Home > Consumer Reviews > Denon AVR-1909 7.1-Channel Multizone Home Theater Receiver

I spent several months researching my new receiver for my home theater. I spent countless hours hanging out on the avsforum, read everything I could about receivers. I was looking for a receiver that would have the following features:

- at least 2 HDMI inputs
- great sound quality for music as well as movies
- HD audio codecs (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA) support
- would cost $650 MSRP or less

The choice was simple:
- Onkyo 606 or 705
- Yamaha 663
- Sony 820 or 920
- HK 254
- Pioneer 1018
- Denon 1909 or 988

I didn't even try the Onkyos, because I was afraid of the overheating problems and the humming noise reported on many units. Plus, they are downright ugly. The Yamaha had only 2 HDMI, and did not pass BTB/WTW, the Sonys are notorious for having the worst sound quality (unless you tap into the really high end models) across the board, so I didn't consider those either.

I was then left with the HK, Pioneer and Denon receivers.

I first bought the HK 254. All the users on avsforum swore by the HK sound. Well, they were right. The sound is nothing short of outstanding. The GUI is light-years ahead of the competition too. And finally, it is by far the slickest looking receiver of all. Now, on to the negative. HK is notorious for releasing products that haven't been thoroughly tested, and that don't work properly until the firmware update is released, and even at that point, it doesn't always work right. Well, they got that right too...I don't want to go into the details of all these bugs, but they completely kill all the enjoyment you could get from the unit (loud and pulsating fan noise, complete sound dropouts, etc.). I finally returned the unit, disgusted with HK's quality control.

I then tried the Pioneer 1018, the Denon 1909 and the Denon 988. All 3 of them performed flawlessly, without a single hickup.

The Pioneer worked great but sounded a little weak, lacked punch and attack compared to the HK. It also had a very annoying bright blue LED that you can't turn off, and the worst remote I've ever seen.

The Denon 1909 and 988 are similar in many ways. The 988 is from last year, but cost $1200 at the time, and can now be found around $600. Its sound quality, for music in direct mode, was the closest to the HK sound, in other words, it sounded great. However, it only has 2 HDMI inputs, and lacks the new Audyssey features.

The 1909 was VERY close to the 988 in terms of musical SQ in direct mode (read: it sounds awesome, and brought a big smile to my face the first time I played music on it). But where it really shines is with movies. The 1909 was the only receiver I tried that could maintain the surround field perfect at any time and any given volume. Thanks to the Audyssey setup, my speakers were configured spot-on (none of the other receivers, besides the 988, offered such a perfect calibration). And thanks to the Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume, the surround field is constantly adjusted to provide you with the most convincing immersion in sound, at all volumes, and always optimized for your room acoustics.

What it translates to in terms of movie watching, is that you are constantly enveloped with the surround sound, and it is all perfectly balanced. The bass is also perfectly calibrated so that you subwoofer gives you the perfect rumble when it's needed, without overpowering the sound either. In short, it sounds better than at the movie theater.

I ended up keeping the 1909, because of its great sound quality and of its superb handling of surround field, thanks to the Audyssey Dynamic EQ and Volume. It might not be a $1,200 receiver like the 988, but it is newer and for once, those bells and whistles really make a considerable difference.

I'll echo what the other reviewers have said -- the sound quality of the Denon 1909 is fantastic!

After using a Harman/Kardan 245 for the last year, and being frustrated by its inability to handle audio over HDMI and therefore play the latest lossless audio codecs, I decided to look for a replacement.

I had narrowed my choices to the Harman 254 or 354, the Onkyo 606 or 706, and the Denon 988 (on sale at Amazon for a fabulous price now) or 1909/789, when --iIn a stroke of good fortune -- I chanced across an open box 1909 in perfect condition at Best Buy for $200 below list. Couldn't resist temptation, even though I hadn't been able to pre-audition it.

Wow, was it worth it! My home theater system finally lives up to expectations. I don't know whether to credit Audyssey, Denon, or the lossless audio from Blu-Ray discs via my PS3, but I am blown away by the sound I've been getting, even though I have only just begun to tweak the settings.

Yes, the manual for the 1909 is ludicrously bad, and it will be frustrating to set up such a complicated receiver for someone without a little prior experience in this area, but it is actually easier and more intuitive than my H/K, I found.

Aside from the manual, my only gripe with this receiver is the onscreen menu display/user interface... it looks like something from the stone age, with jagged blocky white capital letters on a black background. (To get Denon's nice new GUI you need to upgrade to pricier models.)

But any frustration with the quirkiness of the setup menus melts away when I hear a soundtrack from a blu-ray movie in full lossless glory. In short, I am glad I didn't take a chance on the new Harmans -- while they look nice and sound great, they are still rife with technical issues and have problems playing nice with the PS3.

The Denon just works. No HDMI handshake issues, no problems whatsoever... just stunning 7.1 surround sound. Recommended.

After sending back a Yamaha 663 because it would not pass thru my cable DVR, I decided to try the Denon AVR-1909. It is pricey compared to the Onkyo 606 (heat problems) and the Yamaha 663.

However, after two days of pouring over the cryptic owners manual and figuring out the 2-sided remote, it is working perfectly. The sound is fantastic. The speaker auto-set up using the Audyssey mike is great, then you can just tweak the settings for your own taste.

Be warned, and this is why the 4 stars instead of 5, when the unit arrives you must assign the inputs using the on-screen menus immediately. Otherwise it does nothing at all, it doesn't even recognize it's own built in FM receiver until you do an imput assignment. The Owner's Manual doesn't give you straight forward instructions regarding this. Everything is there but not written clearly.

