Nothing But Marketing Hype
Written: Mar 21 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Marketing Hype, Base Response, Tuner, Quiet Background during Music Playback
Cons: REMOTE, REMOTE and REMOTE, Weak Prologic Mode, Sibilance in Female Vocals, Lack of Warmth in Music Reproduction
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| riverside71's Full Review: Denon AVR-3300 5.1 Channels Receiver |
I purchased the Denon AVR-3300 after being unlucky with two Onkyo Receivers. The TX-DS575 seemed weaker in supplying power to the rears. I upgraded to the TX-DS777 which was better but had the same annoying hiss from all channels, not to mention source bleeding on both units.
I was desperate to try anything, so all the rave reviews and consumer admiration of the Denon AVR-3300 forced me to give it a try.
I have to admit the sound was the most disappointing of the three receivers I have tried so far. Everybody seems to extol the virtues of the many connectivity options this receiver offers.. NO one admits that it lacks an important digital out!! As some users have commented, the component video feature isn't compatible with some TV's. The speaker connections are not spaced properly. (this is due to less width and depth of the chassis and the availability of an extra set of A/B speaker output all crammed into the little space.
My speaker setup isn't all that expensive and fancy. But it's MY setup so any receiver that didn't fit into it wasn't for me, no matter what the critics said.. That understood, I started hooking it up.
Setup was easy and although a lot of people find the manual to be not all together great, I thought it was ok. Front display is more refined than other receivers on the market, the dimmer function has more 'steps' to it. BUT all of us sit at least 6 - 8 ft away from the receiver and at that distance I realized the text was too small to read.
Then I got ready to operate the remote and realized I needed at least 3 hands to be able to even start using it! It's the MOST horrible piece of equipment that Denon has tried to pass on as a remote! SLIDER SWITCHES on a remote in Year 2000??? come on Denon!! give us a break? after paying $800+ on a piece of audio equipment, the least I expect in a remote is simplicity and functionality.. I'll live if it's not backlit.. I'll survive if it doesn't have 10+ macros.. but a simple operation of switching to work with the TV and back to the receiver takes around 6 finger strokes which includes sliding of two slider switches!
Connections made! I turned on the Tuner.. Nice Clean Tuner Section. Plus 40 memory banks which I used the remote to quickly auto tune. Good clear reception. Just one issue that I couldn't change channels easily since it requires the remote to be able to do it..
I turned on the On Screen Display. Quick scrolling and easy navigation. So far so good. Set up the speaker sizes, distances, levels. Also set the subwoofer. There isn't more tuning you can do on this section as opposed to the Onkyo TX-DS777 which lets you tailor u'r subwoofer response.. I later discovered why.. because the Denon Kicks Ass in it's base response.. my sub came to life and I had to cut my subwoofer's volume to half from the sub's amp in order to balance the music.. the AVR-3300 definitely had the best Base Response of all the receivers.
Moving to Dolby Prologic Mode with my TV as the source through the analog inputs.. what was THIS??? I knew the material playing WAS Dolby Surround but the receiver only directed ALL sound to the center channel.. this went on for some time.. but as soon as I changed channels.. the rears suddenly came alive!! I listened to it some more and soon all sound slowly died down and converged back into the center channel.. I decided to investigate. Using the OSD, I cut the center channel sensitivity to -12db. It was the lowest I could get.. just to be able to hear what was being directed to the other channels.. and what a surprise everything just seemed to die down. Even the sub was muffled. It HAD to be some problem with MY unit!! How come people don't notice it?? Or maybe no one really listens to Dolby Prologic!
I plugged in a Pro Logic VHS tape and played it.. with similar results.. although this time I had clear sound in the rears but the overall effect was definitely quite disappointing. Most of my listening is done in Dolby Prologic, VHS rentals and TV telecasts.. I plan to rent a DVD once or maybe twice a week and listen to my CD's maybe once a day when I'm in the mood. So Dolby Prologic Decoding is important to me.. This receiver had the crummiest Dolby Prologic Decoding I've witnessed yet.
On to Dolby Digital and things were better.. clear decoding and great sound as you might expect.. most noticeable was the great bass response.. explosions were not loud but clear! I had to constantly fiddle with my volume knob on the sub to reduce it to match the setup.. quite impressive.
I popped in a DTS audio CD and the receiver handled it well too.. but I wasn't going to do critical listening with that. I just wanted to see the switching capability of the receiver and it detected the digital source from the TOSLINK interface quite well switching efficiently between the Prologic on the DVD Menu to Dolby Digital during the movie to DTS on the audio CD.
Time for the true test of the amplifier.. Stereo Music with Female vocals and Piano with mostly clear background.. Not much of bass or drums.. The receiver made me want to do something to it to get the sound I wanted.. it lacked the soundstage height.. no depth in the vocals at all! in fact a distinct sibilance on the high notes! This has been acknowledged by all worthy 'audiophiles' in their reviews of the AVR-3300, but surprisingly NO one thinks it's a big deal and they continue to give great ratings to the receiver. I think it's a drawback. The lack of warmth and reality in the sound is not to my liking. I moved my speakers around to achieve something that was missing from the music but failed. The background was very silent and clean. I appreciate that but really I can't sacrifice a warm enveloping sound for that!
That was the final nail in the coffin. No matter what everyone says and rates this receiver as.. with the BAD remote, weak Dolby Prologic Decoding.. and definitely not the greatest reproduction of female vocals and highs, this receiver was going back to where it came from and I was going to be receiver-less again in my search for the better sounding receiver under $1000.
If u'r going to buy the AVR-3300, make sure you do an A/B comparison with the Onkyo TX-DS777, Yamaha RX-V995 and the Marantz SR-7000 and listen to your favourite music before you make your decision. Trust u'r ears, if you like what the Denon AVR-3300 is offering, then it's definitely the receiver for you!
My speakers aren't the top of the line, but that's what my budget and listening taste allowed.
Paradigm Titans for Fronts and Rears
Paradigm CC-170 for a Center
Velodyne CT-100 for subwoofer
A/R TOSLINK and Subwoofer Cable
Cheapo Speaker Cable. (Saving up to buy Nordost some day)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
riverside71
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Reviews written: 1
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