Denon AVR-3311CI 7.2-Channel Network Home Theater Receiver (Black)

by Denon

Product Features

• Fully discrete 7-channel power amplifier delivers 125 watts per channel (875-watts total)
• Decodes Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital Surround EX, Dolby Pro Logic IIz,
• HDMI 1.4a Repeater Inputs (6) and Output (1) support 1080p/24, 3D (All formats) Audio Return Channel, 7.1 Uncompressed Audio
• Anchor Bay ABT-2015 advanced analog and digital video 1080p/24fps/60fps upconversion and deinterlacing with multi-cadence detection
• Audyssey DSX surround processing, Audessey MultEQ automatic room acoustic measuring and correction system

Product Details

Product Information [2.31mb PDF]

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Owner's Manual [22.93mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 15 x 17.1 x 6.7 inches ; 28.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 34 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B003LVZYNI
• Item model number: AVR-3311CI
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 1, 2010

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Transform your home theater into an online media hub with the Denon AVR-3311CI 7.2-Channel A/V Receiver. Equipped with wired LAN connectivity, the AVR-3311CI connects to your home network so you can enjoy online content on your big-screen TV and home speakers. The receiver features a wide selection of inputs, allowing you to route Blu-Ray/DVD players, VCRs, game consoles, and other entertainment devices to your TV. And with full support for the latest high-definition audio and video formats, you get enhanced music, photos, and video in the comfort of your home.

Denon AVR-3311CI 7.2-Channel A/V Receiver At a Glance: Features support for latest high-definition audio and video formats LAN connectivity for access to online media Cutting-edge audio technologies for exceptional surround sound 6 HDMI inputs for added connectivity HDMI 1.4a for compatibility with 3D media HD radio and iPod/iPhone Direct Connectivity

LAN Connectivity for Access to Online Content
With its RJ-45 wired LAN connection, the Denon AVR-3311CI A/V Receiver allows your home theater to access online media. The LAN connection allows you to retrieve content from popular Internet services, including Pandora, Rhapsody, and Napster to stream your favorite music, or Flickr for photos--all from the comfort of your living room. The LAN connection also allows for web browser control using any network connected PC or other internet searching device, like an iPhone.

An RS-232C serial port is also included to allow for integration with any third-party, home control systems.

Equal power amplifier design gives a more faithful reproduction of the original sound. View larger.

Features a LAN connection to stream online media, plus an HDMI 1.4a port for 3D media. View larger.

Premium Audio Technologies for Superb Surround Sound
Fully compatible with the latest HD audio formats, the AVR-3311CI provides a powerful, theater-quality surround-sound experience. It ensures maximum audio performance with multiple cutting-edge technologies:

• Equal Power Amp Design: Each of the receiver's seven 125-watt channels is powered by its own discrete circuit. This allows the receiver to reproduce the original surround sound more faithfully than conventional models, which use integrated circuits.
• High-Definition Audio Support: The AVR-3311CI features support for the latest Blu-Ray, high-resolution audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. These formats play back sound with exceptional fidelity, providing you with a more realistic listening experience.
• Dolby Pro Logic IIz and Audyssey DSX: Dolby Pro Logic IIz provides two additional height channels, adding a vertical dimension to your sound. Audyssey DSX supplements this effect by creating additional channels and dramatically expanding the front soundstage.
• Audyssey MultEQ XT Support: Audyssey technology helps create an optimal acoustic profile for your home theater. Using a microphone, Audyssey MultEQ XT carefully measures the "acoustic layout" of your listening area, and then adjusts the speakers to perform at their best, making for the finest listening environment possible.

Full HD Support and Up-Scaling to 1080p
With six HDMI inputs, the AVR-3311CI allows you to route multiple high-definition devices--like game consoles and Blu-Ray players--to your TV. The receiver also upscales standard-definition video inputs to a 1080p HD signal. You'll be able to enjoy older media, such as VCR and DVD, in richer detail. It also allows you to connect all of your devices to your TV with a single HDMI cable, reducing cable clutter.

