls. I got over it though. the sound won me over. Me! Someoen who has reviewed over ten units in the past five months. The 4800 is great, but the 5800 is temporary perfection. They claim you will be able to download new features from the internet someday. I don't see them making this available anytime soon. I spoke with several Denon officials who seem to hint they might be coming out with a 5801 by the end of the year.

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onkyo 919

Velvet but clear sound. Upgrade path.

None

I had two top of the line Yamaha amps, and I was very satisfied with them... until I heard the Denon. Forget about the bright that cut your ears, and rediscover the goodness of a controlled and warm bass. Listen it in "direct" mode and compare it to a good 2 channels amplifier. Can you hear a difference so clearly? I heard a true difference only with the AM Audio of my friend. But we talk of a stereo only, true italian, high end amplifier!!! If you hear a top of the line Marantz PM-17 or something like that I doubt you'll find it sounding better. Note that I'm taking about 2 channels "direct" mode. I think that the best way to determine if a multi channel amplifier sounds good is to test it with well recorded CD's in stereo mode. Of course all the other "gadgets" like DTS ES and Surround EX is good and works the best way I ever heard. I have a set of Sonus Faber speakers (italians again) and the matching with the japanese is very, very good. So, use it with neutral sounding speakers and you'll be satisfied. I cant wait until the day a firewire upgrade will be avaiable, so I'll use the internal DAC's for DVD Audio!!! In three words: buy or die.

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha DSP-A1 and DSP-AX1

Power, built, 7 channel stereo, DTS 7.1,THX ES,Dolby Digital, Rear panel connection lay out and DENON reputation.

None!! Just a few minor things, like the manual front control panel I wish it was powered and the volume control, I wish it had a red light indicator on the volume knob.

This is the best A/V Receiver in the market, period!!The only thing better than this is seperates, but you will pay $6,000 and above. Plus the set up of seperates will be a pain in the butt. Buying seperates is a pain by itself, you have to do your homework and be sure that the different components blend together well. Why bother??? Go for the Denon AVR 5800.
I was impressed with the 5600. The 5700 was better, but the 5800 is just the best.
The Onkyo 989 comes in a distance 2nd place. The Denon is just built better and more powerful. Denon in this department is 2 steps ahead of Onkyo. I like both companies, but everytime Denon comes out with something new, Onkyo takes a while to come close. When Denon came out with the 5600 model Onkyo came out with the 939 model. When Denon came out with the 5700, Onkyo pulled the 939 out of the market, they suddenly stop making the 939 and had no replacement to compete with the Denon 5700. Then Denon came out with the beast 5800 and Onkyo had to make the 989 model.
Both models are the best in the market, but Denon is just better. I won't even bring up Yamaha or Pioneer Elite. The only thing that it will take you a while to get used to is the remote control. I have to admit it's better and looks better than the remotes on the 5600 & 5700 models (which were the same) but kinda complicated at first, but the remote just like the receiver is loaded.

My H/T:
Denon Avr 5800
Bose 901 series VI
Bose 701
Polk PSW 500 power subwoofer
Polk CS-400I Center Channel
Infinity Micro II Rear speakers
Sony dvp-7000 DVD player
JVC HR-9800 Super VHS VCR
Harman Kardon CDR 30 CD player/Burner
Kenwood 24 band spectrum graphic equalizer
Sony XBR 61" BIG CREEN TV (SONY XBR'S ROCKS!!!)

Similar Products Used:

Denon 5600, Denon 5700, Onkyo 939 and Onkyo 989.

Ample, Clean Power, More inputs then one would ever need. Component Video switching at 50 hz for HDTV

Remote ? (Could be considered cumbersome by a few), Volume control and display is too small to read, No on screen volume control, Single Sub output

This unit certainly isn't a peice of crap as suggested by the President of the large company of 3 AV consultants from New York, but then again what do we low lifes know about good AV gear ? As we can't afford the antiquated gear from the companies that they own. Funny there was no reference to the gear in his post. He's either a teenager who can't afford the Denon or an employee of a competing company probably Pioneer or Sony. Any way, sorry buit I just had to get this in.

On to the review....

