Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This was my first purchase of a surround sound system.I did a bit of research before deciding on the Denon AVR-985S and am quite pleased with the result.The build quality is excellent and the system is extremely flexible.Flexibility of course can make the setup more daunting.The auto-setup feature where you place a microphone (included in the package) at your most frequent listening position and press start makes the speaker set-up (a time consuming experience and then you're never sure you have it optimized) a piece of cake.That said however if you are just looking for a system you plug in and it works, this is not the system for you.It takes time and patience to hook different brands of equipment together and have them function as expected.
The On Screed Display (OSD) is pretty straight forward but fortunately is not required to set the system up.I say fortunately because my HD monitor is only capable of displaying 1080i or 480p on its component video input and the OSD appears to be 480i.It therefore is unreadable on my monitor in setup mode.I have a composite cable connected to another composite input on the monitor and it works fine there but requires the additional step of switching the monitor input if I want to use the OSD.All the setup options appear on the Denon's front display one option at a time but it helps to have the manual in front of you with the menu tree so that you can quickly navigate to the option you want to change.
The biggest drawback I have experienced so far is the remote.I was hoping that the macro capability would give my technically challenged wife (if she could hold it to her forehead and have it do what she was thinking we might have a chance) one button to turn everything on and set the system to watch her favorite program that is recorded on the VCR everyday.Unfortunately the monitor requires several seconds from power on until it will respond to any other commands and the macro capability only stores ten commands without a pause.Ten is not enough to program dummy commands while the monitor warms up.It does have a large set of pre-programmed codes for other equipment and using those I was able to control everything in my system.It will learn other remotes but the buttons available for learning are limited by the type of remote it is learning and the lables on those buttons don't always correspond to the function you want it to learn.
All in all it is a great system and sounds fantastic hooked to myInfinity TSS450 speakers.If you live in an apartment don't buy this system, your neighbors will hate you.At 100W per channel it will crack the plaster and sound great doing it.
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Product Description:
Simplify your home theater as you boost its processing abilities and audio power with Denon's AVR-985S. The audio/video receiver provides 7 channels of amplification to drive all the primary speakers in a 7.1 surround sound system (front left, center, and right speakers, left/right side speakers, and left/right surround speakers, along with a ".1" low-frequency effects channel for a subwoofer). It's perfectly compatible with 5.1 and 6.1 speaker configurations. Use it as a surround-processing preamplifier with stand-alone power amps or enjoy the receiver's 100 watts per channel amplifier (into 8 ohms from 20 to 20,000 Hz with no more than .05 percent THD), which features high-current, discrete output devices for all channels.
Enjoy high-end, encompassing surround sound with the Denon AVR-985S 7.1-channel receiver. View larger.
Back panel includes plenty of inputs and outputs for all your home-theater component needs. View larger. You'll never be at a loss for creative surround algorithms, irrespective of your listening source. The receiver's onboard 7.1-channel surround processing includes Dolby Digital Surround EX, DTS, DTS 96/24 5.1 for DVD-Video, DTS ES Discrete 6/1, ES Matrix 6.1 and Neo: 6 Cinema and Music modes, and Dolby Pro Logic IIx (for cinema, music, and games). Dolby Pro Logic IIx processing is the first technology to offer a choice of processing traditional stereo music and movie content into room-filling 6.1 or 7.1 channels.
The AVR-985S's auto setup and room equalization functions help you achieve ideal sound for your room. With the accompanying microphone placed at your listening position, powerful 32-bit floating-point DSP automatically and accurately analyzes, adjusts and sets the speaker configurations for your system. Also, the AVR-985S analyzes and adjusts the real-world frequency response of your speakers in the room with an 8-band parametric equalizer. The microphone is a specially designed, high-performance omni-directional mic with a heavy-duty base to suppress vibrations for accurate analyses.
Denon's Power Amp Assigned function heightens the AVR-985S's flexibility, letting you enjoy music or video in a fully-powered, discrete 2-channel second zone. You'll wonder how you ever lived without true 2-source, 2-zone functionality with discrete power, source select, and volume control for each zone. IR remote in/out terminals offer integrated system control, and the receiver also includes serial ports for RS-232C protocol control as well as assignable 12V trigger controls for use with system automation.
The AVR-985S owes its superlative sound quality to premium digital-audio technologies like SHARC 32-bit floating-point DSP processing from Analog Devices. For simplicity of video connectivity and switching, the AVR-985S includes video up-conversion for composite and/or S-video sources to high-bandwidth component-video with no compromise in video quality.
The receiver performs 24 bit, 96 kHz analog-to-digital conversion on all stereo analog inputs except the multi-channel analog jacks, while Analog Devices 24 bit/192 kHz high-resolution DACs on all 8 channels ensures premium playback sound. Adjustable high- and low-pass crossovers (40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 150, 200, and 250 Hz) let you tailor the sound to suit your speakers and your listening space.
The AVR-985S features 3 assignable sets of component-video inputs and 1 set of monitor outputs (all with 100 MHz bandwidth). You get 7 sets each of composite- and S-video inputs, a set of 7.1 external wide-bandwidth (100 kHz) inputs for multi-channel formats such as DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD, 7 assignable digital inputs (5 optical, 2 coaxial), 2 optical digital outputs, and a total of 11 analog inputs, including a phono input for your turntable.
The receiver uses a digitally regulated volume control with .5 dB increment adjustments and a step range of -80 to +15.
What's in the Box
Receiver, remote control (RC-974), remote batteries, an AM loop antenna, an indoor FM antenna, an omni-directional microphone, an AC power cord, a warranty card, a service-center list, and a user's manual.
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