Video Asylum

I'm considering the Denon AVR-3808ci for myself

205.240.11.90

This Post Has Been Edited by the Author

In Reply to: RE: Home Theater Receiver Recommendation -- Under $1500 posted by SRMcGee on October 31, 2007 at 18:11:14

I won't be able to do any meaningful "audition" prior to buying, but here's why this model interests me:

Plenty of HDMI 1.3 inputs
DTS HD Master Audio
Dolby TrueHD
Manageable weight and bulk

In person, it looks uncluttered, the controls and the front door feel pretty solid.

The sample at Ultimate Electronics didn't have too much ventilation above it, and it was quite warm, as were all the other receivers in the room.

This model has an ethernet jack, can be administered via it's internal web site, and plays streaming audio. I generally would not care, but as I thought about it, I began to like the idea that I might be able to configure the receiver via a web brower rather than some small buttons on the front panel and a tiny display. In fact, it doesn't appear that the receiver needs to be particularly accessible so long as it's within line of sight of the remote control.

Yes it has far more power than I need (15w/ch would be generous for me), and a tuner too, but that seems to be unavoidable with this class of component.

At the moment, neither my Sony PS/3 nor my Toshiba HD-A20 appears able to output the lossless TrueHD or DTS HD Master Audio tracks via HDMI, but the components that I get in the future sure will (3rd gen Toshibas do)

To date I've browsed online at offerings from:

Cambridge
Meridian
Naim
Lexicon
Mark Levinson
Halcro
Kenwood
Bang & Olufsen
Linn
NAD
Rotel
* Pioneer Elite
* Sony ES
* Marantz
Outlaw
JVC
Panasonic

* = offers HDMI 1.3, TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio

Follow Ups: