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

Receiver died only after ten (10) months of average usage. Spent $30 to return unit to Denon for warranty repair. Three (3) to four (4) weeks turn around time. This is a MAJOR inconvenience since this receiver is the cornerstone of my entertainment system.

All the reviews indicated that Denon makes quality receivers with great sound. The sound is incredible but the quality is disappointing for such an expensive unit. Also, setting up the unit is not for the faint of heart and something I do not look forward to when I get the receiver back from Denon.

The setup on this beast is complicated and I consider myself very competent when it comes to electronics. I still can't get anything but fm radio to the 2nd zone. I have everything setup running through this receiver and it sounds fantastic powering my klipsch 5.1 speakers. I still highly recommend this or a Onkyo - onkyo is way easier to configure.

Pros:

1. Listening at low volumes (like at midnight) while trying not to wake a child up is MUCH better with the included Audyssey Dynamic Volume! Great feature! Because of this, I like and use this much more than my older and more expensive (but higher end series 3803 receiver) that didn't have these features.

2. Audyssey system is general seems to work well.

3. I like the visual display and the feature that lets you choose what volume level it starts with when you first turn it on. It also has a max volume setting to help prevent you from setting the volume too loud.

4. General Denon quality and reputation.

5. Supports HD audio formats for watching movies.

Cons:

1. Would be nice if it had 4 HDMI inputs instead of 3.

2. Menu system is ugly and can be difficult to navigate.

3. Remote seems cheap and not well designed.

4. A bit of a pain getting some remote commands into my Harmony (I consider this a Logitech AND Denon issue). But now my Harmony has buttons to easily switch to day, evening, amd midnight modes.

5. Made in China.

Other:

1. If you have a Harmony remote and want some commands to change Dynamic Volume then email Harmony tech support and ask to copy these commands from account name "batpigworld" to the Denon 1909 receiver on your account: RoomEQ, DynEQVolToggle, DynEQVol All OFF, DynEQ ON Volume OFF, DynEQVol ON,DynamicEQVol DAY, DynamicEQVol EVENING, DynamicEQVol MIDNIGHT

This product is far and away the best A/V receiver I looked into or have ever owned. I did research for months before I bought. It all proved fruitless as the receiver i first wanted to buy was also the best reciever. I looked at onyx and yamaha, all the other major competitors fell short in sound quality. Other reviews I read said that the remote control and the set up both take a long time to get used to and are hard to set up. I am tech savvy and i will grant that the instruction manual could have been been improved by being more concise and clear. But once I took the time to read it and get used to it. I found it rather intuitive and once it is set up it is very easy to switch setting that optimize music or movie quality. The music is crisp and clear with very bright sounds and deep controlled bass notes. I paired the system with the KEF 3005 se speaker system and have never been happier. Music is a joy to listen to with every note and a breath heard from every instrument in every genre. I am hearing notes that i have never heard before from my music. The only thing that is better than listening to music is watching a movie. I put in a DTS Bourne movie and was amazed that every detail was perfect and every aspect of watching perfect. I never thought a sounds could be as clear as my BLU-ray discs but i found that the denon makes the sound as clear as my plasma tv. Don't be worried about the set up. the built in audio EQ function is a perfect tool to get the most out of this system. It may not look like much but it has it where it counts, and it has it in spades. Stop looking and get this one.

I had an older model Denon (around 10 years old or so) that didn't support HDMI so I studied up on just about every brand in the $300-$700 range. They all had their ups and downs, but really it seemed to come down to "you get what you pay for". The Denon AVR 1909 had everything I wanted.

I see a lot of complaints about the manual and the on-screen menu. The manual in my opinion is very typical of higher-end documentation. It may seem a little overwhelming but all the info is there. Anyone who is willing to spend this much on a receiver (and is setting it up themselves) should have either a bit of knowledge already or be willing to learn what it's all about. No, it's not plug-and-play but personally I wouldn't want it to be. I enjoyed learning about what this thing could do and making sure everything was set up exactly the way *I* wanted it to be.

I will agree that the on-screen menu looks old school but it's not like you're going to have to use it much once you get things set up. The capabilities and ease of use of the menu are what you should really be concerned about and for the most part it's perfectly fine. I was a little bit confused at first but I got used to it quickly. Using the microphone for the automatic set-up was great, it got the distance for every one of my 5.1 speakers within 1 foot except for the subwoofer which was about 2 feet off. I readjusted the subwoofer any way because I like to hear a little more bass than standard.

Flipping the remote back and forth was a little annoying during set-up but again, you really only have to do that once. I had some issues getting my Wii set up properly and I actually gave up on it for a while. When I went back I did the exact same set up and it worked so I don't know what was up there - but the end results are that it's working now and I'm happy with it.

This one may seem funny to some folks (as it does to me) but I still have a VCR set up and I was hoping to get a little increased output with it - but after seeing what a VCR looks like on a 47" screen.....I don't think anything could really help that out much! I only have it around for "just in case" so again, not a big deal.

Again, with receivers you really seem to get what you pay for. If you want all the features of this model, it's worth paying a little more than the Sony or Yamaha that are in its class / price range. Even though the set up wasn't extremely simple, I completely recommend this receiver.