Home > Consumer Reviews > Denon AVR-788 Dolby Digital Surround Receiver

I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could.

I've had this for about four weeks and only now I am beginning to finish the setup. It sounds very good, for both music and movies. Here are the pluses:

1. It has a audio calibration system that equalises the response to match your listening environment. This one has a 6-position Audyssey MultEQ system (the capability to measure more than one position is important) It seems to do a fine job, although it said my center speaker was inverted in phase when it was in fact correctly wired. It computed the speaker distances precisely and The EQ result looks (they show you graphs) and sounds correct. The setup takes a good 20-25 minutes and you are supposed to do it each time you move furniture. Thats a bit of a drag.

2. It has audio over HDMI support (from the PS3 for e.g.) and supports deep color. It cannot do DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD, but it can take a 7.1 uncompressed PCM input, which is all you need (i think) because the blu-ray spec requires PCM while DTS-HD and TrueHD are optional. I am not using any of these features yet (so this point is from theory not experiment), but its good to have these for future blu-ray support.

3. It does not get very hot at my listening levels (-12 to -24 db). So I was able to cram it into my existing cabinet (albeit with a little carpentry, since it is over a foot deep)

4. Standby power consumption is under 2 watts. While playing music it consumes about 60 watts at my listening levels.

Like I said, it works well for me and I plan to keep it. But its not perfect:

The Downsides:
1. The remote is terrible, and the user interface is not so good. I liked the remote in pictures - it has big buttons and less clutter than other receiver remotes, but this one is unique. It has buttons on the back (with a cover), That would be alright if you only put those buttons there that you dont need often. However I find that some everyday buttons are in the back - for e.g. the button that changes Sound Modes (DTS/Dolby/ROck/Jazz etc. is in the back) Not well thought out. The manual way to save each FM station requires you to press a button on the back and then two buttons on the front to save one preset. Go figure!

I suspect that all high/mid end receivers have so many features that it will be tough to find one with a good interface, unless you get a all-in-one system like a Bose Lifestyle or 3-2-1.

2. The manual is not fun reading - and some things are not explained. I had to call Denon once to figure out something. (it took two calls and a 5 minute hold the second time, and then I got to a somewhat bored sounding technician. But he seemed knowledgeable.)

3. When I connected the subwoofer line level output to my Bose 701s LFE input (powered subwoofer) I got an audible hum (probably at 60 Hz). I had to buy a ground loop isolator from Radioshack ($12) that removed it.

Overall, a good receiver. In an ideal world, you would try out five brands and keep the one that sounds best to you. The only store where I could compare two brands in A/B fashion was Tweeter, where they had Pioneers and Yamahas set up. I liked the Pioneer Elites better but I think it was because the Yamaha's were setup sub-optimally. Circuit City let me hear a Denon but without the EQ. All in all, I feel that the speakers make a bigger difference than the receiver. I hope some of this helps you in case you are agonizing over the choices. If you'd like to read more about my home theater components, there is a blog entry here: http://spyglasshill.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/the-lexus-of-home-theatre/

What can I say, this receiver does everything I ask of it. I have a PS3 and a HD DVD hooked up to it, both are sending the new High Definition Surround Sound Formats ie. Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio, via HDMI, and everything sounds fantastic.

It only has 2 HDMI ins, but its all I need. It has an automated calibration microphone so set up was a breeze.

Top notch build quality and the thing runs cool.

My only knit picks would be the remote, could be better, and the fact that it only sends the on screen display through component, not over HDMI, so it requires a connection to your TV that you really shouldn't need.

Denon AVR788 Dolby Digital Surround Receiver

This receiver has excellent sound quality for both digital multichannel and digital 2 channel audio sources. For those that think this receiver is harder to set up than other receivers with Audyssey, it's not. All receivers with Audyssey have an identical set up procedure. First, you run the auto setup using the supplied mic along with a tripod (very important). Second, you set the subwoofer crossover to 120hz. Third, you raise the crossover for each individual speaker (usually to 80hz) if it was incorrectly detected as either large or small with a 40hz crossover.

My 2005 Yamaha 650 series was very good to me until my dog chewed one of the speakers wires and shorted out the receiver, so I decided to try the new Onkyo TX-SR605 model everyone was raving about besides the overheating problem with Onkyo, everything I heard about the receiver was good. Which I agreed until I tried the Denon. I did all the automatic speaker calibration which worked very well. The sound was ok but not very impressed so I tried tweaking with the sound but did not get much better. Remember, I was comparing this unit to my Yamaha. Then I decided to look to see what else what out there around the same price and the Yamaha and Onkyo. I found the Denon AVR-688, so I tried that out since I knew Denon was pretty reputable. Both places had a 30 day return policy so I new I had 3 1/2 weeks on left on the Onkyo to do the comparison. After the lengthy set up with the Denon (took me 4 times longer to set up the Denon than the Onkyo), which is not as hard as people say as long as you go step by step through the instruction. I decided to play some music and all I can say is this thing sounds 20% better than my two year old Yamaha and 40% better than the Onkyo. The Onkyo was very good for the money but the sound did not have the depth of the Denon. Listening to a TV program, the center speaker sounds so much more life like. The Onkyo had a very thin sound compared to the Denon. It was almost like teh Onkyo was playing through curtains. This is playing on a $400 center speaker. I wish I could put a picture on here of me with both receivers just to prove that I did the test. This is not just my opinion but even my wife, who could care less of how it sounds, said she could tell a difference. I had them both out side by side so I could quickly plug up one to compare. I also use banana plugs to for the speaker connectors to make the swap even faster. I will be returning the Onkyo this weekend. I do have not have a vested interest in this article but the difference in sound was worth writing.

Very frustrating to set up. Manual difficult to understand. System had annoying feature of going to mute each time system turned on and at first I thought system was not working. Sound level with system set for HDTV and then switch to CD was ear shattering high. Never did solve this problem, except to not switch to CD before turning sound way down. I can not imagine anyone operating this system without a great deal of sophistication with electronics. I could not get system to operate until I had spent several hours setting up and studying the manual. Great sound when set up correctly.