Customer Reviews

Denon AVR2310CI 7.1-Channel Multi-Zone Home Theater Receiver with 1080p HDMI Connectivity

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I looked at all the brands and settled on Denon because they offer a very complete set of features for the money. This model is basically identical to the Denon AVR-890 model sold in big box stores except it has some extra features that are useful for custom installations (if you have your HT installer do it for you) and has two remotes instead of one on the 890

What I liked about this model over many of the competitors:

- Audyssey MultEQ is an advanced auto setup system which adjusts all the settings for your speakers. You plug in the included microphone, it outputs test tones and calculates the optimum settings for you. It takes measurements over 6 positions to ensure that the calibration settings work well over the whole listening area. Audyssey (in my opinion) is a more sophisticated system than what you would find in the competitors like Pioneer and Yamaha. Denon implements the complete set of Audyssey MultEQ features, shows you the resulting settings, and permits you to tweak the settings afterwards even.

- Audyssey Dynamic EQ - This is a GREAT feature. It's not unlike the Dolby Volume feature offered on other brands. What it does is it makes the sound more natural when you have the volume control lower than the reference standard (the volume the studio used for their reference). When you listen at low volumes, the human ear becomes less sensitive to certain tonal ranges, so this circuit helps restore the tonal balance of the sound. It also balances the level of the channels based on your volume level to make sure you can hear the rear channels better at lower volumes. I think this feature works GREAT and it's something anybody can notice. I think this is a must-have feature. Again Denon is to be commended for offering this feature on all their receivers in 2009

- Dynamic Volume is a useful feature to keep the sound level from blasting you when commercials come on. It's nice for watching TV.

- Denon has better control over video and audio settings. You can adjust the crossover frequency individually for each set of speakers. So if you have large speakers in the front and small satellites in the back, you can customize the bass management individually for each pair of speakers, taking advantage of each speakers' full bandwidth. For some reason many other receivers, Pioneer, Marantz, Yamaha often don't have this per-speaker adjustment. If you use Audyssey to set up your system, the Denon will use this capability to optimize your speakers' bass capabilities.

Also, Denon remembers the VIDEO settings for each input so you can have custom brightness, contrast, color for each input.

- Denon 890/2310 uses the Anchor Bay ABT2010 video processor which is a top grade processor. It does a superb job of scaling and deinterlacing video (Anchor Bay's video processor is well reviewed) probably as good or better than most TVs. It works for both analog sources AND HDMI, converting all your video to the maximum resolution of your TV up to 1080P or any other resolution that is optimal for your set. You do have the option to turn it off and passthrough the signals if you don't see a benefit. For most people, unless you have a top of the line TV, this processor can benefit all your sources

- Many receivers take a long time to resync the HDMI signal when you change inputs. On my previous Onkyo, the screen would blank out for 7-12 seconds when I switched from Cable to DVD. The Denon does it as quick as any I've seen, only 2-3 seconds

- Denon has Graphical User Interface over analog and HDMI connections. So you can adjust the settings while a video signal is being played and you will see the menus overlaid on top (especially useful when you are adjusting video settings). Many other receivers only do GUI overlay for analog connections, but not HDMI. With the Denon 890, you can see Volume Level indicator overlaid over the picture while you are playing back HDMI sources.

- It runs very cool. Many receivers run very hot but this one is good if your ventilation is more limited in your AV cabinet.

- It offers Dolby PLIIz, which allows you to run 7.1 speakers and give you height channels (five speakers in the front). I don't use this feature but it's an improvement over a normal 7.1 setup.

The BAD:
- This model does not have Preamp outputs so you can't add an external amp later if you need more power.

- The manual is hard to understand. Fortunately, there are some great FAQ web pages put up by one guy (search for Denon FAQ)which takes all the mystery out of the settings and adjustments

So, the Denon 890 is a superb product that is leading the pack in this price range. They didn't cripple the product in any way except the lack of preamp outputs.

As far as sound quality, it's debatable whether brand X is better than brand Y, but I can say Denon doesn't make poor performing products in general. Their amps are solid performers that are average to above average in meeting their rated power specifications. Even thought this unit isn't the heaviest chassis, it still packs a punch for its price range.

