Trying to decide on which Denon receiver

[Jay]

Trying to decide on a new receiver for my soon to arrive axioms M60's, 150, QS8's and SVS cylinder 20-39 PCI sub. Should I get the inexpensive Denon 1900 or less line or the more expensive 2800 or 3800 series. The main differences that I see are the HDMI switching and XM radio. I could take or leave the XM. Not sure if the HDMI switching is important to me or not as I have never had it. I suppose I could run the HDMI from the cable box to the projector and run the DVD player on component to the projector. My other concern is sound performace and if it is going to make that much of a difference in the sound quality. My budget is starting to get tight as I spend quite a bit more than planned on chairs (got the power recline and buttshakers). Thanks for your assistance.

 

[JetSnake]

Look for the good deals. You can get a 3806 off ebay for less then $1,000. That's what I have my eye on.

 

[InTheIndustry]

Food for thought.....

HDMI for the DVD player will yield better results than the cable box. There's really not going to be a significant picture upgrade from cable if you go HDMI. DVD will give a better picture, however, if you have an upconverting DVD player.

Because you have a projector, which typically only has one HDMI or DVI input, HDMI switching is an important thing to have. Having mulitple inputs on the receiver will allow for more options long term. However, you could run one component and one HDMI from the projector to your equipment closet and that would always allow for an HDMI connection device down the road.

Even though you've never had it before, HDMI will be important long term for obtaining the best picture possible from sources like TV, DVR, cable box, video games, camcorders, etc.... at least until something else better comes out .

The best of both worlds.... don't get a receiver with HDMI switching right now unless you will have multiple HDMI sources to switch between (which said you don't). Run a high quality HDMI AND DVI cable as well as a component video AND Cat5 350mhz cables. That should be perfect. Then, this is the cool part, down the road when needed get a little video scaler from a company (DVDO for example) that will convert all analog connections as well as allow for mulitple DVI and/or HDMI connections. That way you can get the best picture possible, keep the video away from any processing that the receiver will do (which is almost always a good thing), and save a little coin now.

 

[jcPanny]

Receiver for Axioms

Those Axioms are all 6-8 ohms and pretty efficient so they should work fine with any mid-fi receiver in the 100 Watts per channel range unless you have a huge room. Check out the new AH review of the Yamaha RX-V659. It is probably comparable to the Denon 1906 and has everything you need (including XM) except for HDMI.

If you need HDMI switching in the future you can always add an HDMI switch. Monoprice sells a manual HDMI switch for $30.

You can also find some good deals on the older Denon 3805 and Yamaha 2500 models for $5-600.

 

[agarwalro]

I have the exaxt speaker configuration as the one you are looking to get. The 3806 drives them great. I like it better than the Yammy I had before this. If you are located around Seattle, I would happily demo for you.

I am running 1 HDMI cable to the TV and the receiver handles all the switching and upconversion.

DO NOT buy a Denon product from an unauthorized reseller. You will have no warranty.