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

I have to say that Denon = Demon. Before buying this receiver, i did tons of research and finally made up my mind to buy HK 254 due to its looks and awsome sound. But i quickly changed my mind due to a lot of bugs in the receiver. I bought HK 254 couple months ago, used it for a week and was pleasantly surprised of the audio quality. Also, i had no bugs but for some strange reason my receiver would heat up to a point i couldn't touch it. so i returned it.
Next was ONKYO and they are notorious about heat issues. I assemble/make computers for hobby and so i know what heat does to your gadgets. so i dropped ONKYO and started looking for DENONS. I knew all along that DENONS are good but one thing scared me was the unusually complex setup. I read 50 pages on AVS forums and 95% of people believe that it's good receiver so i pulled the trigger. What a surprise? The receiver is piece of engineering / quality. I know that this bad boy will last for years. It might not look as sleek as HK but it can beat HK in seconds. I setup everything under 2 hours......i turned the beast on and i am blown away!!! The blue "True HD" sign looks beautiful and sounds amazing. Even the video processing is amazing. My blue rays look and sound 1 million times better. The thump of the base coming out of my woofer tells me that i have made a good decision.

PS: to whoever is out there in the market looking for receivers, please do yourself a favor and go for denon 1909. There are absolutely no bugs, no heating problems.......nothing. To make the deal sweeter, 6AVE.com is selling the receiver with 25% off. Just google for a coupon and you will find one. I paid $449.25 including shipping.

Ever since making the leap to Blu-ray last summer, I've been itching to replace our old Harmon Kardon receiver with a newer unit that included HDMI in/out and support for all the latest HD audio formats.

I originally went with the Sony STR-DG820, based largely on the outstanding value proposition. When I was setting it up, I couldn't help but notice a certain "cheapness" to its feel. The speaker connectors and volume knobbed seemed flimsy and unsubstantial, and the overall unit lacked the heft of the old H/K. It worked fine at first, but quickly developed annoying HDMI handshake issues across all of its HDMI inputs. Picture and sound would just...drop...and take several seconds to reacquire. Suffice to say, it was quickly and swiftly returned, and I began looking for a different receiver.

My search led me to two models - the Denon AVR-1909/798 and the Pioneer VSX-1018AH 7.1-Channel A/V Receiver. I ultimately went with the Denon based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Suffice to say, I was not disappointed. Right from the start, the heft I associated the old H/K was there. This thing is substantial, and reeks of quality. Nothing feels cheap (except the remote...but I'm using a Logitech Harmony so remotes matter zero to me).

Once I got all the connections plugged in, it was time for the dreaded setup, the difficulty of which is attested here and elsewhere. Maybe because I was expecting it to be so arduous, or because I found a very helpful walkthrough on AVSForum, I found it to be pretty easy. Sure it takes some patience, but there's nothing really confounding about it.

Now, onto what really matters. How good is this thing? To my ears, it's phenomenal. The sound is warm, yet well defined, and the Audyssey Dynamic EQ really does wonders for maintaining a deep and immersive soundscape at moderate volumes. The Dynamic Volume is a treat, too. We haven't had to go through the usual volume up during quiet parts/volume down during explosions exercise since we fired it up.

So far, I'm very happy about this purchase. Time will tell, but I'm hoping it will last as long as that old H/K did!

The Good:
The Denon 1909 is priced as a entry-level AVR, even though it has many of the qualities and features of receivers that are significantly more expensive. The HD processing and 480/720i up-converting are excellent, as is the audio. Using Audyssey technology, the 1909 enables the owner to configure the surround sound to match the room, which is a significant advantage over many other receivers in this price range. Likewise, the 1909 has a volume-leveling feature that eliminates the annoyance of having commercials blasting way beyond the level of any TV program one is watching. I also like the fact that this is a solid piece of equipment, weighing in at around 26 lbs, giving it good physical stability.

The Bad:
It seems reasonable to assume that anyone buying an AV receiver knows something about technology and is confident about his or her ability to connect the 1909 to an existing system. In this case, any confidence is most likely misplaced. The 1909 is amazingly difficult to set up, in part because the user manual is essentially worthless. I got the impression it was written in Chinese by a native speaker of Swahili and then translated into English by a native speaker of Arabic. An important bit of information missing from the manual, for example, is that the remote has a hidden back panel that covers crucial controls for installation. Speaker configuration can take as long as two hours; device and audio mode assignment and can take just as long, or longer. Indeed, setup and installation are so problematic that AV Forum has (as of June 21, 2009) a thread dedicated to 1909 installation that is nearly 300 pages long. I recommend that purchasers go to the AV Forum BEFORE they attempt any setup. Doing so can save many hours and much frustration. Finally, many purchasers (like me) may be upgrading from a bundled "theater system" to enhance the HD and audio quality of HDTV and Blu-ray signals. These bundled theater systems have built-in amplifiers for the subwoofer, but the 1909 does not. Consequently, you will need to purchase an active subwoofer to complete your system. Your passive subwoofer will not function with the 1909.

As I was building a home theater in my basement, I did months of research to find a good mix of high quality equipment and reasonable price. Although this receiver was about $200 more than I had originally intended to spend, I found it to be a strong bang for the buck option, given the fact that I have no intention of doing this again for many years.

It runs cool, has plenty of HDMI inputs, the 1080p HDMI output looks great, and the sound quality is incredible. As most reviewers have already pointed out, the manual is poor.

This is a replacement for another non Denon unit that was having continuing HDMI i/o problems. Once I hooked this unit up and calibrated the speakers, all I can say is Wow. The video came alive on my Samsung LED set, the colors and sound gave me the feeling of getting a newer TV. Not only was the video greatly improved across the both, my HD channels now pop and the audio is great. I hear sounds like never before. This unit is a great product for a tight budget. Highly recommend it.