I am not a real tech-type that delves into the specifics, I know a few things I like and look for those things when I look around. I looked around at a lot of receivers before selecting the 2310CI. I decided on the 2310CI based on the features it had that I wanted (multi-room, 1080p, sleep timer, room acoustic set up, ease of use, and a quality brand). I had no problems in setting the unit up, although I did read the directions first and they led me through the steps pretty well. The room acoustic setup was something I wanted because I could never seem to get my old surround receiver set quite right. I am glad I did go for this feature as I can now enjoy a great balanced sound experience from all the speakers in my system from where we sit to watch movies. The sleep timer was something I enjoyed on my old receiver, as I like to listen to music before going to bed and I can have the receiver turn itself off after it has played the music I wanted to listen to. The video quality is outstanding and for me a noticeable difference from the previous situation. I don't use a lot of the bells and whistles ... yet. Another nice side benefit is the reduction in remotes I need to operate my system, the Denon does a good job of allowing you to use just the one to operate different brands of equipment. The only drawback I see is it makes all my other equipment seem third rate and in need of replacement. As for ease of use, you can set one of three buttons on the remote to remember the settings you want for movies, music, whatever. And, of course, you can play around with different sound settings to your hearts content. I am very happy with my selection.

I chose the Denon 2310ci for several reasons. One is prior experience with my Denon 1903. Denon makes some very powerful and reliable products. The 2310ci has lots of features and plenty of power. The advantages of the Audyssey setup cannot be overstated. This is not a simple graphic equalizer. The resulting sound quality is impressive. I'm driving a set of Definitive Technology Mythos series of speakers and the realism and soundstage size is breathtaking. This receiver has almost every feature you could want and enough juice to power almost any speakers.

As to video, I use the receiver to feed my 60" Pioneer Kuro 141FD plasma via HDMI and the PQ is perfect. Switching inputs is fast.

This is one of the best values in receivers in today's marketplace, IMO, and I couldn't be happier with my purchase.

I bought this Denon surround unit in order to replace a 5 year old Pioneer Elite system that was starting to act up. I almost immediately noticed a considerable amount of video lag, where the video that is transmitted from the video source (i.e., your cable box, game console, etc.) is delayed by about 1/2 second. The problem is the result of Denon's choice of video conversion chips, and its decision to allow the menu system to appear on top of the video that you're watching.

This problem occurs even when you're watching an HDMI source that doesn't need conversion, because Denon routes even HDMI video that doesn't need converting through the converter, so that its menu screen can appear over the video you're watching, instead of just blacking out the video.

You can solve the problem by turning off video conversion on HDMI sources. That will result in no-lag video on HDMI to HDMI sources (like the Xbox360), but then you won't be able to use the Denon unit as a switcher for non-HDMI sources like the Nintendo Wii. My older Pioneer was able to convert the Wii from composite to HDMI without any delay at all, and so I don't understand why Denon chose to use a slower conversion chip 5 years after Pioneer put out it's chip.

This video conversion delay is a major problem when you play video games. The 1/2 second delay makes you feel as if your character is drunk. Everything you see happened 1/2 second ago, and when you react, it takes another 1/2 second for your reaction to appear onscreen. This means that if you need to jump at just the right moment, you'll miss it. If a guy is running at you with guns blazing, you won't even pull the trigger until a full second later, and then might not be pointing at the right spot because he could have moved.

Also, the documentation on the unit is very poorly written. Fortunately, Denon has a very good technical support department and there are a number of Denon fans who have written up detailed instructions on how to configure the unit. If you don't want to use it for video games except using HDMI (and you turn conversion off), the unit is just fine.

But, given that Pioneer had no-lag video conversion perfected 5 years ago, it's really unforgiveable that Denon is putting out a more expensive unit five years later that has video lag.

