AV Receiver Reviews

There are no power amp inputs corresponding to these preamp-outs. This might limit the use of accessories such as outboard equalizers, but you won't need an outboard EQ with the Denon since it's the first product to include a new, on-board equalization system called MultEQ XT, developed by a company called Audyssey Laboratories, Inc. I'll have more to say about MultEQ later in this report.

There's More?
There's a large, front-panel fluorescent display plus on-screen menus. Three User Modes allow you to store and recall surround modes and individual level settings at the touch of a button. An adjustable audio delay for lip-synchronization operates from 0-200 milliseconds. Nine crossover points may be selected between 40-250Hz, and can be set individually for each channel. Separate settings allow storage of individual surround modes, levels, and other parameters for each input. Four 12V triggers are available. Digital audio inputs may be converted to analog out for recording. There's a moving magnet phono preamp. The headphone output includes Dolby Headphone simulated surround circuitry designed to more closely emulate the out-of-head perspective of loudspeaker listening. (The receiver may also be upgraded to receive streamed, uncompressed linear PCM and compressed MP3 files from a PC, though it does not arrive so configured from the factory).

And, of course, on-board AM and FM tuners are included—that's the very definition of a receiver.

Features not provided—and I mention them only because so little appears to have been left out of the AVR-5805—include a moving coil option on the phono input and an on-board RF demodular for Dolby Digital laserdiscs. There are also no balanced audio outputs, which might be an issue in a custom installation in a large house requiring long cable runs.

Remotely Interesting
The AVR-5805's universal learning remote control is a slick affair. "Hard" buttons include On and Off, Volume, Channel, Enter, and a joystick for menu navigation. But most of the buttons are "soft" buttons, though not in the usual sense. They are not programmed onto an LCD display, but are instead pressure-sensitive and located behind a blue, flexible, plastic film. The buttons illuminate when you pick the remote up. While the design does provide an up-market appearance, it has neither the tactile feel of a conventional remote nor the flexibility of an LCD touch screen. I wasn't crazy about it; those soft buttons weren't particularly positive in operation, and the illuminated buttons don't show up very well in brightly lit room.

Setup
The learning curve on the AVR-5805 is steep. For that reason, a new owner should learn as much as possible about it as soon as possible. That's why I recommend beginning with a manual setup, rather than the more obvious automatic calibration. Yes, a manual setup of the Denon is complicated, but no more so than any other advanced receiver or pre-pro. Starting with a manual setup will not only give you confidence in working with the receiver, it will also teach you things about the Denon that only real hands-on experience can convey.

The manual is thorough, but not always straightforward or clear. It begins the Setup section (page 30) with a description of the automatic procedure. But I had to dive 16 pages deeper (page 46) before finding that you don't have to use automatic setup, but can instead skip directly to the Speaker Setup line in the on-screen menu. From there you can do it the old-fashioned manual way, proceeding step-by step down through the menu selections. (The auto setup is required to dial in the MultEQ—but even there I'd recommend logging at least a couple of weeks with the receiver before attempting a full equalization setup).

Up Close and Personal
As always, I set up my system for 5.1 channels, but began my listening sessions with music in two-channel stereo. I did all of my early auditioning without the MultEQ feature, treating the 5805 like a conventional, equalizer-free AV receiver.

The Denon offers three playback modes for two-channel music. Stereo allows for full adjustment of the receiver's controls, including the available tone controls. Direct mode bypasses these circuits. Pure Direct also turns off the video circuits and, if an analog input is selected, turns off all digital processing circuitry, providing a pure analog bypass.

The Direct and Pure Direct modes do not provide any high-pass filtering on the front left and right speakers—they operate full-range. And if you have set up your system to include a subwoofer, they also leave the subwoofer engaged. This could produce excessive bass in the region where the main speakers and subwoofer overlap. If you specify No for the subwoofer and Large for the main speakers when you perform the speaker configuration during your initial setup, of course, then that will not be a problem, but you won't have an operating subwoofer either.

I did most of my 2-channel listening in plain-vanilla Stereo mode, which does high-pass the left and right front channels if you have set up the receiver for Small main channel speakers (including the front left and right) and a subwoofer, as I did.

The Pure Direct mode does not affect the multichannel analog inputs. There is a menu setting in the Audio Input Setup that determines whether those inputs are converted to digital as soon as they enter the receiver (DSP mode—which will provide you with all digitally processed functions, including MultEQ and bass management) or remain all analog (Analog mode, which bypasses all DSP processing).

The Denon's sonic pedigree was immediately obvious from the first CD I played. It can compete neck and neck with comparably priced separates—or even more expensive ones. It produced a tightly focused, well-defined image with a neutral perspective (neither pushy nor laid-back) and realistic depth.

At first I thought the sound was very slightly warm and rich—my experience with previous Denon sound suggested that this might be the case—but I soon realized that it was merely reflecting the balance in the program material.

The Denon's (unequalized) bass did sound a little softer than that from the previous high-end receiver I reviewed, the Sony STR-DA9000ES. But in exchange, it was richer and more full-bodied. The midrange was open and detailed, the high frequencies airy and spacious.

While Denon did not send us a compatible DVD player to test the Denon Link feature, an i.LINK compatible IEEE 1394 connection from a Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi DVD player allowed a direct digital connection to the receiver for both SACD and DVD-Audio, which provided access to all the receiver's digital processing, including full bass management and MultEQ.