Denon X3600H refurb at $650

[STRONGBADF1]

I agree A4L sales does have an attitude. Each time I tried to contact them it's been less friendly than I would expect. I also found they sell items on Amazon but if you buy there they cut the warranty on the units. It's pretty strange.

The price on A4L is attractive but if anything goes wrong it's a pain. Refurb receivers have so many things that can go wrong and Denon doesn't properly test them before they send them to A4L. It's Russian roulet.

View attachment 41306

All this being said, I would still buy from them as long as the price and warranty is right for me. Too many have had good experiences for me to ignore it. Like KEW said... Just need to personally weigh the value to yourself.

 

[IansDad88(Don)]

Sometime in the last couple of days, Acessories4Less must have gotten the memo that this AVR was being discontinued/sold new for $800 (which was what A4L had charged for the refurb)!
Accordingly, they have dropped the price by $150 to $650/ea.
This is a lot of features (and IMHO, the right features) in a capable AVR for $650.

Accessories4less: High End Audio at Low End Prices!

www.accessories4less.com

Whether it is worth $150 more to buy new for $800 (Crutchfield, Amazon, and others have it for $800) is up to you.

One important difference is 1 year warranty on refurb vs 3 year for new! However, A4L sells extended warranties ($40 to extend 1 year to 3) up to 5 additional years!

Items $500-$1000 | Accessories4less

www.accessories4less.com

I can say that Accessories4Less has always been a pleasure to deal with from my perspective and I have not had a single issue where I felt the refurb item I received was a compromise (functionally or cosmetically). Actually that is kind of not true, I once returned a Marantz SR-6001 because I was convinced it was defective. Turned out it was me that was defective , which I figured out when I got the replacement and it had the same "defect". I wish I remembered the exact particulars of my screw up, but it had to do with something along the lines of me not recognizing that a feature in the menu was inactive because I had elsewhere chosen an option which did not support it. In any case, when I got the replacement and it had the same "defect", I dug deeper into it and discovered I was not using it properly! This to say that A4L took it back and replaced it at no cost to me. However, be aware that if you return simply because you change your mind, A4L charges a 15% restocking fee. They do not have a satisfaction guarantee like some other places.
In that regard, I like Crutchfield best because they give you 60 days and charge a flat $15 for a return (double check their return policy for the specific item you buy, something like a sub may be $50 to $75)! I'm happy to pay $15 if I decide to use their 60 return option!

Oh man, I did a lot of research on this Denon before my Marantz SR 6013 got the exact same discontinued treatment.

I believe they are similar models and with similar features across the sister platforms. And now is at nearly the same price. A good bit less actually. I think this is a real good deal.! Some folks are gonna be happy with this purchase.

And so far, my refurbished A4L product ( MM 7025) works great, and was about $300 discounted last year around the holidays.

You actually helped me with all of these purchases. So I'm with you on the AVR, and owe you another thanks, for the input on my gear..!

Thanks...

 

[CajunLB]

Hey! how you liking your Denon 3600! Sound Quality? bugs? umm you like it? Got any photos to post up? thoughts?

Enjoying my Refurbished Denon 3600 since February and it’s been a great bug free experience for me. Purchased @ A4L refurbished

 

[Gmoney]

Enjoying my Refurbished Denon 3600 since February and it’s been a great bug free experience for me. Purchased @ A4L refurbished

@CajunLB, What's up bro! Hope you and family are doing well Sir! We gotta get together like we talked about over the phone last time. Id like to hear that Sub you have.

 

[Kleinst]

I bought my Canton ceiling speakers from A4L and they like Crutchfield have always been very helpful to give advice whether I buy from them or not. I would buy from them but honestly if the price is a stones throw to new, I'd buy new for peace of mind and manu. warranty. I'm not sure how effective the warranties they sell are (3rd party). Might be great but either way, that's going to cost some money and before you know it you are less than $100 difference to new.

Now if it was half the price or something like that then I'd be all over it.

 

[VMPS-TIII]

What I have found is many resellers will negotiate on price. It's not unusual to obtain a 10-15% discount on new product. It's a much better deal than return/referb electronics. Many of these Denon receivers were released 3 years ago or more. Who knows how long they were used or abused before they decided to refurb them.

