Hi Jeff,
Always love to read your posts.
By the way, I firmly believe that Denon are fudging the weight of their receivers. I believe they weighted their receivers with all the accessories that come with it (remote control(s), batteries, AM loop antenna, FM indoor antenna, operating intructions' manuals (English and French), warranty card, sevice station list, and whatever else that now comes with the newest receivers).
The Denon AVR-3808ci would actually be about 35.6 lbs
You can take about 3.5 to 4.5 lbs of from the total, depending of all the accessories that come with a particular receiver.
Why do I say that? Because I weight all my audio and video components with a quite accurate scale (+/- 2 ounces).
Remember, I own the Denon AVR-3805, and it's weight is (receiver by itself) 34.2 lbs
With all the accessories that come with it, the weight is 37.4 lbs
Maybe it's just a small detail, but I'm into small details.
My Yamaha, Onkyos, Pioneer... receivers weight what they are rated at, no problem there.
Anyway, I just thought to mentioned that small detail. There are other details like that from Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo... receivers that are misleading.
But I don't really want to go through that. Let's just say that I hate people that are fudging numbers, and Denon is quite high on the list from my experience and knowledge.
Now, about the true sound. You want to know my honest and professional opinion, here it is, straight on the open, so, buckle up real good, and hold on tight to your emotions! This is gonna be a ride.
<<< CAUTION >>>
* Everything beyond that point is my own personal opinion, and in no circumstances any similarity or names have been fabricated. During the review period, no animals were harm or tortured. *
I can easily write a book about this, but I won't, fortunately for you members and visitors of these Forums.
*** Oh, and the speakers used for all these receivers were always the same, with straight analog stereo 2-channel only.
-> Speakers that I own for over 20 years now, are the Image Concept 200, Canadian made, 4-ohms, 85db sensitivity, very smooth with excellent focus and clarity, plus amazing bass extension (24hz at -6db). No subwoofer(s) was or were use during the review period, which extend to over 20 years, a year or so more or less.
* Please do ask questions if you do have some, but be brief and explicit.
Actually, I will be very brief. If you want to know the full extent of my views, you'll have to PM me, and even then, I will have to charge you.
Ok, How do I found my Onkyo receivers (876 & 805) compared to the warm sound (in general, not the new ICE power design) of Pioneer, or the Mid emphasis and reserved sound of Denon receivers (even bordering on thin, lacking some meat in the lows and also in the highs), to the fuller and cleaner sound from the Yamahas, with that more natural and well balanced sound from across the frequencies, nice lows, very articulate and clear mids, and a quasi sweet high end (still talking about Yamaha here in general).
My Marantz is warm too, with a full sound and more relaxed compared to any other receiver. The sound is musical, inviting anf float very nicely, with a nice and wide soundstage and some nice depth too.
I also found the Yamaha adds height too (must be those two front presence speakers
).
Ok, let's not get lost here, I said that I will be very brief.
Now, my Onkyos? The sound is clear, clean, neutral, punchy (so is the Yamaha for the punch), hard to describe at times, maybe because of that type of neutrality, where no specific frequencies are overemphasised.
For me, it sounds right, powerful, dynamic and very pleasant with good articulation but lacking that last minute resolution. Maybe the Yamaha here is the winner for resolution that is natural. But the Denon and Marantz also have a decent dose of resolution. I must admit though, that to judge resolutioin properly, like any other audio attributes, a big influence comes from the recordings. But I'm just shooting here my overall impressions.
Do I have a favorite sound? Are you kidding me? Absolutely not.
It depends of my emotions of the time, the quality of the recordings, the time of day, my disposition (relax or tense), etc., etc., etc.
One thing that I know for sure, we are greatly influenced by our favorite instruments or voices.
All right, just like I said, brief and simple.
Bob
Note: Sorry for the grammatical errors, faulty spelling, wrong position of words, punctuation, verb's tenses, and everything else that is misplaced by accident.
* Oh, and all the receivers were evaluated using the same pair of speakers, in 2-channel stereo (analog only), and no subwoofer(s) was or were used.
The speakers are floorstanding models (44" high, 15.5" deep and 9.75" wide). They weight 66 pouds each, are 4-ohms nominal impedance, 85db sensitivity, and with a 3/4" textile cotton soft dome tweeter, and two stitched 6.5" mid/woofs with a bass extension provided by the box volume and port to 24hz, at minus 3 to 6db, depending on the positioning. They are Canadian made, the Image Concept 200, designed by Ian Paisly, a guy that knows about speakers and Canada testing room for speakers (I just forgot the name), the NRC, The National research Center....bla, bla, bla...
These speakers are extremely smooth with a great focus, excellent clarity, spaciousness too, and they image like crasy.
So, like I said, all receivers were evaluated in stereo analog only over a period of about 20 years.
Are you guys getting bore yet? You can stop me anytime you'd like, you know, just say so, and I'll stop.
What gets me though, is that I delete about a full hour of additional informations of very high and valuable interest, by accident, just the wrong button click.
Oh well, so you are missing about a page or two of additional info.
Anyway, if you have questions, ask them, but be brief and explicit.
