My review of the denon 520BT

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Hi guys,

So I finally took the plunge and bought the denon.

My options were marantz NR 1506, pioneer vsx 531 ,denon 520 BT and a Yamaha 47something,can't remember.

Please be advised this is my personal review and opinion. I am not an audiophile. I listen to music occasionally and watch a few movies.

I have Polk audio TSX440 floor standers that I took to demo the avr's.

Plugged in the avrs one by one. They all sounded almost the same to me. I also carried my own music and movies.

There was a difference between the pioneer and the denon. The pioneer sounded louder and more harsh compared to the denon that sounded a lil humble and warm.

Could hardly make out the difference between the denon and the marantz. The cost was 10k more for the marantz which didn't make any sense to me.

Got the AVR home. Easy to setup. Haven't tried Bluetooth yet. The sound for movies is definitely better. Had a stereo amp earlier. Nice and clean sound.

Easily powers my speakers. I saw Star Wars on full tilt and the denon and polks were quite a good match. The volume was increased to annoy ur neighbour levels. Still didn't show any distortion or fatigue. Overall very happy with the AVR. Does the job with ease. Has blutooth. Looks pretty ok too.

Was thinking about a sub. But seems like the floor standers have quite a punch and good enough bass for my listening pleasure.

Happy listener! Thanks guys!
 
Today been listening to some music since morning. Just compared to the stereo amp I had before, the sound is more warm and full. Lacks a bit of the bite of the stereo amp though.

I like this sound. Sounds more cultured to me. Gonna fiddle with the Bluetooth today as well.
 
Hi,

From where did u get the 520bt and for how much?

For subs, check the lowest frequency of the towers and then go for a sub which performs much lower than that..
 
Blutooth setup was easy peasy.

Suddenly I'm watching too many movies and tv series .

Even the upscaling of video is better through the AVR than it was previously.

Anyone know what the Eco mode is or does?
 
Today been listening to some music since morning. Just compared to the stereo amp I had before, the sound is more warm and full. Lacks a bit of the bite of the stereo amp though.

I like this sound. Sounds more cultured to me. Gonna fiddle with the Bluetooth today as well.

Hi- I am planing to buy an AVR so my question to you is why do you say- lacks a bit of the bite of the stereo amp- what is the make and watts of your stereo amp , what is the watts of Denon AVR and cost, and what is the watt of your speakers.

I will then ask the foroum members with more experence if i have to go for a bigger watt AVR than you.

Many thanks.
 
I have no idea to all the wattage questions honestly.

I don't believe in numbers,I just took my speakers and auditioned 4 different amps in my budget. I bought what I liked,rather what sounded good to my ears.

What speakers do u have? If u have a 1000 watt speaker set that costs 2 lacs ,ur probably going to need a bigger AVR ;-)

I have small lil Polk tsx440 floor standers.

Movies sound better with my current AVR,however music was better with my Cambridge Sr10 stereo amp.

The denon costs about 33-35k.

Regards.
 
Hi Goget,

Stereo amps give a different delivery to music output and a very few AVRs perform the stereo duty well...

Marantz follows the Music first principal and so it is a clear winner for stereo and movie performance....yes the price is on the higher side.....

Pioneer LX series, Denon ...models 2000 series and beyond do some good justice to music...again depends on what content you are playing, what wires / cables you are using, what source etc....

Key thing is that you need to audition avrs and amps that suit your requirement in terms of performance, connectivity, requirement and appearance..within your budget..

Take your music + movies...audition and decide....all the best
 
Something important I forgot, the speaker wire connections behind the AVR are the clip types,I believe most new AVR have banana types.

Noticed today that on some channels on Tata Sky hd,i get a hissing sound,doesn't happen while watching movies through my Bluray player,any idea why?
 
Hi,

If the hiss noise is only on some channels then it's a broadcasting issue.

The spring clips are on base models of Pioneer and Denon...Marantz has banana binding posts for all models and all channels..
 
Ahhh ok great then,cause it only happens on higher volumes on a few HD channels.

Any idea about the Eco mode? What does it do?
 
Ahhh ok but in auto,it trips off when the volume is turned up.

It's like when u buy a scooty,kitna average deta hai? I guess the auto mode is pretty useless for me then!
 
I'm in Hyderabad today,will be back home tomorrow and will let you know. Although I'm pretty sure the volume on this AVR is from 0-100 or something. Unless the is a setting to change from units to decibels.

Having said that,my previous stereo amp was in Db by default.
 
Yes you should be able to change that in settings. Anyway congrats on the purchase and hope youre enjoying the setup to its fullest.
 
Something important I forgot, the speaker wire connections behind the AVR are the clip types,I believe most new AVR have banana types.

Noticed today that on some channels on Tata Sky hd,i get a hissing sound,doesn't happen while watching movies through my Bluray player,any idea why?

What Sound Mode are you listening at? Most probably a channel issue.

Ahhh ok but in auto,it trips off when the volume is turned up.

Oh Really? After how long does it trip? Does it play Okay when not in Auto or Power Saver mode?

MaSh
 
Hi Celester340

The AVR possibly is tripping (protection mode) when wires are not connected properly or if there is an overload on the amp....(your TSX440s are power hungry) etc. There could also be a variety of reasons and hence I was suggesting based on the speakers you have to go for an AMP / AVR which can deliver minimum 100w RMS at 8 ohms load between 20hz - 20khz 2 channel driven.

Anyways, you check the settings again and if you are going to play the same AVR on these speakers for more than 1-3 hours, I would recommend a cooling fan (4 inch) to be placed on top to cool the heatsink....this will avoid the tripping happening due to circuit overheating
 
I only have two speakers so listening on stereo mode.

There is no setting for decibel units.

Just noticed that with Eco mode on,the hissing is more prominent. It's still there on auto and off,but a little less.

It's not going to protection mode,just that the Eco mode from auto trip to off.

Also the hissing only happens on Tata Sky had,NOT when I play off my HDD or blue ray.
 
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