In addition, while the outside of the units appear to be examined for defect, Denon is spending little time testing units. Refurb. receivers arriving functionally damaged is common. And Denon does not have parts on hand to fix units. So if you don't catch the defect when it arrives its a problem.

I had faith the Denon warranty meant something. Boy was I wrong. Recievers are heavy. The fee to ship mine was $88. So now you are down that fee. Next thing you know the receiver has been in the shop for months and you don't hear boo from them unless you email for a status report. When they respond its to say they don't have parts. You complain that its unreasonable for a product to last a few months and then spend months in the shop with no return date. They tell you if parts don't arrive by XXX date you can be considered for a replacement. The date passes you hear nothing. You ask for the replacement and Denon tells you to wait longer.

At this point, you say fxxx it and get yourself something else and tell Denon to ship a replacement or lose your business forever.... its a real poop show called Denon warranty service.
The good thing about Denon warranty service is it will teach you about small claims court and how to file a complaint with the FTC and your local consumer protection office.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

some buyers will need to experience these issues for themselves.

Facts of life. No way I would buy any refurb AVR or AVP. But I am no longer a sour grape. It's been years since I've complained about my bad refurb experiences.

You're just trying to share your painful experience to help someone else avoid your same painful experience, but most people don't care-- until it happens to them. Just like you didn't care until it happened to you.

Soon enough I think you will say, "Well, I've done my part. Let someone else deal with it."

 

[VMPS-TIII]

You're just trying to share your painful experience to help someone else avoid your same painful experience, but most people don't care-- until it happens to them. Just like you didn't care until it happened to you.

Soon enough I think you will say, "Well, I've done my part. Let someone else deal with it."

It's actually not painful, but I do find it strange how the practice of recommending Denon refurb receivers continues while Denon warranty service is so amazingly poor. But as you said - I'm wasting my breath. Obviously, not many people are using warranty service, they just trash it and move on.

So far the only Denon warranty experiences I have read here are yours and mine. And they are not so great!

 

[KEW]

It's actually not painful, but I do find it strange how the practice of recommending Denon refurb receivers continues while Denon warranty service is so amazingly poor. But as you said - I'm wasting my breath. Obviously, not many people are using warranty service, they just trash it and move on.

So far the only Denon warranty experiences I have read here are yours and mine. And they are not so great!

I had a Marantz HDMI board go bad in my NR-1605 (I think I have the right number - it was one of their slimline. I took it to the authorized repair canter. A week later, I picked up the replacement AVR. Not much of a problem, but Marantz (and Denon use the same repair center in the Atlanta area that I used over 40 years ago when my college room-mate blew one of my speakers (he reimbursed me)!

 

[VMPS-TIII]

I had a Marantz HDMI board go bad in my NR-1605 (I think I have the right number - it was one of their slimline. I took it to the authorized repair canter. A week later, I picked up the replacement AVR. Not much of a problem, but Marantz (and Denon use the same repair center in the Atlanta area that I used over 40 years ago when my college room-mate blew one of my speakers (he reimbursed me)!

A Denon email told me to send the receiver to Panurgy OEM. That is the official service center. I was told local service providers would not have parts. Apparently, Denon is now limiting some repair facilities. It would be interesting if your Atlanta shop can take repairs from around the country or has limited jurisdiction? I was told by one reseller they could only get Denon parts for units that were sold from their store.

Error

denon.custhelp.com

 

[KEW]

A Denon email told me to send the receiver to Panurgy OEM. That is the official service center. I was told local service providers would not have parts. Apparently, Denon is now limiting some repair facilities. It would be interesting if your Atlanta shop can take repairs from around the country or has limited jurisdiction? I was told by one reseller they could only get Denon parts for units that were sold from their store.

Error

denon.custhelp.com

They have 20 service centers listed:
On the top of page 2 (in the gray bar), it says:

These facilities are authorized to repair all in-warranty and out-of-warranty Denon products.

http://rn.dmglobal.com/usmodel/Denon_US_Service_Centers_Map_V12_07-16-2020.pdf

Interesting that they have 2 national service centers - Panurgy and United Radio in Syracuse. If Atlanta won't work, I might think Syracuse is an option!

