Customer Reviews

Denon AVR-591 5.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver with HDMI 1.4a (Black)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've been listening to a great podcast about audio and video technologies and found that this was the least expensive of the Denon models that offered the Audyssey MultiEQ room equalization technology. I don't have a large room for my home theater. Actually it's a little out of the ordinary in that I have the orientation in a non-ideal setup. I wasn't sure how this room equalization technology would work in my setup and I wasn't sure that I would get incredible sound from a unit this inexpensive but I decided to try it anyway. I had a Yamaha receiver previously that had a proprietary calibration setting with a microphone for automatic setup. My experience with that wasn't very good. Assuming that I read the instructions correctly, which I believe I did, the result ended up turning off my sub completely. I got it tweaked fairly well after playing with it for awhile but, needless to say, I was a little skeptical about the Audyssey setup because of this experience. The reason I decided to try it out anyway was because of the difference between how Audyssey and other companies do this automatic setup process. The Audyssey calibration, for lack of time, is much more complex, complete and precise. I am completely blown away at the difference this has made in the complete sound of my system - both movies and music. I have a pretty good collection of DVD-Audio surround sound music discs and what a difference the new receiver with the Audyssey MultiEQ calibration technology has made. I run Polk Audio RM85 satellite speakers and a Polk Audio PSW110 10-inch active sub through this receiver and the combination is perfect for my room environment and my listening preferences. I highly recomment this receiver

I bought the Denon AVR-591 to simplify my home-theatre setup and so far it's working perfectly. The Quick Select buttons also power-on the unit and so my preschool kids are able to press just one button ('Quick Select 1') and get the TV to work. I was also able to reprogram our Logitech Harmony universal remote so that it sends fewer commands.

I also appreciate the analog-to-digital video conversion (the kid's composite-video Click Start game is converted to HDMI) as it allows me to leave the TV on one input and never need to change it; this also makes the system simpler and more predictable.

The Denon configuration menus are relatively easy to use though I do have to keep the manual around to help me find some of the 'advanced' settings. You are required to run their Audessey speaker-test before you can adjust a lot of things, e.g. speaker levels (the center speaker needs to be louder), or 'Night Mode' volume compression.

The one problem I've had is that I sometimes lose the audio signal/sync, e.g. when I pause my Tivo S3. Switching to/from another input or program always fixes it, though, so I'm only knocking 1 'star' off my score for the unit: I give it 4 Stars.

Talk about a modern feature set. Whether or not firmware will upgrade HDMI 1.3 or not on your existing system, choosing a system with an HDMI 1.4 repeater for all inputs is a good idea and this unit certainly has the skill to do so. Let's jump right into the pros and cons of the unit because it certainly isn't perfect. As a long-time user of Pioneer/Sony ES/Denon receivers, I think Denon's done a fair number of things pretty well.

Pros:
- HDMI on-screen Audyssey eq and assignment functions. This helps a lot because the small screen on the unit won't suffice. Using the same technology as the Alpine imprint system (which works great in the car), you can tune to your environment. Not unique, but well done all the same
- HDMI repeater for all inputs. This is a pro and con, read more to find out why.
- HDMI 1.4 for future 3D capability. Plan for that future 3D screen (Especially good if you already own a PS3)
- Denon reputation and audio quality compared to similar priced Pioneer/Sony units
- Price, very reasonable for the feature set


Cons:
- Power rated at 6 ohms, which, as you might expect means that it doesn't have quite the juice of its rivals (70w/channel at 8ohm). I definitely notice the lack of power with many inputs more than my previous Sony unit
- HDMI repeater is not particularly good with component inputs. Using the component inputs on the Wii, direct connection to the TV is vastly superior visually to the HDMI conversion the Denon performs
- Relatively steep learning curve. You will find a little frustration with some of the advanced functions as the manual is a bit tedious. This is par for the course though, so nothing specific to Denon.

I won't spend too much time repeating what the other reviewers have said, but I agree this product seems a very good value considering the price and features. Note that my setup is all HDMI, run through the receiver and out to the TV.

