Denon 1908 or Yamaha????

[Gator KStenz]

Hoping for some help. I'm far from an audio expert, but I've been researching and it seemed like the Denon 1908 would suit what I'm looking for. For reference, I have a HD cable box, 1080p HD TV, Blu Ray DVD player, 7 speakers (F and R surround, center, 2 front tower speakers, and a sub), and 2 outside speakers on my patio ("B" speakers).

I had an older (read about 10 yrs old) Onkyo that I wasn't getting all of the HD benefits from that has finally taken a dump on me.

I was about to pull the trigger on this Denon 1908 on butterfly photo for $448, but noticed when searching for a coupon code that I can get $50 off any Yamaha receiver.

Are there any better Yamaha's than the Denon 1908 that I could find for about the same price and benefit from? Or, go up about $50, get more features and come away at the same price?

Based on what I describe above, was I going in the right direction with the Denon 1908?

 

[corey]

I like Denon a lot, and own one, but I'd also take a look at the Onkyo TX-SR606
& Yahama RX-V663.

 

[Gator KStenz]

Thanks. Looked a bit at the Yamaha 663. That looks like it would work well for my application and would save me $110 over the Denon 1908. May go with that. I'll wait to see if any other comments come in.

 

[brulaha]

Not to mention denon has released there 09 series. If I was going to buy a Denon, I'd wait for the 1909.

 

[Hi Ho]

Assuming both the Yamaha and Denon have comparable features I would go with the Yamaha mainly because I think they are far more egornomic and easier to use than Denon. Denon needs to take some lessons in designing remotes and menu systems.

The Yamaha 663 has decoders for all of the high resolution audio formats. The Denon has none. The Yamaha will transcode to HDMI (any analog video input can be output through HDMI). The Denon will not. The Yamaha has preouts for adding external amplification. The Denon does not.

My money is on the Yamaha.