Customer Reviews

Denon AVR1610 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver with 1080p HDMI Connectivity

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Based on a sub-$400 budget, I focused on this and the Yamaha 465. In researching it, a toss-up really emerged and the decision was made in talking to a very knowledgeable guy at Crutchfield. Having set it up last night and having played with it the better part of today, I am very content with my purchase. I fired up some Blu Ray's with both PCM and DTS-MA/ True HD and was very pleased with the upgrade over standard DD/DTS. The soundstage was just bigger. The opening scene from my kids favorite movie, Cars, was no longer weak. The opening race scene was clear and appropriately loud. The bump on my stars comes from the fact that the manual is awful. I gave up on it early on and went with the trial and error approach with the on-screen menu, which is more than adequate, but you need to have a basic tech sense in order to take that route. On another set-up note, the microphone setup is well done and made a big difference in the sound generated from my SS speakers, before versus after.

Since I'm brand new to the A/V world, I did a lot of researching before making my decision on which receiver to buy. I worked hard to figure out all the lingo and I checked out just about every option available below $400, including those with built-in DVD players, etc. I read every review I could find ([...] is great for this), posted questions on the AVS forums, etc. I'm very thorough when I'm spending a lot of money like this.

I didn't need a 7.1 system so I focused on 5.1 systems. Even though I'm only using a 2.0 setup right now (front left and right speakers only), I want to be able to add the other speakers and a sub in the future. So my review is only on my 2.0 setup. I can't provide any feedback on a full 5.1 surround setup.

One of the things I was looking for was upconverting (the ability to plug all of my components (HDMI, component cable, and composite) into the receiver and run 1 HDMI cable out to the TV for the video and speaker wires out to the speakers for audio). You can use the HDMI for audio too if you want to use your TV speakers, but if you're buying a good receiver, it just makes sense to buy some decent speakers to take advantage of it. Upconverting was essential for me since I'm mounting the TV on the wall about 15' away from the receiver and didn't want to buy lots of long cables for each type of input and then have to run them behind the wall. I was also looking for a receiver with lots of inputs to handle all of my components (HD DVR, Wii, DVD player, video baby monitor) and still have room to add more pieces in the future.

I'm happy to report that I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. The receiver does a good job of upconverting the analog video inputs and they all look pretty nice on my 46" LCD. The video from HDMI inputs looks amazing. For audio, I'm using Focal XL speakers and they sound great! They provide lots of bass and dialogue is nice and clear. I haven't run the Audyssey program yet because the TV isn't on the wall yet but it sounds great even without having run it. I will provide an update once I get everything in it's final place. I just wanted to get my initial review posted since there aren't many on Amazon yet and I wanted to let everyone know that this is an excellent choice.

The only drawback I can think of is that the manual isn't super helpful. You can find lots of help online, especially at batpig.com. Don't worry, it is a legit site. You can google it if you'd like. It is an excellent information resource for Denon receivers.

I purchased this unit to replace an older Denon unit that was not HDMI equipped. I loved the older unit and hated to replace it. However, as I quickly discovered, Denon has made some considerable improvements.

For starters, the use of HDMI cables replaced a jungle of composite and optical cables. I used one HDMI cable from my FIOS box, one from my Blu-Ray DVD, and one from the Denon unit to the HD television. The end result is better picture and sound quality.

Installation time for the unit was about 30-minutes. This was because the speaker wiring was already in place. I just had to transfer the connections from the old unit to this one. The HDMI cable takes only a few seconds to plug in.

Once the speaker and HDMI connections were in place, the next step was to balance the system. You use the microphone that comes with this unit and mount it to ear height. If you have a camera tripod that is the easiest way. The microphone has a screw mount for the tripod. You place it where you will be listening at, as I just stated, ear height. Once you plug the microphone in the unit automatically goes into setup mode and displays a menu on the television screen. You just use the Enter button on the remote control and it runs through a series of sound and speaker checks that takes about 3 minutes or so. If your room has multiple listening points, you repeat this procedure for each listening point.

If any of your speakers are mis-wired (have positive and negative reversed), the setup will give you an out of phase warning.