 

[VMPS-TIII]

Interesting that they have 2 national service centers - Panurgy and United Radio in Syracuse. If Atlanta won't work, I might think Syracuse is an option!

The 3rd party service person I talked to said Denon is using various restrictions to push warranty repairs to PanurgyOEM. He indicated it did not use to be this way. This means most people will be required to ship the receiver in for repair. They are also not offering replacements like they use to. Apparently, customers are expected to wait months for parts and even then Denon may not offer a replacement. The national service center language says it all. Whatever site you're considering will need to be contacted in advance to see if they can accept the repair.

I was told these changes started after Denon was acquired by Sound United.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The 3rd party service person I talked to said Denon is using various restrictions to push warranty repairs to PanurgyOEM. He indicated it did not use to be this way. This means most people will be required to ship the receiver in for repair. They are also not offering replacements like they use to. Apparently, customers are expected to wait months for parts and even then Denon may not offer a replacement. The national service center language says it all. Whatever site you're considering will need to be contacted in advance to see if they can accept the repair.

I was told these changes started after Denon was acquired by Sound United.

As I’ve mentioned before, it depends on what is wrong with the AVR. If it’s a simple HDMI board, anyone can replace that. If it’s more complex than that, then DM will require the customers to send to Panurgy.

If you’re lucky, it’s just the HDMI board.

 

[slipperybidness]

I had a Marantz HDMI board go bad in my NR-1605 (I think I have the right number - it was one of their slimline. I took it to the authorized repair canter. A week later, I picked up the replacement AVR. Not much of a problem, but Marantz (and Denon use the same repair center in the Atlanta area that I used over 40 years ago when my college room-mate blew one of my speakers (he reimbursed me)!

Central TX also has an authorized Denon repair shop. I just took a quick look at their website, and they service pretty much any brand of interest, but I didn't see how many of those they are authorized to repair.

I have no direct experience, but my Bro In Law had to take his Denon in for a network board warranty repair several years ago, and he was quite pleased with the work and the turnaround time of about 1 week.

So, I don't think it is quite fair to have a blanket complaint about Denon warranty service. Certainly a lot of the work is contracted out to local businesses, so that will be hit or miss. If you are lucky enough to have an authorized center nearby, then that may be a selling point or a reason to take a bigger chance on a refurb.

 

[VMPS-TIII]

So, I don't think it is quite fair to have a blanket complaint about Denon warranty service. Certainly a lot of the work is contracted out to local businesses, so that will be hit or miss. If you are lucky enough to have an authorized center nearby, then that may be a selling point or a reason to take a bigger chance on a refurb.

It's my understanding if the customer selects repairs outside the list @KEW provided then the Denon warranty is void. As @AcuDefTechGuy mentioned, with repairs that are not minor Denon will send you to PanurgyOEM.

This policy excludes most local repair shops from offering warranty service. Maybe you have a good relationship with one of the authorized service providers? If so, that would be my first choice. For most Denon customers requiring service shipping will likely be required.

 

[KEW]

In my case, they replaced the entire unit instead of the board!
For all I know, they may get a repaired unit from Panurgy and send mine to them for repair. That probably makes sense instead of having to have some big network/distribution of individual parts/modules.
ADTG's experience with Panurgy involves Denon's state of the art "experimental" pre-pro which probably sold in the hundreds rather than tens of thousands. It was a rare beast and I suspect it used a fair number of parts that were not generic.

I suspect that Covid 19 is impacting parts availability. If Denon is trying to centralize repairs to one facility it doesn't make sense that the facility would be out of parts unless there is a special set of circumstances resulting in poor availability!

 

[fred1942]

Sometime in the last couple of days, Acessories4Less must have gotten the memo that this AVR was being discontinued/sold new for $800 (which was what A4L had charged for the refurb)!
Accordingly, they have dropped the price by $150 to $650/ea.
This is a lot of features (and IMHO, the right features) in a capable AVR for $650.

Accessories4less: High End Audio at Low End Prices!

www.accessories4less.com

Whether it is worth $150 more to buy new for $800 (Crutchfield, Amazon, and others have it for $800) is up to you.