A few words of caution that are not necessarily a fault of the receiver but can affect your overall experience:

1. Lip sync was a problem at first. There is an option to automatically handle it with the TV, but apparently my TV does not have this feature. I had to manually delay the audio about 40 ms to get it right (and it drove me crazy until I finally got the right delay).
2. I use the rocketfish wireless surround kit for the rear speakers. There is a delay inherent to that product, and after running Audyssey I had to manually change the distance to the rear speakers - due to the delay it calculated they were 28 feet away, instead of about 8. Easy fix, however just make sure you double-check.
3. I started playing with the surround features while playing Xbox360, and noticed it stopped outputting Dolby 5.1 and was only recognizing 2 channels of input. After driving myself crazy trying to fix it through the menu options (which are not always intuitive), I went into the Xbox settings and de-selected Dolby Digital, then re-selected it. This fixed it but again, other Xbox users take note. It took me days to figure it out and completely by accident.
4. After running Audyssey the subwoofer was way too loud, at least for an apartment. Easy fix, just turned the sub down.

Overall I recommend this product, and suggest that once you do the initial setup don't fiddle with it!

The wife and I bought this receiver mainly to simplify our home theater setup by having all AV inputs fed into the receiver via HDMI with only one HDMI output to our 50-inch Panasonic LCD HD TV, and I must say sound and picture quality from all input sources of our home theater system are first rate with the Denon AVR 591. This is our second Denon AVR and it has the expected Denon high quality and also the usual Denon dictionary sized installation manual that is necessary because even the lower-end Denon AVRs are very feature rich. I must however complement Denon for dividing the AVR 591 owner install manual into "simple", "basic", and "advanced" sections to make it easier for the "electronically challenged" (I include myself in that category) to get the AVR up and running quickly with minimum frustration. Denon is also to be praised for choosing some years ago to build into their AVR receivers the wonderful and very functional and easy to use automatic microphone-based speaker setup system by Audyssey -- and I highly recommend to one and all use of this Denon setup feature because it is truly uncanny in how well it automatically handles the usually very complicated task of setting up and fine tuning a 5.1 or 7.1 home theater speaker system.

The Denon AVR 591 is a great receiver/switcher for a home theater system arrayed within a relatively small listening/viewing area and one that uses smaller less power-hungry speakers. However, due to the relatively low power output of this nonetheless very high quality receiver I would not personally suggest using it with large power sucking speakers and would further suggest it is best suited for a listening/viewing distance of no more than about 10-12 feet, otherwise you will find a volume setting of 90% of max is often needed to get decent sound out of a 5.1 home theater system. We use the Denon AVR 591 with smaller and very efficient and high-quality 8 ohm NHT bookshelf speakers and that works great in our small condo living room. Also be aware that while the Denon AVR 591 is advertised on the box and in newpaper ads by the big-box retail sellers as providing 120 watts of power per channel with a five speaker system, this power rating is misleading because it's the power output only when 4 ohm speakers are used and not the 8 ohm speakers that most of us actually use in real life. It actually only provides 75 watts per channel with a five-channel speaker setup using 8 ohm speakers, and that is how Denon rates the AVR 591 power output on their website vs the 4-6 ohm speaker power rating of 600 total watts (120 watts per channel) used by retail advertisers (although Denon strangely uses the 600 watt number on the shipping box for the AVR 591 vs the more standard 75 watt per channel specification number for 8 ohm speakers that they show on their website). If it were not for this strange and very misleading power output specification I would have given this hig-quality and feature-rich Denon product a five-star rating.

Thus far excellent. Really impressed with the features given the price-point (paid $335 no tax, free shipping). Use it in the bedroom system with OPPO 83 (very good) and driving B&W in ceiling CCM65s; easy to set up, easy to calibrate; easy to tweak (although I'm pretty good with this stuff); manual is OK-ish, a little painful at times if you take it literally, but you'll get it right if you stick at it. Seems like there is plenty of slam at the bottom end, high end clarity and no muddy resonance (partly great speakers). Would think it's hard to beat, although to be fair, I didn't try the Onkyo at the same price point--I generally like Onkyo, but this is my third denon in as many years driving different room systems and am very impressed with quality all round. Probably couldn't go too far wrong

The AVR-591 is a solid receiver that does everything I need it to do. This is my 1st Denon product and I must say that it seems to "ooze" quality. Using the included mic with the auto setup program was simple and produced great results when using 5.1 for movies. Needless to say I'm very happy with my purchase.

