Comments about Denon Denon AVR-4310CI Black 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver:

This was the least expensive unit I found which had all the features I was looking for in a single unit which would fit in the built-in shelving in my den: HDCD decoding, coaxial digital input, HDMI in and out, HD Radio, Satellite radio, and Internet radio. To get this combination of features all in a single unit, today you have to pay the [$] this costs. I use it in stereo only, not for surround, but you will not find all these features in a stereo-only receiver. Thus, all the extra channels are superfluous (at least right now), but this means the power supply is adequate for the job and the unit thus has plenty of apparent power driving my Sequerra Met 7.7 speakers and B&W Acoustitune subwoofer.The sound is VERY clean and naturally balanced in Pure Direct mode, only a little less so in Direct and Stereo modes. I don't usually like the sonics of the Virtual surround mode intended to synthesize surround sound from a two-channel array; in this respect, the Dolby Virtual Speaker and even the old Hughes SRC software I've had in prior hardware used in this system was superior. The Harmon Kardon 635 which preceded this in this system was sonically at least as good overall in pure direct mode and had the superior Dolby Virtual Speaker synthetic surround function. However, it ran very hot in the cabinetry, became unreliable after only a year, and lacked the HD radio, satellite radio, and Internet radio features.

Comments about Denon Denon AVR-4310CI Black 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver:

I upgraded my system from a really great older Harmon/Karden receiver to get home theater quality performance. It was a really great decision. From the cable simplification of moving to HDMI cables to the fantastic setup capability, I was pleased with every aspect of the product.

The Multi EQ/Dynamic Eq setup allowed me to quickly setup the room sound balance by simply moving the mike from seat to seat during the setup sequence. I gave me a surround sound improvement for each seat that was astounding. The worst seat in the room sounds better than the best did before. I had no idea that it could be so drastically improved without the addition of any speakers other than the simple 5 +SW I had before.

But the Dynamic Volume feature is by far and away the best enhancement I could hope for. Not only does it allow me to watch movies and actually hear the dialog, but I don't have to grab the remote to control the volume when the action starts. And commercials are not nearly as obnoxious when the decibel level doesn't double.

The feature has 3 settings Day, Evening, and Midnight so I can completely control my listening experience for each movie as I want and there is just no loss of the "theater" experience when I don't have to put my fingers in my ears during action...

Music sounds like the band is in the room and the older movies run through the receiver look better, so all in all I am very satisfied.

If not for the remote i would have rated this 6 stars, but the remote is my only real complaint, it works pretty well as a universal for some of my components but not the Dish receiver. None of the codes in the manual work to allow it to control the unit. But at least I'm down to 2...