Denon AVR1610 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver with 1080p HDMI Connectivity
- All five channels of equal 75-watt power @ 0.08 % THD, 20 – 20kHz
- HDMI 1.3a Repeating (3 input, 1 output) provides one cable connection between the receiver and TV
- 1080p HDMI connectivity supports Blu-ray disc surround sound formats, including Dolby TrueHD and DD+, dts-HD and dts-HR
- Dolby Laboratories new Pro Logic IIz Matrix decoding featuring front height effects channels
- Audyssey MultEQ, Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ
Product Description
The Denon AVR-1610 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver – Performance, technology and affordability are the hallmarks of the AVR-1610. A powerful 5 channel x 75W amplifier section delivers detail and dynamics to music and movie soundtracks. It’s equipped with 1080p compatible HDMI 1.3a Repeating technology, delivering both audio and video to your HDTV with single HDMI cable. This HDMI connectivity supports the latest generation surround sound formats available on Blu… More >>
Denon AVR1610 5.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver with 1080p HDMI Connectivity
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Great product, and I saved about $300.00 vs purchasing it locally. Buying electronics locally is a joke. It is extremely easy to hook-up. The auto calibration feature on most Denon receivers is a must.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is a well positioned device with many desirable features one might expect for an upper-end receiver. As such, it is a great value. Set up requires patience and the willingness to read the instructions before you begin. This receiver is complex enough not to be intuitive because it has features that are new enough not to be familiar.
Rating: 4 / 5
My setup is very straight forward: DVD -> HDMI -> 1610 -> HDMI -> TV. I found the manual usable, though missing many details. I was fortunate to have picked up some of those details during my research, like the HDMI connection to the TV to be able to use the onscreen menu.
Setting the whole system up, including running the wires to the speakers took about 3-4 hours. Setting the surround using MultEq was a breeze. Although I am not a pro, the result sounds fantastic to me. One note: while it made the right decisions about the speaker configuraions (all the speakers were set to ‘Small’), the crossover frequency was set to 40Hz rather than the recommended 80Hz. Not sure why that was the case. You may want to manually verify the setup details after the MultEq process completes.
The jury is still out on the HDMI connectivity. I have had a couple of glitches while playing movies. Once the signal gets messed up, I need to turn off the DVD player and power it back up to get a reliable link. No idea why this is happening. I do not recall having had this issue while the DVD was directly connected to the TV.
I can’t comment on the video conversion feature of the receiver. The signal is 1080P from the DVD player — so the video signal is a straight pass-through.
The sound is absolutely gorgeous. I am using NHT speakers & sub with the receiver, and the sound is very satisfying whether playing movies or concert videos. I have not played my CDs yet through the receiver — so I will add any comments on the stereo performance later. So far, it seems like excellent value for the money.
Added after listening to enough music: With my setup, the 2.1 configuration works best for CDs (Stereo vs. Direct on the Denon receiver. Stereo is the 2.1 mode while Direct is just the two front speakers). With my speakers, it just does not feel right unless using the sub. Although most experts say that the best way to listen to stereo CDs is to not using the surround feature, personally I find it a toss up. Both surround & stereo sounds great — just a different feel. The 1610 is turning out to be just an excellent receiver.
Rating: 5 / 5
1. Read the data sheet and manual carefully, the “on-screen menus” only work via the HDMI interface or a composite connection to the TV. No menus on component video connection. This cost me dearly during configuration, 5 frustrating hours. On the second complete read of the manual, I caught the reference to a component connection.
The front panel configuration user interface is poorly thought out and can be very frustrating to operate.
2. The second item to watch out for is HDMI, if you are not using HDHI in and out, you need to walk every menu and turn off all HDMI settings. Failing to shut off HDMI will cost you dearly in time spent.
I am still watching my SONY tube tv at 480i since the picture is still hard to beat in a flat screen. In another year or two the technical hurdles should be cleared and the picture, reliability and cost will make sense for me. Until then I’m only upgrading the sound part of my system.
3. The third item to watch for is using speakers B for playing stereo or the TV, use the front panel surround mode switch and toggle to stereo; it’s faster and easier than surfing the menus to turn off the sub woofer and rear speakers.
So far I have only hooked up my Kipsch La Scalas to the B speaker output and I would rate the sound quality as OK, broad sound stage, but not as rich or full as the top of the line Elite Receiver that flamed out or my Mac Stack. The 1610 price is 1/5th of the Elite and 1/20th of the Mac so no surprise here. For DVD movies and TV should be just fine.
It may sound better once the surround speaker systems and sub woofer are installed; since it requires a lot of power to drive the low end. I will still use the La Scalas on B until I have my Mac Stack reinstalled for playing music.
Time to install, 3 hours for cabling after reading all the manuals, creating a cabling diagram, buying the missing cables at a store and installation. Time well spent.
Configuration time, approximately 5 hair pulling hours.
My initial config:
DVD to AVR 1610
* video via component.
* audio via digital coax, won’t work until HDMI is off
* After speaking with the store guy, I ran a composite cable to the TV for on screen menu access
DVR to AVR 1610
* Audio only; via Optical 2 as stated in manual, won’t work until HDMI is off.
AVR 1610 to 480i TV
* Video via component.
AVR 1610 to 2 Klipsch La Scala speakers on B
* Use the front panel switch to toggle to “Stereo”, this actually makes sense. The sales guy at the store showed me this when I went back for some help.
AVR 1610 to 5.1 speaker system and sub woofer
* I was waiting to hook up the 5.1 speakers once the sub woofer arrived and thought the above configuration would be a slam dunk, it wasn’t.
* Since the sub woofer has its own 300W power supply, maybe the 1610 sound quality will improve since 5.1 is what it is designed for.
Rating: 3 / 5
I picked this unit up from a local shop who highly reccomended this receiver and started my research. It does everything I want, switch HDMI, video, pass through video, and produces great surround sound!
My budget would be considered low to audio/video freaks, but I believe this receiver is the best bang for the buck! Currently I have: HD settop cable box, Blu Ray, Wii, and the boy’s Click Start running through it. I love the HDMI switching for the simple fact that it allows me to run 1 HDMI from the receiver to the TV!
Thanks Amazon for having a review section which aided me in my research to purchase!
Rating: 5 / 5