Denon Professional 7.2ch AV Receiver w/WiFi & BT Price: $699.99 Shipping Options:: $5 Standard Shipping Estimates: Ships in 1-2 business days (Thursday, May 11 to Friday, May 12) + transit Condition: New
I’m curious about that as well, thanks for posting it. I doubt the warranty will be valid anyway as Woot isn’t an authorized Denon dealer, as far as I can tell. Although, surprisingly, Amazon is.
I used to work in a high-end stereo store (we sold Denon), so I’m going to hazard a guess. This is probably last-year’s model, and they want it out of their distribution chain. Electronics distributors sometimes do the brown-box-and-shorter-warranty thing in that circumstance so (1) it doesn’t dilute the value of new ones so much (brown box) and they can drop the price considerably and still make the accountants happy (shorter warranty).
Denon equipment is typically characterized by rock-solid build quality (usually made in Japan) and sound good enough even for audiophiles, with the high price you’d expect from the combination. My (near the low-end of their line) Denon CD player still sounds amazing after 30 years with only a $10 belt changed in that time.
Denon also very rarely sells at a significant discount unless it’s refurbished; they control their distribution channel well.
You can tell this unit has an especially solid power supply (the key to longevity and solid sound) because it can output twice the power into 4 ohm speakers that it can into 8, and it weighs 23 pounds.
I know lots of people with 40-year-old Denon turntables that are perfect, sound amazing, and they have never spent a dime maintaining/fixing (if I had the money 40 years ago, I’d have one now, too).
Note: This is not a consumer-grade unit; I was only able to find it for sale at a Pro-audio site, and for $1,100. Their pro-grade stuff typically has the same sound and somewhat higher build quality, and is larger and may run a little bit warmer in use, so you might need more space (including for air circulation) than your old one.
TR;DR: If I were looking for a high-end Home Theater amp, I’d have bought this as soon as I saw it at this price.
Sorry, you’re wrong about the warranty. They are a Denon authorized dealer and 1 year is standard for a Denon refurb. You can buy an extended warranty but the machine ships with a basic 1 year.
Anyone know how the Denon App is on this unit? I have a Onkyo 737 and the app sucks! You cannot turn the unit on and off from the app. My Yamaha in the basement was half the price and I can turn it on and off from my phone.
MOD: I found how to turn on/enable network control and all is good! never mind…
Well, it seems I was partly right and partly wrong. I have just spoken to Accessories4 less and this is the answer:
The first year is covered by Denon and the additional 2 years in by New Leaf Service Pro. Basically an extension of the manufacturers warranty. Covers all parts and labor at any manufacturer authorized service center.
So it is a 1 year Denon warranty with a free third party extension for the additional 2 years.
My onkyo died after 2 years, faulty HDMI board that they didn’t admit was a problem until long after I had gotten rid of it. My Denon has been going strong for 4 years despite children using it for their video games. I just upgraded to a Marantz in the main room because the sound was so good on the Denon. This also has the HDCP 2.2 so no handshake issues if you have gone the 4k route. I don’t know if this is a good price for last years model, however, you can maybe find it cheaper locally if it is clearanced. But this looks like a better than solid AVR.
Short answer: Onkyo is a fine brand, probably the least expensive brand I would buy myself (I’m a bit of a snob about audio electronics, obviously).
Denon is just a bit better, all around, in sound quality and build quality, and in how “solid” the power delivery is. Depending on your speakers and your ears, you may hear a difference.
If you want to pay for the difference, do, and if you don’t, you didn’t make a mistake.
Fry’s current price is $999 so this is still a reasonable deal. The chances of it still being around (it’s last year’s model) for the next Black Friday are probably not very good.
An excellent suggestion to get years more from any decent-sized amp.
Personally, I never put (anything with) an amplifier in an enclosed cabinet. I just think it’s safer.
You can get a couple of silent 120mm fans (large size for computers) and install them as push-pull on the 2 sides of the cabinet (sides or back, depending on what fits) and finish the project in an hour and a half, spending less than $20.