Denon questions

[zinfella]

Originally Posted by Bourne1

I have the 789, while the price is a little high, I can tell you it was worth every penny. It's one of the best budget receivers out there with the Denon quality.

I'll tell you one thing, Denon's manuals are confusing and set up is difficult at first. But don't listen to people who have given bad reviews saying "it sounds great but it was so difficult to set up that I will never buy a Denon ever again".

The set up is not that difficult; it's only slightly confusing at first. Just play around with the setting on the on-screen menu display and set up becomes a breeze. Make sure your HDMI cables are working properly. I wasted 2 days trying to figure out why I wasn't getting a picture and only sound; tech support and online forums weren't helping (probably because it was a brand new model). I went out on a limb and bought new HDMI cables and everything works perfectly now. I only buy at authorized dealers only just to avoid potential problems.

The 2308ci sounds like a great deal; it has just about every feature the 789 has; audio and video passthrough, auto lipsync, Audyssey MultEQ calibration. However it doesn't have Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding. You are going to miss out on some great sound features and your system is not going to be as future proof. I would pay the extra money and get a 789. I think you would get more of a long run investment with it. I have never bought a refurbished receiver before; maybe someone on this site has experience with that.

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-789-...9187946&sr=8-1

The problem with Amazon is that they're out of stock on the 789, and their website says "Usually ships within 1 to 2 months". I can get it locally for the same price, at Fry's Electronics until the 16th, but they aren't listed as an authorized dealer either. I sent an inquiry to Denon about TheNerds, but it will be at least Monday before I get an answer, and Thenerds are a Mon-Fri bunch too.

There is a refurbed 2309CI for $429, but again a 90 day warranty, and this one is tempting. They also have the 989 for $569, and the 2308CI for $410.