Once the setup is complete, you click the calculate option. This will take a couple of minutes while it performs internal calculations for optimal speaker equalization. Finally you save the settings, sit back, and enjoy your new system. It is just that easy.

Built into the unit are a number of Dolby formats and equalization patterns. The DynEQ feature automatically selects the best Dolby and equalization for whatever content you are playing. I tested a number of sources and it was on the money for each of them.

Several other reviewers complained about the lack of clarity in the manual. To be honest, you almost don't need the manual because it is so easy and obvious to set this unit up.

The only adjustment you might need to make manually is the lip-sync time adjustment. This is a common problem with HD television. There may be a timing discrepancy between the audio and video. I found that with my FIOS system there was a very slight discrepancy. However, the adjustment for fixing this is very easy to use.

Finally, one great feature for this unit is DynVol. Anyone who gets annoyed at unusually loud commercials will love this feature. This feature keeps the volume of the commercials the same as the broadcast. Perhaps someday they will have the ability to completely cut the volume to commercials :) .

In summary I highly recommend this unit for both outstanding quality of the video and audio, and for ease of use.

Bought this receiver a few weeks ago, still amazed at how good it sounds. I had a panasonic surround sound system, when the dvd player went out, i decided not to buy another player/surround system so that I can replace individual parts as necessary. I brought the denon home, connected it to my existing panasonic speakers, and my new polk sub and ran the audyssey set up. It sounds so much better than our old surround sound system. Music from my IPOD sounds absolutely great, it feels like i'm listening to the band live. Movies have also gained a new dimension, much more theatre like experience with sounds coming from places that I don't remember hearing them from before. I was worried that the 375 watts would not be enough to fill our large living space (18x30)ish, but it's more than enough sound for us. Haven't come close to cranking it all the way and it's plenty loud. Was debating between this and a pioneer, found this receiver for $300 even, and went for it, very happy that I did.

I upgraded from a Pioneer VSX-515 (no HDMI) and did a lot of research before deciding on this receiver. AVS Forum was a great help (and I highly, highly recommend Batpig's "Denon to English" setup guide).

Armed with that guide, the manual made MUCH more sense.

Out of the box, the unit sounded good, even before I did any of the Audyssey auto-setup things. I had to order a microphone stand adapter to properly mount the microphone and perform the setup, but if you own a camera tripod, that should be sufficient. I was in a hurry and used a small step-stool with the mic sitting on the top step, and it actually surprised me how great a job it did.

Even without approaching the setup in an optimal way, the results were noticable. The system correctly set my speaker distances, and measured the acoustics of my room so well that watching TV and movies is a completely new experience. My equipment was always good, but it never sounded THIS good. The receiver compensated for some surround placement issues, warned me of an out-of-phase speaker, and cleaned up my subwoofer so well, I no longer feel like I need to move them elsewhere in the room to get the most out of them.

I can't wait till the mic stand adapter arrives so I can spend a little time with this receiver and REALLY run through the auto-setup the right way (I only measured 3 of the available 6 locations, too!).

All in all, I'm happy with this purchase. It's some of the best money I've spent. I run my PS3 and Dish network HD-PVR through it with no problems, and I previously had a Nintendo Wii connected through the component that had ZERO issues getting to the TV via the single HDMI cable. So, so nice to have only ONE cable going from the receiver to the TV.

If you're on the fence, just go for it. You won't be disappointed.

I purchased this Denon receiver because of several new features it offers. I have owned a Denon 1801 receiver for the past eight years and have enjoyed a quality experience without any problems the entire time. I am sold on Denon proucts. This new one provides all the features I want at a reasonable cost. With a large new LCD television, blu-ray player and satellite TV, I wanted to be able to run all my components through HDMI connections on the receiver. Once I connected the speakers, I ran the Audyssey MutiEQ configuration and the room was instantly full of rich sound, much better than my manual tuning I had done with the old receiver. Wow. I was impressed! The Audyssey Dynamic Volume feature seems to do a good job keeping those annoying loud commercials at bay. Last, but not least, I fine tuned the av-sync using the Audio Signal Delay function. This receiver supports the latest Dolby, DTS, Pro-Logic, etc. modes and has convenient, and hidden when not used, front jacks for gaming. As many before me noted, the only negative thing I can say, is the manual was poorly written. But, with some patience, you'll figure it all out.

