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Patience, and reading the manual (as poorly organized as it is) will get you through, and the rewards are worth it.I purchased the Def.Tech ProCinema800 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System, and the Panasonic BD-30 Blu-Ray Player, coupled with the Samsung LN52A650 HDTV, and I'll never go to the theater again.For a great price on the Def Tech line of speakers, check Abt. before Labor Day, and they refused to ship until after the Holiday, so had to wait home again for UPS.The driver came to the door with a box that was hanging on by a thread.Totally trashed, the Styrofoam was hanging out, it was mutilated.The driver said it must have been shipped to Amazon that way.I refused delivery, and got on the phone w/ amazon.I was promised next day delivery, but didn't get a tracking # till 6PM with 3rd day shipping. They post MSRP prices, but call the sales department for the discount.So now I love my HT, and I'm not spending as much time with my Stereo system, because the AVR-988 & Def Tech Speakers are REALLY Impressive.The bad news: The 1st receiver was damaged in shipping. Spoke to another rep, who was most sympathetic, but only offered to issue a credit to my account for a small amount.At least the 3rd unit was unscathed, and by the time it arrived, I had enough time with the original unit to understand the menu system, and set it up.The Audessey Auto setup was great, but it set my Sub crossover to 250 HZ. Amazon's Customer Service in India is awful,and it took 3 calls before I got a US CSR. It was Thurs. Absolutely a 5 star AVR.
I knew I'd go Denon again.Lots of others have posted the pro's & cons of this unit, and yes, it is a very sophisticated piece of equipment. I was set to pull the trigger on the 1909 when I saw the 988 at Amazon's price of $599. I compared on Denon's web site, and AVS Forum (check the "official AVR-2808 thread for some great tips), and easily made my decision.I have a Denon DRA-685 Stereo Receiver for my music listening room with a pair of Boston VR950 speakers. After dialing it down to 80HZ I was home free.Bottom line 5 star AVR & zero for Amazon customer service & UPS.
Amazon customer service is GREAT. They swapped out receiver with next day air.Second receiver OK. First receiver defective. REMOTE IS HORRID. Manual is horrid.Hard to figure this thing out - and I am very tech savvy.I much preferred my older Yamaha. Called Denon, worthless. Now have an Onkyo - nice.
It is appearent Denon does not believe consumers really want a true 7.1 sound system.In conclusion, the Denon AVR-988 has some serious flaws, is very very hard to set up, and while Denon is easy to reach, their customer support is useless other then to help you with basic set up problems. I noticed that the Onkyo 7.1 Home theaters in a box actually come with 7 speakers and a subwoofer, Where Denon's top of the line still only give you 5 speakers. However the technician had to do alot of research before sending me deep into the system under a menu that had nothing to do with speakers to change the unit from a 5.1 to 7.1 setup. I would like to add that the JVC was not my first surround sound unit. After you have done it a few times and have helped friends with theirs, its pretty easy and intuitive.Since most of my equipment was lost, I deciced to upgrade to a 7.1 system with 7 new Mirage speakers and subwoofer, a new 72" Samsung TV and Samsung Blu-Ray player. The onscreen setup menu was terrible. However I realized that I never once had to call Pioneer or JVC with my other surround receivers and I took a chance. Everything works and sounds terrific.
It worked flawlessly. First of all, amazingly, it did not detect all 7 speakers. Again, the system would not detect all 7 speakers and had to be manually told they were there. It was also lost in the lightning strike. Furious, I called Denon a third time and explained that this was my second AVR-988 receiver and I was having the same problem.
(Instead of just blowing me off by telling me to take it to a repair center)I waited two days and heard nothing more from Denon. I plugged my 7 mirage speakers in, my sub woofer, my blu-ray player, my dishnetwork receiver, and a new Panasonic vcr/dvd recorder I just purchased. I plugged in included mike. It was very hard to decipher to say the least. I found that odd, since every decent receiver nowadays is 7.1. This was the first time in 15 years I had to call a manufacturer's customer service to set up a surround receiver. I purchased this AVR-988 Receiver from Amazon after weeks of research. I was able to find the speaker set up in the menu, but nothing allowed me to change it to a 7.1 system.
I did and nothing happened. I sent the receiver back to Amazon. I am very happy I did. Unbelievable is really a better word. It took them two weeks and 3 calls to customer service to fully credit my account. I was intially reluctant to go with Onkyo because of the poor customer service reviews I had read about them.
He said that very few people actually use the full 7.1 setup and thats why it was so difficult. My advice is to stay away from this unit. The receiver detected the mike and prompted me to hit set the mike to the prime listening position and hit enter to start the test. Their customer service was very nice and sent out 2nd AVR-988.The 2nd AVR-988 had the same identical problems.
It did not detect the 7 speakers and had set up manually. They had me reset the whole system. 2 days ago purchased an Onkyo TX-SR706 7.1 receiver. All 7 speakers and subwoofer were immediatly detected and sounded incredible.
I ran the Audyssey setup. It treated the setup as if it were a 5.1 system. Then it locked up. I connected everything via HDMI. The ENTIRE setup took less than a 45 min.
I point this out to make you aware that I am VERY familar with home theater systems and how to set them up. Everything worked perfectly from the moment I turned the receiver on. I finished the rest of the set up with great difficulty as the setup was not intuitive and then decided to use the Audyssey automatic speaker set up. To their credit, Denon's wait time was not that long.
The tech had me reset the system again, and after following all his instructions he could not get the Audyssey system to work and said the receiver was broke. After connecting everything to the AVR-988 I had problems right off the bat. - Back on the phone with Denon. The Audyssey system again froze.
My first surround unit was a Pioneer VSX-5700S 5.1 model that I purchased about 15 years ago and currently been set up in my lower level. That wasnt happenning, so i called Amazon. He said he would escalate this to senior management and that I would get a call back in a few hours, but no later than the following day from Denon to see if something out of the ordinary could be done to help me. After an hour on the phone with Denon, the tech told me the system was defective and to take it to an authorized repair center. I intially thought It was a terrific deal for the features based on the cost of the unit.
Again, the Audyssey system would not work. This unit was purchased to replace an older JVC RX 6500V 5.1 model that I recently lost during a lightning strike to my home. I tried again, and nothing. It was very complicated as was the manual. Finally I broke down and called Denon.
FAR AWAY.
Got the Denon AVR-988 and new Samsung, what a beauty. Ease of use was greatly enhanced with the addition of the OPPO hdmi switch. Sent my first Denon (3802) and component HDTV home with my daughter. So much easier to use.
Everyone else had it for at least $799.00. Amazon's advertised price of $599.00 was a steal. Denon is one of the receivers out there, and the AVR-988 will make your 5.1 system sound awesome. Im using a Bose Acoustimass 10 system, Playstation 3, XM radio, and 40" Samsung 720p (Hope to upgrade to 1080p soon). You wont be disappointed.
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