Some small info on Denon 2009 newer receivers.
The lower end receivers, 590, 790
http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/4918.asp don't say they have amp pre-outs, am I reading this wrong?
No, you're not. They don't have preouts.
Preouts with Denon only start on the AVR-990 or AVR-3310ci and higher up for the 2009 models.
And on the 2008 models, preouts start on the AVR-989 or AVR-2809ci and higher up in the line.
That is one aspect of Denon that is missing in their lower models, compared to other brands, such as Marantz for example.
And did you knew that in order to use Dolby Pro Logic IIz, you'll have to use the speaker outputs dedicated normally for the rear surround channels, by reassigning them to the two front height speakers?
So, with Dolby Pro Logic IIz, you'll end up with five front channels and two side surround channels. This is at least happening with the new 890, 790 and 590, as there are no preouts at all on these lower models.
* But then, with the higher end model, the AVR-4310ci, you'll have Denon Link 4th with HDMI Clock Control... Of course, only if you own or purchase a Denon Universal DVD player with the appropriate Denon Link! It's a nice feature, but very limited and restricted as for the players having that Link. I own a Denon AVR-3805 (released in 2004) with Denon Link 3rd, and I never been able to use that feature! So, why did I pay for it then? Absolutely nothing!
In my book, it is one of a useless feature for a vast majority of people. And with HDMI now, it is even more useless. But for some people, it is a useable feature. I'm just not too sure of the improvement in audio quality over a Coaxial digital input (for Dolby Digital EX 6.1 matrix or DTS-ES 7.1 discrete), or a digital HDMI input (for Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA).
And also, the vast majority of DVD-Audio multichannel recordings are copyrighted and cannot be play through that connection (Denon Link).
So, what is it really good for then? SACD multichannel? SACD is already a dead format, even more so with blu-ray concert music video with high resolution audio and video.
And SACD can be played through HDMI anyway. And it is converted into PCM by several players too.
Give me an extra HDMI input or output over Denon Link any day of the week.
And give me a blu-ray player that can output the DSD bitstream as is, pure and unaltered, without downconverting it to PCM, from it's HDMI output.
Yep, audio is a funny business indeed.
Bob