Denon S650H AV Receiver, 5.2 Channel (150W X 5) 4K UHD Home Theater Surround Sound (2019) | Music Streaming | HEOS Built-in | eARC and Upgraded HDCP

The verdict is still out three days after delivery. I expected to be impressed by Denon's advancements in sound technology, so I ran the setup (including the Audyssey setup) and just let Denon do its thing. br>I expected to be impressed by Denon's advancements in sound technology, so I ran the setup (including the Audyssey setup) and just let Denon do its thing. When the setup was finished, I was given a selection of canned tone options, none of which sounded better than a cheap blue tooth speaker installed in the culvert beneath my driveway. br>My next step was to turn off all of the gimmicks and see if I could find an equalizer and manual tone controls buried among Denon's maze of useless options. I found the complete owner's manual on the internet, and there are manual EQ and tone settings, but they are difficult to find. It's almost as if Denon doesn't want you to use them in the first place. There are 231 pages in the owner's manual! Is it possible to get good sound out of this receiver? br>br>Is it possible to get good sound from this receiver? What kind of rich, full sound do you want to fill your living room with? The sound of a pick striking each string, clear and crisp? Possibly! I was able to achieve the above-mentioned sound quality after fiddling with the settings for half a day yesterday. It wasn't simple, but it was doable. After spending half a day disabling their gimmicks and crapware, I tried to figure out how to adjust the equalizer, bass, and treble. No, the equalizer isn't easy to use. Of course, accessing these settings cannot be as simple as turning a knob on the receiver's front panel or pressing a tone button on the remote. Nope. Denon has gone above and beyond with this puppy! If you want to get decent sound quality out of this receiver, be prepared for some mind-boggling stupidity. "You can't do this if that's on," "you can't do that if that's on," and "you can't access the EQ in this mode or that mode. " "And it was all for the sake of setting up Music Mode!" Now I have to repeat the process for each of the remaining three modes! Changing the tone and sound quality settings on the fly is probably not an option if the audio quality varies from one movie to the next, which it almost always does. Before I could dial in the audio settings, the movie would be over. br>br>As I previously stated, the jury is still out, but this receiver has a good chance of being returned. On the other hand, I'll have to factor in the pleasure I'll get from putting it in the driveway and running over it with my truck! br>I suppose it will be decided by the next power outage.

Mercy Moody

| Sep 18, 2021

The Denon receiver replaced a 20-year-old Onkyo THX receiver that was still functional but lacked HDMI switching, and I was tired of switching from an external switcher with a finicky remote, so I bought this Denon receiver. When setting up, I couldn't figure out how to save the settings for each input; it would save them, then unsave them when I switched to another input; when I switched back to the original input, everything was back to a default setting, not my saved settings. I emailed Denon support, but my ticket vanished after a few days and no response was received. Okay, after a few days of trial and error, I discovered that holding the input button down saves the sound settings for each input, thanks to Denon. Everything was fine until 20 days later, when I turned on my projector and saw no picture. I double-checked all connections, reset the receiver, and tried connecting it to a small TV I had, but to no avail. Needless to say, I was still within Amazon's 30-day return period and decided to exchange the unit for a different brand.

Ermias BIBI

| Jan 05, 2021

It's something I use in three places. For movies, there are two modes: one for movies and the other for documentaries. Music gets two points. It has enough power for my listening area. My Pioneer SP-S650H and the S650H are a great combination. With one caveat, the FS51 matching center channel speakers are capable of driving them at well beyond noise complaint levels for long periods of time without causing listening fatigue. When you play it loudly, it will reveal lower-quality source material, and you will experience listening fatigue, which is normal. If you have high-resolution digital files, use them. It'll sound great for hours on end if you use digital inputs or an analog input from a good record player. br>br>I tried the Audyssey room correction and was pleased with the results. I've had to get up several times while listening to a stereo source to double-check that the center channel isn't on because the stereo imaging is so good that it appears to be on. Audyssey isn't for everyone or every room, but it was perfect for me. room. If you prefer, you can manually adjust the sound using other controls. If sound is the most important factor to you, it's a great deal as an outgoing model. The unit has a lot of bells and whistles, some of which are better implemented than others, but I gave it five stars because it gets what I care about the most right - a noise.

Selene Woodward

| Apr 11, 2021

I've had four high-end Yamaha amplifiers that were excellent musically but blew or short-circuited frequently (four in three years). Finally, I decided that not dealing with the headache was a better use of my time, and I had always heard that Denon made excellent AVRs. In between all of the Yamahas, I tried one Denon, but the musical tone didn't appeal to me. Yamaha doesn't have the same brightness or clarity. I decided to give D a second chance, and lo and behold, the Denon outperforms the Yamaha in terms of movies and home theater applications. At lower volumes, the surround has a stronger presence, and the Denon simply sounds better in surround. I haven't tried playing music through it yet, but given how little I listen to music these days, any tradeoff is well worth it. I'm hoping it lasts. br>br>UPDATE: br>br> This unit continues to function well, but it has begun to turn on at random times. The problem was not resolved after updating the firmware. It's pointless to change the rating because it has no bearing on performance. I'll keep looking for an answer.

Sawyer Simmons

| Dec 13, 2021