Reviewer: Thomas Bartlett
Home theatre receivers are really getting ridiculous. Just look over the features and specifications on the Denon AVR-1907. Aside from the raw power output, these are pretty much a perfect match for what would have cost you $2,500 a couple of years ago. And now they are all available in this model for just $999.
Oh, one other thing is missing: support for a second zone. But that is a rarely used feature in any case. Instead you get all seven channels, each with a healthy 85 watts of hi-fi power. Of course there are decoders for the 6.1 channel versions of Dolby Digital and DTS, plus a few useful DSP modes.
One feature that is important, but rarely included, in a lower priced home theatre receiver is a set of 7.1 channel preamplifier outputs. One useful way to upgrade your system is to add more power. You can add external power amplifiers for all channels, and use the Denon simply as a processor and switchbox. But you can achieve useful performance enhancements just by adding two power amplifiers for the front two speakers. By removing these as a load from the receiver, you effectively make more power available for the other channels.
This receiver is very easy indeed to set up, since it has both onscreen menus and automatic speaker calibration. After you’ve wired it up, just plug in the microphone, select the automatic setup item and wait a few minutes. All your speakers are now set for best performance.
It also features analog video conversion up to component video, although there is no HDMI support. You can add Denon’s iPod dock as well. This uses a pair of the normal audio inputs, but has a link cable so that the receiver can control the iPod and access its menu contents for onscreen display.