The unit has cosposite and component inputs, but I couldn't get video out when I hooked up a Sony DVD/VCR unit to either of these inputs. The manual indicated that if the source unit didn't have an HDMI feature that locks out pirated materials, then hook it up using the composite inputs. I did, and it still wouldn't output video. The sales liturature also indicated it would upscale HDMI 1080i to 1080p. When I set the receiver programing to upscale HDMI I lost the video signal. I had to then use the reciever's front panel to turn off HDMI upscaling. Very tedius. It took the unit a few seconds to respond each time I pushed a button. I wonder if these upscaling difficulties are typical or if the upscaling feature is broken in my unit. The unit does pass through the HDMI signal when it is in standby mode.

I did not get this receiver from Amazon (I chose to get it through another place that had a better return policy), but since there aren't many reviews of this product and since the place I got it from is now out of business, I feel I owe a review to anyone interested in purchasing this receiver.

My major concern with this receiver was if it was going to work with my Sony TV. I saw a review for the 2309 (the previous year's model) and Thang Nguyen wrote a review saying that it didn't work with his KDL-series Sony TV. I have a KDS-series Sony TV (KDS 60A3000) and I needed t know if this issue was fixed for the 2310 (or it was even an issue at all with KDS series TVs). I couldn't find a anything on the web that gave me any proof that it works or doesn't work with a KDS. After purchasing I can say that it does officially work with a Sony KDS-series TV.

By reading the manual, I was able to set up Audyssey with dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume. For the reviewers saying the manual isn't very good....they may be right, but it was understandable to me for me to be able to set it up. I ended up not using a good portion of the manual (I only have one zone, not any many sources, I'm not using all the bells and whistles, etc). I've heard of places to go online for essentially a better manual, but since I didn't need it I didn't need to go there. The only thing that threw me off during set up was that the Audyssey setup noticed one of the speakers was out of phase (I needed to switch the red/black wires to fix it). Otherwise it went smoothly.

The Dynamic Volume (one major reason for going with this receiver) is nice, but I still find myself moving the volume up and down between dialog an action sequences (but less than without it). The Dynamic volume has 3 settings (something like "morning," "afternoon," and "midnight"). I have it on midnight to try an quiet the action sections the most and boost the dialog the most. The other settings quiet and boost volume less than the most (yes, the manual covers this).

The remote for this thing is the biggest piece of garbage on the planet. It is highly redundant, and even has at least a button that has no label (theres a button on the back of the remote that apparently does nothing). Also, the only way to switch to the V.AUX source (currently name XBOX360) is to use the back of the remote. If you set one of the quick select buttons on the front of the remote to the V.AUX source and use that button to change the source, the receiver will overwrite the custom name for that source and replace it with V.AUX...what a pain.
Yes, you can change most of the sources using the front OR back of the remote...again, highly redundant. Also, if you use this remote to change channels on the TV, you HAVE to use the back of the remote because that is where the numbers are located. However, channel up/down is on the front of the remote.
I cannot say anything about the second remote since I don't have a second zone, but I can only imagine it being just as bad.
In summary, if there is a remote that would want to make someone run out and get one of those expensive Harmony universal remotes, this is it.

There's also another thing that's a small pain. Sometimes when I switch sources (which is fast) the sound or video doesn't exist. For my Xbox on HDMI (audio and video), sometimes the video will not be there, but the sound will be. I found that switching the source again to the xbox/V.AUX source usually fixes this problem. I'm not sure, but maybe this occurs because of the order I start up the TV, receiver, and Xbox. Its hard to find out what the order of start up should be to avoid this problem since this issue only sometimes occurs. The other input where this occurs is the computer input I have (with HDMI video and RCA (left right) audio). Here it is exactly the opposite (I get video, but no sound). I discovered last night, switching the source back to the computer source doesn't always fix this problem. However, pressing the simu button on the back of the remote does (then just continue pressing the simu button until it is back to what it used to be). The simu button simulates different EQs/settings (e.g. 5 channel from a 2 channel source, rock arena, etc). I guess pressing this button just wakes up the audio or something. Beats me.