Vivid 3D Visuals with HDMI 1.4a
The AVR-3311CI comes equipped with HDMI 1.4a, allowing you to make the most of several premium video features:

• 3D Pass-Through: With the advent of 3D media, it is important to own a receiver that recognizes 3D video signals. The AVR-3311CI is able to pass through 3D signals from your Blu-Ray player, ensuring that the 3D effect doesn't get lost in translation. It also recognizes signals from 3D television broadcasts.
• Audio Return Channel: HDMI 1.4a also features an Audio Return Channel, which allows both audio and video content to be sent through a single HDMI cable. This eliminates the need for a separate audio cable running from your TV to the receiver--only a single HDMI cable is needed.
• Deep Color and x.v.Color Support: The AVR-3311CI also supports Deep Color and x.v.Color schemes, which can display a larger color range than standard-definition schemes. The result is a more lifelike, vibrant picture.

HD Radio and iPod Connectivity
Equipped with an HD Radio, the AVR-3311CI actively converts analog radio signals to digital, greatly improving the clarity of both AM and FM broadcasts. The receiver also features iPod and iPhone Direct Connectivity, allowing you to stream your music via a USB cable. A compressed audio restorer guarantees that MP3 playback is crisp and clear.

Ergonomic Design Promotes Easy Control
With its programmable functions and intuitive button layout, the AVR-3311CI is designed to maximize ease of use. The front panel is smartly organized, featuring clearly-labeled buttons and onboard controls for volume and source. In addition, its on-screen display provides quick information about your system's settings.

The AVR-3311CI's remotes can sync with other entertainment devices in your home theater, eliminating the need for additional remote controls. It can also be easily programmed with macro functions, giving you more flexibility in controlling your home theater.

The AVR-3311CI 7.2 Channel Networking Multi-Source/Multi-Zone A/V Home Theater Receiver is backed by a three-year warranty.

What's in the Box
AVR-3311CI Home Theater Receiver, power cord, main remote control with "AA" batteries, sub remote control with "AAA" batteries, setup microphone, AM loop antenna, FM indoor antenna, and owner's manual.

Play music directly from your iPod and iPhone by connecting it to the USB port.

Product Description

Transform your home theater into an online media hub with the Denon AVR-3311CI 7.2-Channel A/V Receiver. Equipped with wired LAN connectivity, the AVR-3311CI connects to your home network so you can enjoy online content on your big-screen TV and home speakers. The receiver features a wide selection of inputs, allowing you to route Blu-Ray/DVD players, VCRs, game consoles, and other entertainment devices to your TV. And with full support for the latest high-definition audio and video formats, you get enhanced music, photos, and video in the comfort of your home. LAN Connectivity for Access to Online Content - With its RJ-45 wired LAN connection, the Denon AVR-3311CI A/V Receiver allows your home theater to access online media. The LAN connection allows you to retrieve content from popular Internet services, including Pandora, Rhapsody, and Napster to stream your favorite music, or Flickr for photos-all from the comfort of your living room. The LAN connection also allows for web browser control using any network connected PC or other internet searching device, like an iPhone. An RS-232C serial port is also included to allow for integration with any third-party, home control systems.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great receiver, except for the networking card July 8, 2010

By Mikey likes it

(see long term update at the end of this review)

Having listened to mid-range receivers from most of the major brands, I liked the sound of the Denons the best..a bit warmer than the Onkyos, which is better for music. The Pioneers sounded nice, but lacked Audyssey (using the proprietary MACC instead). Marantz sounded great but aren't as fully featured as comparably priced Denons.

I wanted a receiver that's up-to-date with all of the latest surround sound formats and is relatively future proof, since I don't plan to upgrade again for several years. The 3311 seemed to fit the bill perfectly and I'm very happy with my purchase so far. The sound quality is great. I thought that my old Onkyo sounded pretty good, but this surpasses it by far. Audyssey MultiEQ XT does an excellent job at tailoring the equalization to compensate for the acoustical flaws in the room. I've never had a system that sounds so balanced, detailed and immersive. There's plenty of power to drive most speakers (even my inefficient Polk RTiA7's) to their potential. I was initially concerned about the reduced weight of the newer Denon mid-range receivers compared to older models, but this concern seems to be mostly unfounded, as the performance and adequate power speaks for itself. Pre-outs are included to allow for the addition of external amps, if desired. Last year's models apparently suffered from networking problems. Fortunately, these issues seem to have been resolved in the 3311 and the network features have worked flawlessly so far. By the way, the upcoming model AVR-991 is priced $200 lower and is basically the same as the 3311, except it has no pre-outs, a couple less inputs, one less zone and one remote instead of two....

