Denon AVR aka piece of crap

baijuxavior said:
Going to buy an AVR? Think twice if you are into Denon AVRs. I will summarize my experience with Denon 1612 AVR.

I bought the avr in September 2011. Paid 27.5K. My usage is very moderate. One or two movies a week. The AVR started showing red led blinking problem within a few months. When it happens, I will turn off the avr then turn it on again and it will continue to work after a few attempts.

Somewhat in the middle of March 2012 the AVR hdmi out stopped displaying altogether. Sent the avr to KEI service center Chennai, they replaced the hdmi board and everything seemed to be working for a few months. Then it again started the dreaded red led blinking.

In December 2012, the AVR started malfunctioning again. One of the channel went kaput. You can read it here http://www.hifivision.com/surround-amplifiers-receivers/32758-denon-1612-shutting-down-problem.html. Sent it to KEI and they charged me Rs.3500/- for the servicing. When I received it back in the last week of February 2013, it won't start. So I again sent it to Chennai. This part I didn't post in the above mentioned thread. In March 2013 I got it back. This time they didn't charge me for the servicing. Connected the avr to the power and same problem. This time I opened the case and removed a few cables and reinserted and it started working.

July 2013 - I was watching a movie in the night. After an hour when I felt the volume is high I pressed the volume down button and instantly there is no sound at all. All other functions were working but no volume. Resetting the microprocessor didn't help. I could hear crackling and hissing sound the speakers. Frustrated I turned off the avr. Next morning when I tested it started working again.

Today the avr again stopped audio after one hour of movie watching. I switched it off hoping the problem will be solved. When I started it again the avr started hissing and crackling. Removed the power supply, opened the case and did the cable remove-reinsert trick, but the avr now will not start. It simply flashes red light. I feel like I would throw this crap out of the window.

A few other forum members have also reported this shutting down/ no audio problem with Denon AVR.

So my advice to avr buyers is to think twice before you put your hard earned money in Denon AVR.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear your Denon agony.

Truth is current batch of Made in China/ Malaysia units are not a true reflection of their Made in Japan of past. That said any electronic component may fail anytime irrespective of where it was built/assembled. But by experience I can say the quality control is much better in their hometown than elsewhere.

Secondly the current trend of fill to the gills feature set in AVR category at a certain price range is more important that out and out SQ and product quality. Late face it AVRs should now better be called AVG (Audio Video Gizmos).:D

I will repeat what Vinod had said. Current batch of AVRs are POS. You will only realize it after you own/hear one of the late greats of yesteryears. If you have limited budget (like me) always gun for Ubers of 90s like Denon AVC-A1SRA and believe me when I say this, it will take you to realms in terms of audio quality and pure power that many one lakh plus dedicated stereo integrated will stutter. And you can have them cheap at 50K only. Later get a good BD player with good quality 7.1 channel analog out, connect them to your AVC-A1SRA and enjoy.

Hope you all the best for your current situation.
 
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Not sure how Yamaha fares. It has service center in Cochin which is a great relief. With Denon I have to send it to Chennai which is costly and there is no guarantee that it will arrive there in full shape.

Tested the avr again, but no sound. All other functions work.
 
As Rishiguru has said that is exactly what I have done. I got the Pioneer Blu Ray 51FD with the analogue out, have connected the 7.1 analogue outs of the player to the Denon 3803 and it is audio nirvana.

When I bought the Denon the AVCA1SRA was going for about Rs 100,000 and was out of my budget. But now I am sure you can get it for about Rs 50,000.
 
Honestly my denon 2309 works fine till date after 4 years .
I feel that the premium avrs may not have any problems. They appear to be robust.
But something like a 1612 which is made in china should be having some issues.
Denon came out with 1612 which is made in china to produce a cheaper version to fight the onslaught of lowerend onkyo and yamaha.
This is what happens when a giant takes a shortcut to survive.
 
You said you havent connected the network cable? How will Airplay work without a network? there needs to be a mode of communication between the iphone and denon. Both your phone and denon need to see each other in the network for the Airplay to work
 
Hi all,

I completely agree with Baiju. Denon AVR is going to give considerable trouble for all non-metro people where there are no service centres.

I bought a denon avr 1911 around 2 years back from htstore.in. Got it delivered at friend's address in bangalore and then went and collected it using train.

As per the suggestion from htstore guys, purchased a vguard stabilizer as well. I was using the receiver occassionally at native place. Around 6 months back i moved the receiver to work place where i was usiing it every other day.

A month back red light issue started coming. Initials days i managed by resetting the avr. Now days that is also not working. After reset also it is going to standby.

I spend around 32k on this in 2011 and feel completely insecure about this item. From baijus experiencce, i feel getting this serviced in Chennai and spending much time and money on couriring this to Chennai may also not help.

