Customer Reviews

Denon AVR-2309CI 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this receiver to replace an aging Sony STI-910 receiver when I upgraded the home theater system with a Sony PS3 that we use for blu ray movies and games. The first thing you'll appreciate is the automated speaker setup and synchronization system. It makes life pretty easy and eliminates the need to manually calibrate the sound output for your room.

I have a fairly big room and was surprised how accurate it got my speakers tuned. You'll need a good 2 hours to get the receiver setup, synchronized, and mapped to your inputs. One thing that some may find hard to do is the setup of each input. It requires you to map each audio, video, and source with each of the primary functions such as DVD, TV/CBL box, etc. But once you do the first one, it becomes much easier.

The remote control is a bit funky though. Denon decided to save space and created the remote with buttons on both sides. The botton side is primarily used to setup the receiver and select the various equalization modes. The front side is used to control each of the devices. This takes some getting used to and is a bit of a hassle for the price you're paying.

But remote issues aside, the sound is great. I cross shopped the Harmon Kardon 354 series, Pioneer Elite, and new Marantz around the same price range. If you have a PS3, you'd better check out the blogs first. The HK has a lot of issues with the PS3 and even after the latest firmware update, there are still some remaining issues. This kept me away from the HK even though that was my original choice.

The Marantz didn't have as many features as the Denon, even though it was just released. I think the sound of the HK and Marantz is slightly warmer than the Denon, but you'll only really notice this slight difference if you're listening to a lot of classical, jazz or vocal pieces.

For home theater, it really drew out a lot of nuanses that my Sony was simply not reproducing. Even my wife and kids noticed the difference with the first blu ray we popped in. The detail was much more pronounced and the auto speaker calibration really balanced out how my speakers were reproducing the volume and sound accuracy for the room.

For music, the receiver had quite a few equalization modes, but what impressed me was how much better the sound stage was in the direct bypass mode compared to my Sony. It was much clearer and had a deeper sound stage with better separation. It's not quite audiophile specs, but it's much better than many of the other low to mid end consumer components I've listened to.

The HDMI switching worked well with the PS3, Denon upscaling DVD player, and TV/CBL box I had hooked up to it. The Denon 2309ci did a good job of upscaling sources from my normal DVD and component inputs too.

I'd recommend this unit to others as the features, compatibility, sound and picture quality are very good for the price. I would have rated it a full 5 out of 5 if the remote was a more user friendly.

Hope this helped.

Hi,

I had this receiver (Denon AVR-2309CI) for less than a week and a half before I returned it to 6th AVE. The sound is great and the video passed through perfectly fine as well. There was a problem though. It took a week researching on what could be the problem and it looks like others are having this problem as well.

If you have a Sony flat panel LCD that starts with the letters KDL (ex. KDL-52XBR4, KDL-Z4100, KDL-W3000) then you will have picture and sound dropouts. They will last for 3 seconds then picture and sound will restore. It'll happen anywhere between one to five times an hour and can get quite annoying.

I've spoke to Denon and there is no cure (firmware) or settings that can fix this problem with Sony LCD TVs. Those with rear projection Sony LCDs should be fine.

Trust me I've tried everything from new HDMI cables, different HDMI inputs and outputs, and even power conditioners. It just loses signal then regains the signal. This happens with the Denon-2809CI as well. I've tried both!

Denon released 2309CI pretty recently (Even BestBuy doesn't have this model in their inventory yet.) After few weeks of research I decided to go with this model. I am glad that I did. My setup is KEF 3005 speakers, Samsung LN46A650 LCD, Atlantis set-top (can't remember model), Year 2000 Panasonic DVD player. 2309CI mint all these devices together without any issues. Sound and picture quality is amazing. However, Denon's setup menus are little complicated and looks like 90's old systems. Once you go through that little hump, you won't be disappointed with the price you pay for this product.

I was a little nervous ordering this based on reviewes from people who had a difficult time setting this baby up. I ahd alloted two hours of setup time to intergrate into my setup, and debug, etc. I was done in a little over 1/2 and hour. And most of that time was the audyssey/mic setup. Otherwise, I'm amazed how easy it was to set up.

If you connect your HDMI devices into the suggested ports, the Denon will see them and there is aboslutely nothing to configure.

I set up:
HDTV
Apple TV
PS3
HD DVR
HD DVD
(wii will be added shortly)

I connected everything, and turned to each input and the Denon switched everything over correctly (my harmony remote was controlling everything at this point-after updating the remote for the Denon). So In less than an hour I was watching TV and enjoying the Denon.

Sound quality is superb with my Paradigm studio 5.1 system. Video switching between HDMI devices is fast and painless. No green screens, no flickering, just a flash and then video.