Also, regarding the video gamer review here from Martin Anderson (gave it one star for video lag on games), I have my Xbox 360 plugged into it via HDMI @ 1080p. I guess the receiver is smart and sees that the xbox is giving it 1080p and just automatically passes the HDMI through (without upconverting it) because I get NO LAG AT ALL playing all of my xbox games (e.g. Halo 3 where video lag is important). I cannot say anything about other consoles that may give it a different video signal from different connections where the receiver may try to upconvert the signal before displaying it since I only have the xbox 360.
I think I remember seeing in the GUI menus though a way to turn off the automatic upconversion which should, theoretically, fix Martin's issue.

Despite the small issues above I am very satisfied with this receiver.

I've had the AVR2310CI for several weeks. As mentioned by others, the instruction manual and menu system are poor, but the receiver was still relatively easy to setup. I also bought a set of Definitive speakers with this receiver. Fortunately, the Definitive speakers came with very clear instructions on how to configure the receiver and the complete system was up and running in less than an hour. It has excellent sound and volume. My Blu-ray player and xbox 360 work correctly with the system, but our DirecTV HD21-700 high-def dvr receiver has some issues with it. Connected via HDMI, the direcTV box displays 1080p fine when connected to the TV directly, but when routed through the Denon, it reverts to a lower resolution. It also works fine at 1080p when connected through a Sony AV receiver. So there appears to be a compatibility issue between the DirecTV box and the Denon. I contacted Denon and they said 'We are not having any HDMI problems with the box so it must be DirecTV's problem,. Contact DirecTV for support.' Given the various discussion and forum threads on the internet regarding Denon HDMI problems, I find it very unlikely that Denon doesn't know that there is something wrong. And while they may be correct and this ultimately turns out to be a DirecTV problem, I expected a bit more help. Especially since the DirecTV box works with 3 tvs and a Sony receiver at 1080p just fine. I contaced Denon again, asking them to provide additional assistance, but they haven't responded. DirecTV is trying to help, but without Denon's participation, it is not getting very far. If we can't resolve this soon, I will probably send the Denon system back to amazon.com.

Also note that the Denon cannot output sound from digital sources (e.g. HDMI) to zone 2. So music I have playing on my xbox, directv box, and blu-ray player cannot be heard in zone 2.

Great product!
Installation was time consuming but not difficult. Set up was even easier!
The only problem I have had so far is incompatibility with the comcast cable box, but I have found that it is a common problem which I solved by connecting the box directly to the TV and connecting the sound to the DENON Receiver through an optical cable.
Sound is great, specially with HD DTS movies.

There is a problem with Denon 2310/3310/4310 receiver line playing TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio track when connected to LG, Samsung or JVC Blu-Ray player. The receiver shows that it is receiving the HD audio signal from the player and the HD audio blue light comes on the front of the receiver but then instead of sound you get a "helicopter" like noise or no sound at all coming from the speakers. There are multiple reports from 2310,3310 and 4310 owners about this problem on AVS Forum.
The receiver plays sound fine when Blu-Ray player sending Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, DTS or Multichannel PCM sound track, but not Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio. After I sent the receiver in for service to Denon NJ factory for repair, the receiver came back with the problem not repaired after 3 weeks in the service center. This is very unfortunate problem as the receiver has a great set of features

I am a Denon veteran having previously owned the AVR 1908. I was so pleased with the sound that a was able to look past the obnoxious menus and incompatible OSD to take a chance on the 2310 after losing the 1908 in a divorce. Pricing was an issue, so waiting until the end of the model year price decrease was a must. Saved over $300.

The AVR-2310 is light years easier to set-up than the predecessor I owned. OSD worked incredibly well. Audyssy auto configuration worked like a champ. The amp is teamed with Definitive Technology Pro cinema 60.6 kit with 12 year-old BP6 LR fronts. The sound is full and balanced.

The spec I did not read about and did not expect to need was the 1080p upscaling. For most viewing I was already using a minimum 720p source, but there was some SD programming on cable that was not supported by my LG 60pk550 TV. The upscaling worked wonderfully.

I am also seeing a lot of comments around the net about video gaming lag with this receiver. I play sports games on PS3 where timing is very important. No lag noticed whatsoever.

In short, I highly recommend this product. It has features for the in-depth technophile and the plug-n-play user alike.