This unit is worth the extra bucks and if you are patient with setting it up you won't be disappointed.

Looking at the back of the unit, I wasn't at all intimidated by the number of inputs and connections. I rate pretty high in geek-factor, so I had no fear. But sadly, the manual is more "technical reference manual" than instruction manual, so getting the inputs set up took hours. Though I have just a few inputs (DVD, iPod, Satellite TV, and 2 game systems), assigning the inputs took several iterations and connector swaps; sometimes I had only sound, sometimes I had only video. Yet after some hours, I've hit a brick wall and simply can't figure out why I'm not getting iPod video. One thing that made this unecessarily complicated was that the manual, the on-screen assignment actions, and the rear of the unit all used different and sometimes overlapping terms to refer to the connection locations. So you end up kind of guessing at times.

Even the most mundane activities required several minutes to figure out. For example, you probably want the subwoofer going when listening to music, yet you must figure out the TLAs (three-letter-acronyms) and complicated menu system to get find that feature. Turned out that "LFE" setting won't get subs, I needed "LFE+MAIN". Seem obvious? Not to me.

Overall, there are numerous TLAs that I still don't understand, and I've gradually accepted that I'll never understand even a third of what this unit can even do. For example, the manual has page after page of different functionality available to the dozens upon dozens of sound modes. Skip. I'm oddly curious about the Restorer button on the front. I can't even fathom what that does, even after playing with it.

I liked the Audyssey auto setup, and I think I might even understand its purpose. Regardless, the system sounds great and seems to be performing properly (mostly). The first unit I bought had its front display fizzle out after a few short minutes. Fortunately, I purchased locally, so replacing it wasn't too much of a chore.

I haven't yet experimented with the Dynamic Volume, but I suspect this will be a useful feature. Fingers crossed. Next step is to read about the remote control, which appears brutally complicated. I just need to learn enough to get my universal remote set up, and I dread that chore. Overall, a good unit with great features for the price, but apparently intended to be installed by only a professional.

I purchased a new Samusung 52" LCD set (52A650) a few months ago to pair with my Playstation 3. I love to watch movies, especially on Blu ray, and I wanted a great set to maximize the video quality. Well, needless to say, I love the Samsung's picture quality. The problem was, as a self-proclaimed techno-geek, I wanted the audio (lossless) to match.

I had an older JVC receiver that sounded perfectly fine paired with a good set of Athena Point 5 speakers and a Velodyne sub. In fact, I was curious if these lossless formats (DTS-Master Audio, Dolby Tru HD, LPCM) really sounded better. But, as the curious person that I am, I wanted to upgrade the receiver to see what everyone was raving about. After about a month of research (listening at local retailers, trolling forums, reading reviews, etc), I pulled the trigger on the Denon 1909. I had also considered the Onkyo 706 and Pioneer VSX 01, but I chose the Denon for the follwing reasons:

1)Audyssey MultiEQ, Audyssey Dynamic EQ, Audyssey Dynamic Volume - I had read/heard a lot about Audyssey sound calibration, and what a great job it did to calibrate the sounds. Well, let me tell you that it works. The sound coming from the Denon is much "fuller" and "defined" than what I had before. I'm not an audiophile, but I can appreciate great sound quality, and this Denon has it in spades. Dynamic EQ works great to maintain sound quality and integrity at low volumes, which is great since I live in a small apartment. Now I dont mind watching movies late at night, because I can still get a very engaging sound field at low volumes. Dynamic volume also works great to "level" out the sound when there are dramatic volume changes (especially when watching broadcast TV).

2)Connectivity - All the receivers I looked at had all the connection options that I needed (HDMI, optical, component, etc). However, other brands had reported issues with HDMI handshake or video upscaling or other issues. From what I researched, Denon had a solid reputation for everthing working as it should. When I connected all my components, suprise! everything worked flawlessly. When dealing with complicated pieces of AV equipment, he last you want is connectivity issues and trying to figure out whether you did something wrong or which component is faulty.

3) Sound quality - Most recievers in this price range will provide good sound quality. This is a subjective measure of course, but by my ears, the Denon rocks. I re-watched my bluray movies on my PS3, and the sound was much more "enveloping" than before. Live Free or Die Hard on blu ray has both the DTS-MA and Dolby digital soundtracks. I switched between the 2 during the movie, and the difference is pretty profound. Lossless sound is clearer, louder, and a bit more realistic than Dolby digital. And the Audyssey sound calibration does a great job of accounting for my speakers and room acoustics.

As great as this receiver is, there are a few drawbacks. As previous reviews have mentioned, the manual is not the easiest I've read. You need to set aside a few hours for setup, mostly because you'll play with the numerous settings within the menu. Oh, and the menu is bit boring. It reminds me of an old DOS program, with its plain white on black text. Finally, the remote is kind of a pain in the butt to use when you're trying to setup everything. You have to access both sides to get to all the menu options. But, once everything is setup the way you want, you rarely have to go to the back side for anything.

Overall, I highly recommend this receiver for anyone with a bluray player/PS3 and a small to medium sized room. The sound quality from this Denon will blow you away!

***UPDATE*** 4/8/09 - I recently moved into my first house (finally, I can crank up the volume on my system!!). I purchased some new front & center channel speakers for the larger living room (Definitive Technology BP6's for front, Definitive CLR 2300 for the center). Well, let me just say that the Denon has no problem powering these much larger speakers. The soundstage is much larger than before, and Denon powers it all like a champ. I re-ran the Audyessy setup for the new speakers/room size, and again it turns out a very well balanced, precise, and realisitic soundstage. I'm still very satisfied with my Denon receiver!!