Home > Consumer Reviews > Denon AVR-888 7.1-Channel/5.1+2-Channel Independent Zone Home Theater Receiver with HDMI I/O and Serial I/R Control (Black)

Since I already have a PS3 for bluray which decodes the HD audio, this receiver was a perfect match to hear lossless audio. I wanted to pick this up in the beginning of the year (deciding between the Denon 888 or the onkyo 705). I'm glad I waited since I saved over half of the cost thanks to Amazon. I was a previous Onkyo owner (Onkyo 304)and wanted to stick with the same brand like the Onkyo-606, however with all the negative reviews with Onkyo's heating issues, buzzing, etc....I wanted to try something new. The only negative comments from the Denon AVR-888 was the useless manual, which I could live with. I downloaded the latest manual on Denon's website and the setup was a breeze.

This is a great reciever for the price. Excellent power supply to drive all speakers. Setup was very simple if you have only a basic understanding of how these surround sound recievers operate. The remote is not very functional, but I set the reciever up on a master universal remote so I don't even use the supplied remote. For the money, you can't beat this machine unless you need True HD surround output, which this reciever does not have. I put this machine in a spare room that I have setup a 5.1 system and 42" 1080p LCD TV. Reciever performs very well.

This is a great addition to my home. I paired it with a couple of Aperion 5T and the combination is great. I tested the receiver with a whole package of speakers and the configuration was a bit bumpy, but after going through the manual a third time we managed to figure it out. I definitly recomend this product.

I bought this receiver cause I read a lot of reviews of similar brands and this had the least problems. I've read about H & K issues with ps3 blu-ray playback and Onkyo's overheating problem, so decided to buy this unit and believe me I'm in love with it.
The sound is awesome, And the video works great so far.
Note: I haven't tried the upscaling function, since I play everything through my PC (which handles the upscaling).
The only real issue as a lot of reviewers have said,is the unfriendly remote control and user manual. Any way, if you spend some time (more than with other brands) you end up understanding the manual. since I can't give it 4.5 stars I'll go with 5. This receiver is too good at this price to take out 1 hole star just because of issues that aren't related to the quality of the product (build, audio and video are just amazing).
If I had a little more budget, I would buy the 889 that has dynamic EQ and dynamic volume (very interesting and useful features)and decodes the newest dolby and dts audio formats, but since it can play 7.1 PCM (uncompresed) audio, I consider it future proof.
If you are low on budget and care more for quality than friendliness, don't hesitate to buy this baby, it won't disappoint.

I've compared the onkyo 605, 705 with the denon avr788, and 888. The avr888 produced the best sound with my polk rci85, csi3, psw303, and rti4's. The avr888 had virtually no distortion when I turned up the power while the 705 showed some limitations. The only disadvantage of the avr888 was that they are not able to process Dolby TrueHD. My other complaint is that the avr888's remote is a piece of junk and the 705's remote was not much better. Denon is still the big boy on the block in my book.