I am planning out my first HT setup and had a couple questions regarding receivers. First of all, I plan on buying the Paradigm Titan satellites, with the Paradigm CC170 center channel and Paradigm PDR-10 subwoofer.
I have been checking out Denon receivers and am curious as to the main differences between the AVR-2805 and 2803. I want the quality to be good, but am not an audiophile and therefore wouldn't mind paying a couple hundred bucks less if there's only a small performance hit.
I plan on hooking up a 5.1 system as well as my 4.1 powered PC speakers through this, and want to be able to output music on all of them at once if possible, or switch between just using one or the other. Will one of these Denons work or should I be looking elsewhere?
Anonymous
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I am setting up my HT system and have a AVR2805. I was planning on using MA S8 speakers, but read that Denon and MA are not a good combo. Any opinions?
I have had two Denon's [2802 and 3803] and now have a MA Silver series speaker setup with a Elite 45 and I cannot imagine using a Denon with the MA's. I have two local dealers who sell both together and to my ears it is not a good combination. The MA's are not bright once broken in but still benefit from a warmer sounding receiver and Denon is anything but warm. The 3803 was the brightest, most sibilant unit I have ever heard. The original poster's plan on using Denon with Paradigm might be ok but I would prefer one of the newer Yamaha's in that price range like the 1400 or 1500.
Just a second opinion here, but I do not find the Denon to a "bright" reciever.
Niether did Home Theater Magazine when reviewing the 2803 stating "No matter the price, I've always found that Denon receivers share a common characteristic of warm, approachable sound,"
or CNET reviewing the 2805 "Come to think of it, all of our favorite DVDs sounded weightier, richer, and generally better than we're used to hearing"
or Sound and Vision: "Like all Denon AVRs I've listened to, the AVR-2805 is nothing if not consistent. It had a polite, midrange-oriented character that was in fact only mildly subtractive of resolution and frequency extension. Essentially, this was classic Denon--as easy on the ears as it is on the wallet."
Or Audioholics on 3805: "For $1200 the AVR-3805 performed like a receiver costing much more and it would, in fact, make an excellent (and highl;y competitive) preprocessor for those looking for a top-end unit to match with a separate amplifier."
I could list 10 other professional reviews that contradict the assertion that Denons are bright. Here is what Denon's are not: The are not bass-bloating, high-frequency-muffling, play-it-safe and-do-nothing-offensive receivers. They are clean, pristine, and play it like it is. They clearly show the flaws in bad recordings and bad electronics. I have owned HK/Onkyo/Yamaha and Kenwood recievers. I have listened extensively to Marantz on a friend's reciever.
I am weary of "warm" recievers. Warmth is coloration. I want speakers that have ruler flat frequency response curves, and recievers that neither add "warmth" nor "roll of the highs" nor "sculpture the midrange". All recievers alter the signal to some extent. I tend to favor those recievers that ahdere to the rule that the best error in electronics is one of ommission, rather than addition. I like my recievers to err on the side of being leaner, cleaner and dryer, as opposed to being "overly ripe" and soft.
That is why the reciever that anchors my current system is Denon.
Got on a Denon Soapbox there, but I am also weary of Denon bashing and opinion offered as fact.
To answer your original question, the Denon 2805 (my reciever) has 10 more watts per channel and than the 2803; and the 2805 also has higher speed Digital Audio Converters (192KHz vs. 96KHz).I had the 2803, and to me, the 2805 has a "fuller" sound with just a little more substance.