One important difference is 1 year warranty on refurb vs 3 year for new! However, A4L sells extended warranties ($40 to extend 1 year to 3) up to 5 additional years!

Items $500-$1000 | Accessories4less

www.accessories4less.com

I can say that Accessories4Less has always been a pleasure to deal with from my perspective and I have not had a single issue where I felt the refurb item I received was a compromise (functionally or cosmetically). Actually that is kind of not true, I once returned a Marantz SR-6001 because I was convinced it was defective. Turned out it was me that was defective , which I figured out when I got the replacement and it had the same "defect". I wish I remembered the exact particulars of my screw up, but it had to do with something along the lines of me not recognizing that a feature in the menu was inactive because I had elsewhere chosen an option which did not support it. In any case, when I got the replacement and it had the same "defect", I dug deeper into it and discovered I was not using it properly! This to say that A4L took it back and replaced it at no cost to me. However, be aware that if you return simply because you change your mind, A4L charges a 15% restocking fee. They do not have a satisfaction guarantee like some other places.
In that regard, I like Crutchfield best because they give you 60 days and charge a flat $15 for a return (double check their return policy for the specific item you buy, something like a sub may be $50 to $75)! I'm happy to pay $15 if I decide to use their 60 day return option!

I have tried several receivers. 3 Onkyo’s and they all had issues after the warranty expired. Tried a refurbished Marantz 6011 and after two years it has failed. Now I think I will try Denon. Has anyone had a good experience with this brand?
Crutchfield is the best online retailer, by far!!!

 

[Pogre]

I have tried several receivers. 3 Onkyo’s and they all had issues after the warranty expired. Tried a refurbished Marantz 6011 and after two years it has failed. Now I think I will try Denon. Has anyone had a good experience with this brand?
Crutchfield is the best online retailer, by far!!!

I've had great experiences with both. My current Marantz SR6011 was purchased from AC4L almost 5 years ago and has been entirely problem free. It replaced a Denon, also purchased from AC4L, which is also still in operation in a second setup. Before that I had a Denon AVR 1910, which my neighbor uses to this day. I think it's going on a decade old now.

 

[KEW]

I have tried several receivers. 3 Onkyo’s and they all had issues after the warranty expired. Tried a refurbished Marantz 6011 and after two years it has failed. Now I think I will try Denon. Has anyone had a good experience with this brand?
Crutchfield is the best online retailer, by far!!!

Onkyo has well documented failures on their HDMI boards. Was that your problem?
What happened with your Marantz 6011?
I'm asking because other than the Onkyo HDMI, AVRs generally seem to be good for at least 8 years. I'm wondering if there might be something about your setup that is difficult for the AVRs. For example my younger brother went through two receivers and two external amplifiers before discovering that his cat had dug a claw into one of the speaker cables that apparently caused a small intermittent short! The only way he found it was when he was moving his system to another room and winding the speaker cable around his arm he felt a bump in the cable and visual inspection revealed that the cable had been "punctured"!
As it happened, in his situation, the system played just fine at normal levels but every now and then when he cranked it the receiver would go into protection mode. I'm assuming the current got high enough for it to short across the small air gap between the two wires where the cat had dug its claw.
He fought with that for about 4 years assuming he just needed a stronger amp and that his speakers were more demanding than you would think.

 

[panteragstk]

Onkyo has will documented failures on their HDMI boards. Was that your problem?
What happened with your Marantz 6011?
I'm asking because other than the Onkyo HDMI, AVRs generally seem to be good for at least 8 years. I'm wondering if there might be something about your setup that is difficult for the AVRs. For example my younger brother went through two receivers and two external amplifiers before discovering that his cat had dug a claw into one of the speaker cables that apparently caused a small intermittent short! The only way he found it was when he was moving his system to another room and winding the speaker cable around his arm he felt a bump in the cable and visual inspection revealed that the cable had been "punctured"!
As it happened, in his situation, the system played just fine at normal levels but every now and then when he cranked it the receiver would go into protection mode. I'm assuming the current got high enough for it to short across the small air gap between the two wires where the cat had dug its claw.
He fought with that for about 4 years assuming he just needed a stronger amp and that his speakers were more demanding than you would think.

See? Easy solution, just don't buy a cat.