Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Marantz vs Denon

One more vote for Denon 3805. The most versitile reciever I've ever owned.

I guess different people hear different things. I've done Yamaha and Denon. One family member swears by Denon, while 3 others say they prefer Yamaha. My vote goes to Yamaha by a WIDE margin.

Thanks for all your comments everyone. Looks like Denon is the prefered choice. In anwer to some of your questions I live in Saskatoon, Sask., so access to a variety of sound equipment is limited. (not a lot of high end audio shops). Personally, I'm not that excited about various digital audio enhancement features (DSP modes). (I didn't play around much with the treble & bass controls in the old days either). A little tweaking is OK, but I prefer a rich mellow sound and once set, I probably would only make minor adjustments to my AVR. The system will be used 70% music (sometime pure stereo, sometimes surround) and 30% home theatre. (Probably only 5.1 for a few years). That's why I considered Marantz, due to is reputation as a no frills, quality audio piece of equipment. As to autoset up, I'll probably get a sound level meter and set up disk to adjust the levels. The main features I would like is second zone (room) capability, audio signal delay for HT, the ability to effectively drive the Axiom M22ti & QS8's. Anyways, looks like Denon is the preference but is that due to the extra features or it's sound quality?

I agree, get what features you want. My Denon 2805 has lots of Bells and Whistles that I don't use, for ex., it has tons of extra DSP options. I wanted a good AVR that had the latest surround decoding abilities like DD, DTS, PLIIx, etc... Also, the 5-7 channel stereo is a cool feature. I think most of today's reputable brands will carry the same surround decoding. Some will be THX certified, which to me is not that big of deal. If you stay with a good name like Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, HK, to name a few, you will be fine.