Home > Consumer Reviews > Denon AVR-1908 A/V Dolby Digital Surround Receiver w/ HDMI Switching

After doing some research, I decided on the Denon 1908 because it had most of the state-of-the-art features of higher priced receivers, and I wanted to stay in the ball park of $1000 for both receiver and speakers. For the speakers I bought Harman Kardon HKTS-18 5.1 Channel Speaker System (which are amazing for their price!).

Setting up the receiver does take some effort. I fell into a few traps, and had a friend who is knowledgeable in home theaters come over and help me. Here are some things to watch out for:

(*) While it does have an HDMI out, it does not up-convert other inputs to HDMI. Simply put, the only signals which can be output through the HDMI out are those which are INPUT through HDMI connections on the receiver. It will not, for instance, take a component signal and output through HDMI. Thus, you must hook up all of the TYPES of connections from receiver to TV that you have INPUT types for. If you have HDMI inputs, you need to hook up the HDMI output to the HDTV. In addition, if you have component inputs, you must hook up the component output from receiver to HDTV. BOTH, of course, can be hooked up at the same time. Note that this also requires changing the TV input separately if going form component to HDMI inputs (a small hassle, and those with intelligent remotes can set this up to be transparent to them).

(*) The set-up screen will NOT output over the HDMI line! So, even if you are going to purely use HDMI connections throughout your system, you still need to hook up the component or S-Video out to HDTV to do set-up.

(*) Auto and Manual Setup must BOTH be done to get best results. The auto-setup is used to have the receiver determine best output levels for all speakers via a 6-point process of setting up a microphone (supplied!) at various location. BE sure to have a tripod during this operation (the microphone has a tripod connector on the bottom). The Manual Setup is used for other stuff. For example, one must set the speaker 'size' here (small or large, the difference being large speakers do BOTH bass and treble, small speakers dedicated to treble, as in most 5.1 speaker packages). But, most important, it is in the Manual setup you must TURN ON any self-powered bass speaker. This is also where the system can be setup to have all bass output dedicated to the bass speaker (leaving the other speakers to do what THEY do best!). Moral is, do BOTH the auto and manual setups.

(*) There are two remotes supplied. The MAIN remote has a 'hidden' feature. That is, if you turn it over, there is a door you can open up to another set of remote buttons, and these are the ones used for setup. At first one can think one was sent the wrong remote when looking at illustrations in the setup manual, but it turns out these are just the buttons 'hidden' on the BACK of the remote.

All in all, once you get it setup, this receiver is awesome! If I had a complaint it would be that the main remote could have more input selection buttons on the front (it has six, but one can hook up many more than six external components). Also, the names on these buttons do not reflect some of my components (e.g., I have a PS-3 hooked up via HDMI, but there is no 'game' input button on the remote). But one can assign any input to any button, so this is a VERY minor complaint.

The sound is great, and I'm VERY pleased with this receiver! :)

After 3 months I can say the Denon receiver 1908 is a great product. Matched well with my Athena speakers. The sound is warm and pleasant compared to the Yamaha receiver its replacing. You can listen for hours and not tire. Setup was easy for me. First I used the automatic setup with the provided audyssey mic. This discovers the distance & sizes of your speakers and sets up the sounds. Next I fine tuned the sound via the manual setup. My only gripe is that the remote is front and back. I've hooked up my laptop via optical and external soundcard as "CD" so every time I need to listen to music I have to turn over the remote, open the back and select "CD". Not a big deal but seems like a hassle. I've seen a few complaints against the manual. Personally, it was very easy to follow. Its logically designed - manual or auto setup? If auto, insert mic, place in 6 different listening positions...If manual, 'setup one item at a time as you go step by step' in logical sequence. The English is easy to follow. Its similar stuff to that in my Yamaha receiver. Not that complicated, really.

UPDATE NOVEMBER, 2008: Now for the bad part - the receiver 'broke' after 3 months of use. The problem - within 5min of use, it automatically turns off and puts itself in protection mode. Took it to a Denon repair shop, they changed some parts, brought it home and nope, it ain't fixed. Took it to another Denon repair shop a week ago, awaiting their response. Given how great quality of the sound is, I'm standing by my Denon! You can never go wrong with this. I love the remote, it has a heavy quality feel to it. Biggest surprise: The 1907 was selling for over $500 last year. I got the 1908 for a little over $300 brand new on Amazon!

UPDATE, DECEMBER 3, 2008 - authorized repair shop fixed the problem under warranty = free. Did the auto setup then manual to fine-tune. Now that I've gone through it for the 2nd time, I can understand how less tech-savvy folks would be intimidated. The good news is that after the auto setup, you're pretty much done. You don't have to mess around with the manual setup, if you don't want to.

I was excited to hook this up with my 5.1 system and worked patiently with Denon customer service. After all the trials, it turned out the receiver was faulty and Denon guys asked me to return it. I'm going to buy the same receiver (since I have heard raving reviews about this particular one) and try if that will work out. Keeping fingers crossed!

I bought the AVR-1908 on clearance because it had everything that I needed. I currently have it setup with 5.1 in my main listening room and Zone 2 pushing a couple of speakers on our patio.

It handles multi-channel PCM from Blu-Ray players with no problem at all. I didn't need to see a "True HD" logo when playing my Blu-Rays, but if you do the newer model AVR-1909 will do that for you. For me, multi-channel PCM over HDMI is all I need. It gives the full uncompressed HD audio.

The Blu-Ray disks I have played have all sounded great. Everything blends well and the vocals are all crisp and understandable. The sound is warm and full. It sounds much fuller than the same speakers driven with a 5-year old Yamaha 5.1 receiver. Music CDs sound great as well, and the simulated 5.1 adds some depth.

I found the setup to be not nearly as complex as others have. The auto-setup worked OK, but I did tweak some of the values a bit (it left the subwoofer at -12db which just was not enough bass). I did this all without ever hitting a wrong key or having to consult the manual. I only wish it could display the on-screen menu through HDMI, but I knew before buying that it couldn't. It displays just fine over component video. While the menu is not flashy at all (white text on a black screen), it does get the job done.

The remote, I must say, is as horrible as others have said. Having to flip it over and open a flimsy door to reveal some functions I commonly use is a pain. I wish they had incorporated a slightly wider remote with all function keys on the front. Oh well, I'll most likely get a Harmony One or something similar to control all of my gear so that will take care of that problem.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase and would definitely buy it again. If you can still find one for a good deal, I would get it and save hundreds over the current year's model. I almost knocked off one star for the horrible remote control, but the rest of the strengths definitely overshadow this one weakness.

I purchased the AVR-1908 and could not have been more pleased with my purchase. The sound is warm and luxuriant. The set up is not as straightforward as other receivers but it's not that hard once you've figured out the principle - and you really have to set it up only once.

My old Yamaha lasted for 8 years but it was beginning to conk out intermittently. While the Yamaha was a somewhat basic receiver, this Denon is more of an intermediate level receiver and the wealth of options plus the dual zone capabilities and the excellent reviews sold me on this product. I did not realize until now what a huge difference a good receiver could make - not only do movies sound great in surround sound but I'm also enjoying my music collection in a whole new light (or should I say, sound). I also connected a spare set of speakers in my basement game room to zone 2 and I can now enjoy music from either my zune or ps3 (via media sharing from my laptop) anywhere in the house.

The only minor complaint I have is that the FM receiver seems to pick up more disturbance/noise on some stations compared to the Yamaha.