This unit was bought to replace an old Sony AV Receiver that did not have HDMI capability. It was an excellent choice. I used the Infinity speakers I already had and the installation was quite easy. Being able to replace all the previous cables with three HDMI cables was great. While the Sony receiver that was replaced had 5.1 surround, I was never able to get the real surround that the Audyssey MultEQ dynamic room acoustic correction system with included microphone system allowed me to get. I am not a true audiophile, so I may be easily impressed, but the resulting effect I have with my LG LED LCD television and Sony Blu-Ray player is, to me, very impressive. I am 100% pleased with this Receiver.

This is my first real receiver, and I bought it because I wanted good sound and to better manage my devices. It is now the hub of all my devices:
Tivo -->' S-Video + stereo analog (What the receiver calls the iPod dock input)
Home Theatre PC --> HDMI
Nintento Wii --> Component
Blu Ray player --> HDMI
AppleTV --> HDMI
Children's Learning Cycle --> Composite + mono analog (V.Aux input on the front panel)

And I still have a spare HDMI port, but this is cutting it a bit close.

With my TV set constantly to its first HDMI input my universal remote control becomes much more reliable.

The one fly in the ointment is that the receiver insists on zooming the s-Video input from standard def to wide screen instead of leaving it pillar boxed. This is OK with me as the TiVo is mainly used to watch kids cartoons, and I don't care if SpongeBob is fatter than normal. And it looks better than if I was using my TV's native s-Video port. [Update: my new TV, a Panasonic, is automatically pillar boxing this signal, so maybe the receiver is doing the right thing.]

s-Video is one reason I bought this particular receiver. I recently upgraded my TV to a Panasonic TC-P50G25 50" plasma which does not come with s-Video ports. This receiver allows me to keep my satellite box connected TiVo for another year while DirectTV decides to bring out the DirectTiVo they've been promising for years. And still get exactly the TV I want.

My major complaint was in trying to setup the box from the instruction manual. I am not a big fan of manuals, as most consumer electronics should be configurable without reference, especially when the device has the hardware to bring up configuration menus and diagrams on a high definition TV. But in this case, the manual is very much required, and it is difficult to read and navigate. I eventually locked everything down the way I wanted it, with all the inputs labeled, all the speaker levels set, and with all the processing turned off. But it took longer than it should have.

However, once setup, it is very easy to use, to the point where my wife and kids can use it without advanced geekery. My 5 year old son quickly learned that he could twist the smaller knob on the left until the display said "Wii" (I have gone through the menus and labeled all the inputs) and go right to playing Lego Star Wars.

And it functions quite well. My previous system had an HDMI switch which would require power cycling when I started my AppleTV or I would get a magenta hued display; no more, this Denon works perfectly. My previous system relied on my TV's large number of inputs, inputs which the remote control would often set wrong. No longer, the receiver reliably handles input switches. My previous system was messed up with regards to speaker balance, no longer, I calibrated it with the microphone system and then tweaked it to my satisfaction.

I made my own speaker cables, and the receiver's setup was nice enough to tell me that I had gotten the polarization wrong on two of my cables. Ooops.

My satellites are 4 SphereX speakers until I can upgrade them. These are 6 ohm impedance speakers, which is within the receiver's specification of 6 to 16 ohm; if you have really hot 4 ohm speakers, I guess you are out of luck. My center channel is an 8 ohm impedance speaker, while my self-powered subwoofer makes use of the receiver's LFE (Low Frequency Effects ) output for easy setup and control. All in all, a decent sounding system but one which I will be upgrading as money and fortune permit.

Pros: Good sound, Good and reliable device management, s-Video support, speaker calibration, customizable input label display, dedicated power on/power off remote codes, dedicated input remote codes.

Cons: Complicated setup, large physical size, could use another HDMI port, muting has a loud click.

I bought this unit for a small set-up and am just beyond impressed with it. While not up to top line receivers, for a budget one it delivers above and beyond what I would have expected, the sound quality just absolutely incredible.

It's also very easy to set up, especially with the auto setup (which I think is called Audyssey.) I had my doubts about it but it works surprisingly well and is very easy. You just plug in the microphone that comes with it (attaching the mic to a tripod) and then you place it in 6 different spots while it sends out tones from each speaker. It then calculates the distance of the speakers and sets the volumes and other settings appropriately. I have to say it was pretty spot on in the distance of each speaker, and the sound levels were all set correctly except for the subwoofer seemed to be a little too high so I turned it down a bit. But other than that it was perfect.

Great unit!