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Very difficult to set up. After several months of use it also started to buzz after being on for several minutes. Now it died completely. Sound quality is mediocre. It is going to trash where it belongs. I have two other receivers in other rooms and I was shocked how badly this one sounded considering the price tag. The manual is extremely poorly written. Turning on and off helped for a while.
After using it for a while I bought an HD projector. HDMI ports did not work when I tried to connect the projector to this receiver. Warranty has expired so I am not going to try to get this piece of garbage fixed. After reading other reviews for different Denon products I realized that most of Denon products are overpriced pieces of junk.
design error in this receiver presents itself with a blinking red power light shortly after turning the unit on. Denon makes it very clear in the one year warranty that the store where you bought it (circuit city) is responsible for repair and tech support. the blinking light is the circuit protection detecting a short in the circuitry, the only problem is that the circuitry shouldnt be shorting out after only a few months. you will find this a common problem for this unit if you search online. if you are trying to fix your AVR-688, use a multimeter and check the resistance between the speaker +/- outputs (red and black) and signal inputs (check each input with every other input), along with the resistance of the components in the power board (the board that the power goes into is reasonably easy to remove with a philips screwdriver and needle-nose pliers). if you find the short, desolder and solder in a new part, or if its a speaker channel you can live without (you already lost your money), just clip one of the wires in the short circuit path.one good thing- this reciever has a lot of nice features and settings (even though it doesnt do dolby through the HDMI port)
I can also recommend the Polk TSi line of speakers with this for both Home Theater and Music. I am writing this as many people have complained about how hard this was to setup. This receiver gives you a lot of options for input and output, deciding on what you want and need will take you a bit, but the results are well worth it. This astounds me, I had this setup in the matter of a couple of hours. That might sound like a lot, but I'm running a Wii, a Mac Mini, Technics CD player, bluetooth gateway and HD cable out to my main tv. I've had this for a little over a week and I'm still discovering the full power of this beast. If you have a chance to grab this at a discount price jump for it.
True Digital Dolby and DTS both sound great. This is a fantastic receiver for the going price of $280. I didn't expect it, but this was off when I unpacked the unit. As has been mentioned in the other reviews, unfortunately processing HDMI Audio is not supported by the unit and you need to connect either an optical or coaxial digital audio cable to get Digital Dolby or DTS.
The manual says it will go to a check function afterward. This all works fine with my HDTV and my PS3. The Dolby Pro Logic II, Neural and Neo functions do a reasonable job of converting stereo into multi-channel. Not sure about the negative comments. Hitting the left arrow on the remote, the display then started flashing Calculating. First, there is a small power button next to the much larger Standby/On button.
So, after hooking all the speakers up (The Boston Acoustics Horizon Series MCS100MDNT 5.1-Channel Speaker System (Black) also bought from Amazon on a Hot Deal of $200 and a great speaker system) and the PS3, I plugged in the unit and nothing. But after going thru the admittedly weak manual and looking carefully at the front panel I found the power switch, and everything came to life.During the auto-calbrate, after the measurements of the 6 locations are done, the receiver will hop to the Calculate function.
A minute later it advanced to the check function.The remote is a bit bizarre with the two sided operation (The back side controls are under a flip door), but works fine and can be set independently for each component. Its a generation older, but has the goods.
What it doesn't specifically state is you have to kick off the calculate. Just beware that you will not be able to access some of the newest HD Audio formats as they are only supported across HDMI, but by using a toslink cable, the PS3 will happily pump out DTS or Digital Dolby tracks.Took me about an hour to set up everything, including setting the mic at the optimal 6 listening positions for the audyssey auto-calibration, setting up the assignable optical and coaxial inputs to the selected devices, running the tuner preset function, and setting the remote to work with my other components.
Once setup, the auto-calibrate proved to be very accurate.A couple things to note, and this is what may have led to some of the bad reviews. I sat there for about 10 minutes before I thought something was up.
It now can control my HDTV for instance.All in all I am very happy with this purchase and the BA Speakers.
Finally, it just gave up the ghost, dying completely and just giving a flashing red power light which according to the unhelpful telephone "support" person meant "Something is wrong" with the system and I had to send the unit to a Denon repair facility which was 8 states away. I spent days agonizing over the purchase of this, trying to decide between comparable Sony/Yamaha/Onkyo components. Yes, the manual is poorly written and you have to follow it step by step and not miss a single point. And then it began to forget which component was assigned to what port and was mixing up all the signals so you got TV sound with DVD pictures, etc. This one hardly made it 90 days. Finally after getting it set up, it sounded great.for a week.
Folks, this is junk. Finally purchased it at Circuit City after talking to the staff. To top it off I had to pay shipping, plus it has now been 10 weeks and I still don't have my system back. Then it began to randomly generate horrible screeching noises during movies. Resetting fixed it each time. I had Yamaha amps that lasted YEARS with no problems.
Never, ever buy Denon.
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