To me, this unit (or the 991) is the sweet spot in the new Denon line as far as performance, features and value. It's reasonably priced, being $300 less than last year's 3310, yet has more features and probably better sound, due to the upgrade to the "XT" version of MultiEQ. It'll cost a lot more to step up to the next higher model (4311?) and, based on comments I've read, the difference in sound quality is likely to be marginal at best. The 3311 comes with a 3 year warranty (the AVR-991 warranty is only 2 yrs).

Based on my experience with this receiver so far, I'd definitely buy it again and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to a friend. Tip: try to get it on sale. I got mine for 25% off list price despite being a newly released model.

UPDATE 2 years later:

I've been very happy with this receiver for the last two years, however mine did end up having the faulty networking card issue that many others have written about. The menu would freeze when trying to access the network. After a two week wait, the local authorized service center replaced it (hopefully with one that won't crap out) and it's been working fine for six months following the repair. I originally gave this receiver 5 stars, but I've deducted a star due to the network issue. If this hadn't happened, I would have left it at 5 stars. I wonder if this problem has finally been resolved in the newest models. Read more ›

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific for Home Theater August 23, 2010

By MJC

I have this connected in our main TV watching room. 99% of the time, it is playing sound and video from either a Tivo or a Mac Mini that is setup to play our DVD movies along with video sources such as Hulu, Netflix, and the iTunes store rentals. It almost never plays back just music (but see below).

This AVR receiver, like most, is marketed and plastered with too many industry standards and proprietary / trademarked formats, such as 3D, HDMI, Windows 7 Compatible, Audyssey, Sirius, HD Radio, iPod ... I don't mean they are meaningless (some are to me), but when comparing this receiver to the Pioneer VSX 1120 and to the Yamaha offerings, the sea of sometimes interchangeable acronyms surged and flowed around me like hype, not help.

One of these, however, I have really come to value - Audyssey. The Denon 3311ci comes with a microphone that you place at and around your main listening areas (up to 8 spots). Then you run the Audyssey program that is built into this receiver. It sends out a bunch of tones and clicks from each of your surround sound speakers, processes the results, stores it to memory, and ... greatly improves the surround sound performance! (My prior receiver's performance was probably better than most people's as I had calibrated each speaker using precisely using a Sound Pressure Level meter, special calibration DVD's, and measuring the distance from each speaker to the main listening position). Audyssey's faster and more sophisticated measuring and processing made a big improvement. I think the results that it processes take into account the room's acoustics (furniture placement, walls, windows ...) in ways that a human just couldn't do. Very impressive.... In the first weekend, two other people (wife and mother) watched Tivo and a movie in that room and separately commented on the amazing sounds they heard. ("I thought there was a siren on the street behind me, but it was the movie." and "I got up to answer the phone, but it was just part of the Tivo show.")

The video looks very good, too. Both the Tivo and the Mac MIni are connected to the Denon 3311 via HDMI through one HDMI cable, each. Then, a third cable runs to the HDTV. That's it. Three cables. Very easy setup. Everything has worked well.

I'll be integrating the 3311CI's webserver into our home automation system, which is a main reason for selling a beloved Arcam AVR 350 that it replaced. That's a bigger project, but the basic movie and TV video and sound of this unit has impressed us so much, that we thought we'd share.

So, why only 4 stars? It's been 5 on everything so far, but there are many other things to test on it. Also, it's not as spectacular for just listening to music in stereo as the Arcam was. It's very good, but not stellar for good old fashioned music playback. However, that's something I'll do with it 1% of the time, at most.