My setup is very straight forward: DVD -> HDMI -> 1610 -> HDMI -> TV. I found the manual usable, though missing many details. I was fortunate to have picked up some of those details during my research, like the HDMI connection to the TV to be able to use the onscreen menu.

Setting the whole system up, including running the wires to the speakers took about 3-4 hours. Setting the surround using MultEq was a breeze. Although I am not a pro, the result sounds fantastic to me. One note: while it made the right decisions about the speaker configuraions (all the speakers were set to 'Small'), the crossover frequency was set to 40Hz rather than the recommended 80Hz. Not sure why that was the case. You may want to manually verify the setup details after the MultEq process completes.

The jury is still out on the HDMI connectivity. I have had a couple of glitches while playing movies. Once the signal gets messed up, I need to turn off the DVD player and power it back up to get a reliable link. No idea why this is happening. I do not recall having had this issue while the DVD was directly connected to the TV.

I can't comment on the video conversion feature of the receiver. The signal is 1080P from the DVD player -- so the video signal is a straight pass-through.

The sound is absolutely gorgeous. I am using NHT speakers & sub with the receiver, and the sound is very satisfying whether playing movies or concert videos. I have not played my CDs yet through the receiver -- so I will add any comments on the stereo performance later. So far, it seems like excellent value for the money.

Added after listening to enough music: With my setup, the 2.1 configuration works best for CDs (Stereo vs. Direct on the Denon receiver. Stereo is the 2.1 mode while Direct is just the two front speakers). With my speakers, it just does not feel right unless using the sub. Although most experts say that the best way to listen to stereo CDs is to not using the surround feature, personally I find it a toss up. Both surround & stereo sounds great -- just a different feel. The 1610 is turning out to be just an excellent receiver.

Added after 6 months of ownership: The HDMI connectivity problem did not surface after the initial couple of occurences. I have to assume that whatever it was, was some sort of transient corner cases, and not a systematic problem. The product is simply terrific.

I picked this unit up from a local shop who highly reccomended this receiver and started my research. It does everything I want, switch HDMI, video, pass through video, and produces great surround sound!

My budget would be considered low to audio/video freaks, but I believe this receiver is the best bang for the buck! Currently I have: HD settop cable box, Blu Ray, Wii, and the boy's Click Start running through it. I love the HDMI switching for the simple fact that it allows me to run 1 HDMI from the receiver to the TV!

Thanks Amazon for having a review section which aided me in my research to purchase!

I needed a receiver that would switch my HDMI devices and allow my Samsung TV to remain on the DVI input for everything. Looked into an HDMI switch, but then my son-in-law talked me into getting this Denon unit to replace my Sony 7.1 receiver. The Denon 1610 is driving a Bose Acoustimass 6 speaker system, by the way.

The Denon 1610 comes with a sound calibration microphone that one uses to setup the sound envelope in your room. It's a bit complicated to get it all together but well worth the effort. The surround sound on this system is vastly superior to the Sony 7.1 system that I replaced. We are hearing sounds that we never quite heard before! It's amazing, really.

The HDMI switching feature is superb and now I don't have any problems switching from one activity to another using my Harmony remote. I can easily switch from cable to Blu-ray to Xbox with no effort at all.

This receiver is a lot of bang for the buck and I would recommend it to anyone who is setting up their home theater and doesn't want to spend a bloody fortune.

If you plan to use quality speakers, blu-ray, Sirius radio, and more, then you should start your home system with Denon, and only then choose audio/video/gaming devices. Give yourself a long, quiet day to set up everything, and READ THE MANUAL! You don't have to be a techno-expert to get going, but patience and accuracy will give you huge rewards! We researched many systems, trusted the advice of Crutchfield for quality, then made our purchase through Amazon. Enjoy!