Excellent unit, highly recommended. Only down side are the switched outlets are controlled by complete power off(as opposed to just stand by) to control the outlets. So I can't control a backlight for my TV unless I completely shut off the unit every time (I use stand by currently)

I've always been a Denon fan; a great work horse system. I recently upgraded my AVR-1804 to the AVR-2309 after purchasing an HDTV from Amazon. Although I can see the point of reviews claiming a set-up which wasn't overly easy and a manual lacking in some detailed information, it really only took me about an hour and a half to have all seven speakers and all audio/video connections swapped from my 1804 to the new unit. Not half bad, considering the bulk of the time was spent contorting my body to fit behind my shelving...and I may have accidently swapped a left and right front speaker which needed to be rectified. All said and done, the sound is fantastic through my 5-year old Definitive 5.1 surround sound, only made better with the addition of a 4-year old set of Mirage surround sound standers. The existance of the photo port was my main reason for opting for this system over less expensive models, but thats also not to say I wouldnt have chosen this one anyway. With three HDMI ports, along with composite options, I can't complain of a potential lack of future resources. For those needing a fourth HDMI port, the AVR-2809 may be a better option for not much more money. All and all, I've been a huge biased fan of Denon equipment for over 25 years, and after hooking up the 2309, I have a feeling they'll have me in their pocket for 25 more.

I use this receiver as my main home theater/audio hub in the main room (about 15' x 20'). I was honestly a bit worried about getting everything set up based on reviews I've read. Many people have said that the OSD interface is antiquated and difficult to use. I tend to disagree. While it isn't a fancy super intuitive Apple-like interface, if you're used to interfaces found on products such as Onkyo (my experience has been the TX-SR674), then you'll have no problem with this one.

I've owned products from Onkyo (TX-SR575, TX-SR674) and Harman Kardon (AVR-225), and the sound quality on this unit blows both away. I honestly wasn't expecting much of an improvement coming from the 674, but I was proven very wrong. The Audyssey setup in wonderful, and the fact that you can use multiple points to configure the optimal speaker settings is a superb feature. I configured the unit to use 4 listening positions, and the automatic calibration makes all 4 positions sound fantastic.

Another nice thing that I wasn't aware of was the ability to rename the inputs/sources. It's minor, but it's a great feature that not many other units offer.

The documentation does leave something to be desired. Confusing and not clear. If the documentation was clearer I may be able to solve the 2 largest problems with the unit. The following is prefaced with the fact that all of my input sources to my Samsung 52" LCD worked perfectly prior to Denon. At the present time the TV loses the signal from the Denon once or twice an hour. A message of unsupported format displays on the TV. The only thing that restores the picture is power off/on of the TV. Called Denon customer support and they said the the Samsung's were the problem. The second problem is the connection of my Media PC to the TV through the Denon. The Media PC video card has dual DVI outputs. The monitor is cloned to the second output. All works great until the Denon selects a different source then returns to the PC input. The PC drops the extended output when the Denon unloads the connection. The unit has like 6 inputs but I can only select 3 of them from the remote. Clear documentation may have helped here also. About all the technical customer service will help you to determine is if you plugged the unit into the wall properly. Audio and video quality are excellent. If I can make it work it will be a fine unit. I threw the box away so I cannot return the unit.

After weeks of researching which receiver will work best with My Samsung LNA750 and PS3 I went with the Denon AVR2309ci. I couldn't be more happy with my first receiver. Blu-Ray and video games sounds great. I Have the Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 speakers hooked to it and it shakes my living room up. I Have my HD cable TV going in HDMI and that too sounds great while watching TV. I also pulled out the old GameCube went in S-video and up-converted it to 1080p via HDMI cable. It took me almost 3 hours to set up but at the end its all worth it. I would of gave it a 5 star rating but the double sided remote control is a bit annoying and also it's not THX certified.

This is a solid, flexible receiver. I gave it only 4 stars because of the learning curve involved in setup. Trying to name/remap inputs, assign audio formats, or manage the remote has all of the usual idiosyncrasies of a Denon receiver. This said, once you do get this unit setup, you will be very happy. I don't think there are any better consumer audio components available, and the 2309 is in the sweet-spot of quality and features. Having 4 HDMI inputs and 2 zones makes this a natural choice for any environments with several component or that need to support several rooms. The sound and video quality? Outstanding.

Denon AVR-2309CI 7.1-Channel Home Theater ReceiverDenon AVR-2809CI

When I first started to hook up my new 2309 I was expecting to have a difficult time to get it going based on many reviews that I read. To my surprise the hook up was easy. When I got it going I was blown away by the sound. I hooked up my Panasonic BD30 blu ray player and played Dark Knight Returns, the sound and video was top notch. My home theater speakers consist of 2 JBL E80's, 2 JBL E50's, 1 JBL ES 35 and my subwoofer HSU VTF-2 MK3. These speakers never sounded better. I would highly recommend this receiver.