Hi Fellow Polk Enthusiasts
I have been a forum member for a short time now and the information in this forum has proved very helpful. Recently I upgraded my onkyo prologic reciever with the Denon 3808.
Here is the link to my showcase:
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...p?userid=88673
And this is the link to the denon reciever:
http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3510.asp
My relationship with the new reciever started hesitantly. I was intimidated by the graphical user interface, dolby digital processing, and programmable inputs. Like anything new, if you spend some time and attack the learning curve aggressively, you will be rewarded pleasantly.
After setting everything up, I enjoyed re-listenning to all my old favorites. Everything I played sounded real nice and clean. My monitor 10s never sounded so full and clear - and 5.1 processing was quite adequate.
Then, I hooked it up to the internet via a Cat5 cable to our linksys home network. This was where I found the Denon to excel. Instantly I had access to hundreds if not thousands of internet radio stations. Those not in the database of stations were easily added through radiodenon.com. After such success I courageously decided to start the firmware upgrade. It took 1 hour and when finished restarted the machine - many threads out there talk about all the problems they had with the upgrade - I had none - smooth as silk.
The upgrades to the firmware did something amazing to the sound. What used to sound pretty darn good - now can be described using words like "seamless, light, effortless, airy, clear, clean, crisp, pure". This was above and beyond my greatest expectations.
If anyone out there is wondering about a new AVR - I definitely recommend this unit. I am sure everyone has their favorite brands - but I found this Denon made my classic Polk speakers sound awesome, combined 5 remotes into 1, has all the options I need for future growth in HiDef video and preouts for adding alternative audio amplification equipment;
and with the ability to apply firmware upgrades;
has the potential to last a long long time as the centerpiece of my HT.