This unit is absolutely loaded with more inputs then one will ever need. 3 Coax inputs, 8 Optical inputs, 3 sets of 50 hz component video inputs for HDTV video switching. 8 Video inputs (LD, DVD, VAUX, TV, DBS/SAT, VCR1,2,3), 3 Audio inputs (CD, Tape 1CDr, Tape 2/MD), 2 Multi room inputs, 2 8 channel inputs for DVD Audio, SACD or whatever, 11 binding post terminals for speakers (2 sets of rears and 1 or 2 channel Rear Center). The unit can operate with both sets of surrounds at the same time. I don't know about you but getting 6 speakers and a sub into my room was hard enough, asking my wife for 2 more would certainly land me in divorce court.

The unit is rated at 170 WPC but I don't buy it as when I compare it's power output to the Denon 5700, the audio DB's are near identical when at -20, -10 and 0 DB, my guess is it's still the same 140 WPC that we've seen for the past 5 years, not that this is bad. 140 WPC is more then enough for most of us !

The 5800 is a solid AV receiver for movies. Dialog is crisp and clear. Regardless of which type of movies you watch, you'll find that you won't have to fiddle with the various speaker volumes. I also found this to be true with the 5600 and the 5700. With the Pioneer Elite and Yamaha RX-V1 units, I was forever adjusting the center channel volume to accomodate different movies due to the fact that the dialog would sometimes be too quiet or to loud based on the theme of the movie. The 5800 does not show signs of being bright or harsh like the Yamaha and Pioneer Elite units do.

The subwoofer output on the Denon is not as strong as it is on the Yamaha but is a tad more refined. I set my sub X over at 80 hz and set the volume to no more then 3 with the Yamaha and on the Denon I need to go to almost 5 for the same type of output, but again the bass is more refined and I guess in a word tighter. The Denon only has a single mono inpout for sub out, which isn't a big deal given that the signal going to the sub is monoral anyway, but where the Yamaha one ups the Denon is that it has 2 inputs. This is great if you have more then 1 sub. I get around this by just daisy chaining the subs off one another with the Denon.

The remote is nice, but it's not a Philips Pronto. It takes some getting used to and frankly many won't get used to it and will abandon it. Many of the remote codes won't work for other devices and some of the functionality is also missing from these devices so don't toss your original remotes.

If you have more then 1 HD receiver, then you'll like the fact that it can switch your HDTV DBS receivers through this unit as many TV's only allow 1 set of 50 hz Component inputs, this is a nice feature.

On the not so positive side, but certainly not show stoppers...

I wish Denon would go back to the big red numbers to display the volume. I sit about 15 ft away from the unit and can't see anything on the display and without volume control on screen it makes it impossible to know how loud the unit is. I like setting the volume to - 20 for any movie. This is more then enough volume, and in order to do this, I must get up and do it. Again not a big deal.

On the 5800, Denon chose to no longer display channel outputs. This was nice when playing a Dolby Digital DVD that was not 5.1 material as the unit would display all channels being output. The 5800 does tell you when it senses a rear center channel though or DTS signal or even a DTS ES signal, which by the way the signal detect light will only light up when a DTS ES signal is present not when a THX Surround EX signal is present, so don't drive yourself nuts asking where's the light with my Perfect Storm DVD.

Multi Room 2 can use the internal amps for the rear center channels, which frankly would make better sense if they chose to use the rear surround B's instead. I think the liklihood of users using the rear center channel is stronger then those who want to use 2 sets of surrounds at the same time. So what this means is that if you us the unit to drive a bedroom or patio/ outside area, you'll be buying another AMP or reconfiguring the 5800 each time you want to drive the other zone. Just my thoughts. I chose to buy another AMP for my patio.

All in all this unit is indeed nice and has no major flaws or show stoppers. Don't pay full retail for this unit. Authorized Denon resellers have alot of play on this unit as dealer cost is about $ 2200 to give them $ 1600 in pure profit would be silly. These units can be bought daily from authorized dealers for between $ 2600 and $ 2800 so again do your home work, and whatever you do don't buy from non authorized dealers who claim to be authorized or better yet give you their own warranty. Guys this unit weighs 70 lbs. To ship this unit across country for the purposes of getting it repaired by these stores who offer their own warranty would be expensive ($ 100 or more), not the mention the risk with shipping such a large bulky item.

Non authorized retailers on the web that come to mind are:

Downtown Audio ( always on EBAY)
Crazy Eddies
AVI Electronics ( Despite what they say they aren't, although they do have a store front under the name of Film and Music which is) ** The invoice still says AVI Electronics though**)

Yuor invoice is proof to Denon or an Authorized Denon reseller if you need repair. Be smart.

Similar Products Used:

Denon AVR 5700, Yamaha RX-V1