[UPDATE - I took this rating from 4 to 5 stars on Oct. 1. Denon has issued a couple firmware updates that have actually made this a better machine than when I bought it. For example, it can now link to a free iPhone App they released that lets us use the iPhone to control any of the zones from anywhere in the house. Nice one, Denon! Also, as my ears have become accustomed to the sound of the Denon, I've found it very pleasing for theater and music.] Read more ›

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Denon AVR-3311CI October 2, 2010

By vero_reviewer

I am upgrading this unit from an AVR-3805. The main reason for this upgrade had nothing to do with the quality of sound I was getting from the AVR-3805, but to get additional features. Here were the features I didn't have and was hoping to get on the new unit:
1) Had only DVI with fiber/digital. I wanted to go to all HDMI.
2) IPod function to easily watch iPod clips and listen to music
3) I wanted to listen to Internet radio stations and music services.
4) Wanted to access my F drive on my home computer which has all my music stored on it.
5) I presently was using Zone 2 to drive my outdoor speakers on the 7.0 channel and using Zone 3 to go to a Russound audio bus which has its own amplifier and RCA input. The problem was that the AVR-3805 would only take in analog signals and send out analog. This would require every digial input device that I was using such as the computer, DVR, CD, DVD, Game box to have a digital and analog cable. The new AVR-3311CI Zone 2 and 3 were able to take a digital input and output an analog signal and thus get rid of all the bulky redundant cables.
6) I really wanted HD radio.
7) I also hoping to lower wasted heat that gets stuck in my cabinet even with the fan running.
8) I was also saving 1 or 2 inches in the back as I have a cable heat damming problem and more space will only help.
OK, so here is what I got and my thoughts:
I got rid of all the digital cables and RCA input cables. I upgrade my computer and put in a graphics card that has HDMI out and can also send just music without video (make sure you get this feature or it won't work). Everything worked great on my living room and was able to see and hear music digitally and video.... The problem came in when I went to listen to my pool speakers or my russound distributed audio system from zone 1 and zone 2 as nothing came out. After talking with Denon, apparently HDMI digital was NOT the digital they were talking about for the two zone digital converters. They were only talking about fiber and coax. This is very disheartening as it now seems that I have to go back and add fiber back to all my input in addition to HDMI if I want to listen to sound on the two zones. They gave me an explanation, but I believe it was a dumbing down of the digital conversion and could have been done.
I am having a problem with my Iphone working on the IPod input as after 2-8 minutes the buffer starts to drop below 100% and eventually goes to 0% and locks up the Denon IPod input. This does not happen if you plug an actual IPod in, only on the Iphone to play music. Denon didn't take responsibility for the problem and told me to talk with Apple. I do not have this same problem on any my car or at the gym IPod readers. Also the on screen readers is very limited and wish it could be graphically improved.
All the network features are amazing to me and make the computer hook up almost obsolete except for watching YouTube clips. The flash upgrades and setting up on my network computer are great. There is much work to be done on their HTML code for the computer interface.
Except for the zone 2/zone 3 digital conversion and the Iphone losing its buffer, I have no regrets and I am happy with my purchase.

UPDATE 1/1/2011: I have been adviced by Denon to ship my unit back for repair now for the following issues: 1) FM radio station keeps doing a 1 second cut out about every minute or so on a very popular local station that my last 3805 got just fine and all my other pocket radios get. 2) I can no longer get internet access or connect through my browser or iphone app. However, you can get a DHCP assigned IP address on it and even ping it. 3) When the internet did work, several of the ip radio stations listed could not connect and would skip to the next station listed. However, Denonradio.com which list their stations can be accessed from my browser.

This unit reminds me of something that has a lot of great specs and looks beautiful on the outside, but the inside has some form of cancer. I can only hope they are able to really fix this stuff when I send it in. I really thought this was the last unit I would ever need and is why I waited so long to upgrade.

UPDATE 2/21/2011: The unit was sent back with only the network card MAC address fixed and a Flash upgrade. I am taking out the issues mentioned in my previous update that there is a problem with the HDMI handshaking. After going around in circles, I finally got a Samsung TV repair guy out and found that I have a faulty board in the TV. That cause sporadic rebooting of the TV. Sorry about any slams on Denon for that one, but it really did seem like it was a Denon issue. Also, the vTuner/Denonradio.com issue has been replicated at Denon's lab for all three of their 2011 series models. They are telling me that it is vTuner's problem as all they are is a link. I am slowly getting vTuner to take a look at it, but they just keep asking more questions. So it seems the only problem I am really having with this unit that Denon needs to fix is the local FM radio issue. The service center has asked that I just send it back for another refurb and hope that the problem goes away. Also there has been another Flash upgrade since receiving this and the rumor is it was to fix the network card issue. BTW: if you turn you main power off you can't access the unit to turn it on remotely as the network card gets turned off ott. Read more ›