As of now the trick i do is, when the machine boots up i switch the sources by pressing random buttons. If the avr gives the 'click sound' during this, then it will not go back to standby and i will be able to play it for a long time without any issues. This click sound may not come all the time :( and might go to standby sometimes.

I am not sure whether my avr is damaged seriously and whether i am causing damage by my workaround.

Like baiju said, no more denon to me as well. My next amp would be a yamaha only , which has service centre in Trivandrum.

The denon amp is good and worked above my expectations (both with Energy CB-5 at native and Bose -301 at current place) and but it would be a risk is what i feel, in spending any more dime on Denon.


Thanks,
Antony
 
Hi Antony, you can try the trick I use when the shutdown problem happens. Open the enclosure and there are three data cables connecting to the hdmi board. Remove them for a few minutes and connect them. As I said before, I lost all faith in Denon. I will never buy or suggest Denon for others.

An update to my problem - last week the avr stopped playing sound and started producing high pitch sounds and crackling. As I didn't care for it anymore, I removed the hdmi board completely. There was no visible dust, but I cleaned it using a small brush and lcd cleaning liquid, let it dry and connected, after some initial hiccups it started working again. I played two movies continuously without any problem. Now it works, however sometimes I have to remove the data cable when the avr shuts down showing red. I am now keeping the avr top open so that I can remove the cables easily.
 
I can vouch for the Data cable trick. It worked in my 1912, since then I keep the top plate unscrewed so I keep doing that exercise as needed. So far I did only twice. Thanks to Baiju. :)
 
baijuxavior said:
Hi Antony, you can try the trick I use when the shutdown problem happens. Open the enclosure and there are three data cables connecting to the hdmi board. Remove them for a few minutes and connect them. As I said before, I lost all faith in Denon. I will never buy or suggest Denon for others.

An update to my problem - last week the avr stopped playing sound and started producing high pitch sounds and crackling. As I didn't care for it anymore, I removed the hdmi board completely. There was no visible dust, but I cleaned it using a small brush and lcd cleaning liquid, let it dry and connected, after some initial hiccups it started working again. I played two movies continuously without any problem. Now it works, however sometimes I have to remove the data cable when the avr shuts down showing red. I am now keeping the avr top open so that I can remove the cables easily.
Click to expand...

You can contact your local dealer just in case, hope you understood what I meant! Your place has a hifi dealer and the last time stepped in they were about to service a denon 1912!
 
baijuxavior said:
Hi Antony, you can try the trick I use when the shutdown problem happens. Open the enclosure and there are three data cables connecting to the hdmi board. Remove them for a few minutes and connect them. As I said before, I lost all faith in Denon. I will never buy or suggest Denon for others.

An update to my problem - last week the avr stopped playing sound and started producing high pitch sounds and crackling. As I didn't care for it anymore, I removed the hdmi board completely. There was no visible dust, but I cleaned it using a small brush and lcd cleaning liquid, let it dry and connected, after some initial hiccups it started working again. I played two movies continuously without any problem. Now it works, however sometimes I have to remove the data cable when the avr shuts down showing red. I am now keeping the avr top open so that I can remove the cables easily.
Click to expand...

And with Kerala especially our place, no electronics stays for long, due to climatic conditions mainly moisture, I had issues with my onkyo and HK receivers which used to work without any trouble in chennai..
 
It appears to me that,due to market pressures, most companies are taking shortcut to success. There was a time AVRs used to be useful machine. Built like a tank and not only from outside.

My 7 years old TOTL Denon AVR has survived 2 overseas journeys (with me not being aware how it was handled in-transit) and still going strong. Not a single complaint with the machine.

PS: I also feel the climate and electricity conditions in India are partly responsible for higher failure rates.
 
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baijuxavior said:
Hi Antony, you can try the trick I use when the shutdown problem happens. Open the enclosure and there are three data cables connecting to the hdmi board. Remove them for a few minutes and connect them. As I said before, I lost all faith in Denon. I will never buy or suggest Denon for others.

An update to my problem - last week the avr stopped playing sound and started producing high pitch sounds and crackling. As I didn't care for it anymore, I removed the hdmi board completely. There was no visible dust, but I cleaned it using a small brush and lcd cleaning liquid, let it dry and connected, after some initial hiccups it started working again. I played two movies continuously without any problem. Now it works, however sometimes I have to remove the data cable when the avr shuts down showing red. I am now keeping the avr top open so that I can remove the cables easily.
Click to expand...

Hi Baiju, sorry to hear about your AVR. Thanks for sharing, though. I am planning to buy a Denon X1000 and am now fairly alarmed. Is your AVR out of warranty? Clearly, you don't seem to be happy with the support from Denon. I can understand how trying it would be to transport equipment from your town. But, do you atleast get a sense that they tried to fix your problem in the past two weeks?

Thanks again for sharing!
 
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