Denon AVR-1611

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
Well, after disassembling my home theater in 2008 when I got married and moved, I've decided to rebuild it in the new house. For now, I'll be using my old crappy speakers and gradually upgrade those over the course of the next year or so. In the meantime, I'd like to focus on a receiver. I surfed around on Amazon today (I have $150 in Amazon rewards I need to use) and found this guy:

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-1611...676497&sr=1-69

What do you guys think? I have read that some of gotten the receiver and love it, but I was hoping for some ATAV slant on it. Initial intended use will be 5.1 sound for movies and possibly games, along with possibly BRs. I don't think I will use the full 7.1 but I wanted to go ahead and pay a little extra for the capability, just in case.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 

electroju

Member
Jun 16, 2010
182
0
0
That AV receiver is fine if you have very, very efficient speakers or you listen at low levels. For 5 channels the wattage will be about 40 watts per channel. This is low for what it is rated for. Any AV receiver can be bought.

A good AV receiver that has true wattage for what it advertises is Marantz SR5004 and Denon AVR-2311CI. The Denon does not have enough watts being consume to handle it advertised wattage, but it is close enough. These are more expensive than you selected, but they are worth it if you are using big speakers.

You should always look for the how much watts the AV receiver consumes before looking how much watts is its amplifier's. The following formula gives you idea how much true power the AV receiver can handle.

Watts per channel = [ (max watts consume - electronics) / number of channels ] X Efficiency of amplifiers

Electronics usually consume about 60 to 120 watts.

Efficiency of amplifiers ranges from 20% to 75%. About 50% is the normal efficiency.


A lot of brands require you to go through authorized dealers in order for the warranty to be valid. Amazon may not be the best place to buy AV receivers or anything that requires you to go through authorized dealers. Use the money towards something else like furniture, books, movies, music.
 

alcoholbob

Diamond Member
May 24, 2005
6,347
420
126
You may want to get some efficient speakers...I couldn't even imagine running 7 speakers with a 21lb receiver. That amp section has to be fairly (I mean very) small--you'd be lucky to get 20watts/channel with all channels driven.

Denon, Pioneer, and Yamaha all have very small amp sections although Yamaha has gotten better lately. Onkyo always leads the pack in terms of amp power. I can't say much about Marantz, but from the Audioholics review of the 6004, it put out about 60W/channel @1KHz.

I'm not saying you should shop receivers by weight...but you should if you have a large room.
 
Last edited:

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
I'm not an audiophile -- I just need decent sound and my target price for a receiver is $400. Anything better around that price range?

Thanks
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Especially with "old crappy speakers", getting a receiver with good auto-equalization / room correction is a very good idea.

Here's my own example of what Audyssey MultEQ XT can do with some relatively lousy speakers (as picked up by very crappy microphone)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmmDenKL4U0

Audyssey is used by Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo.

If you're looking to stretch your dollar, Accessories4Less sells refurbished Onkyo and Marantz receivers http://www.accessories4less.com/

I haven't been keeping up with the latest couple generations of Denon / Onkyo / Marantz receivers to know what might be the best option.

If you can get one that has MultEQ (vs. EQ2), that will help your system sound better.

Just for example, there's an Onkyo HT-RC180 for $420 that certainly passes the weight test at 40 pounds.

On the other hand, when you consider shipping costs, it might make more sense to just buy something new.

Sorry, my brain isn't quite working, I'm still sick.
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
33,655
687
126
Especially with "old crappy speakers", getting a receiver with good auto-equalization / room correction is a very good idea.

Here's my own example of what Audyssey MultEQ XT can do with some relatively lousy speakers (as picked up by very crappy microphone)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmmDenKL4U0

Audyssey is used by Denon, Marantz, and Onkyo.

If you're looking to stretch your dollar, Accessories4Less sells refurbished Onkyo and Marantz receivers http://www.accessories4less.com/

I haven't been keeping up with the latest couple generations of Denon / Onkyo / Marantz receivers to know what might be the best option.

If you can get one that has MultEQ (vs. EQ2), that will help your system sound better.

Just for example, there's an Onkyo HT-RC180 for $420 that certainly passes the weight test at 40 pounds.

On the other hand, when you consider shipping costs, it might make more sense to just buy something new.

Sorry, my brain isn't quite working, I'm still sick.

Thanks, this is great feedback. As I said, I'm not an audiophile, but I want a decent receiver in place and I'll replace the crappy speakers I have (mainly the center and rear surrounds) eventually. The Denon caught my eye because it was under $400, as received positive reviews from others, and from Amazon, I think I'd get free shipping. It also has HDMI 1.4a, in case I would ever need it; we're talking about upgrading the TV downstairs and that might come into play.

What is this weight test everyone refers to? Is the logic the more weight, the bigger the heatsink, the bigger the amp, and therefore, the better?
 

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
The best way to figure out amplifier quality would be by independent 3rd party testing, but that's generally hard to find. Certain companies are better than others at getting close to their rated power. Having a lot of power isn't the only thing to worry about, but it's certainly better to have more power and not need it than to have not enough power and potentially damaging your speakers from a clipped signal.

Without having specifications that are trustworthy, the weight of a receiver and its power draw tend to be reasonable indicators of whether or not the receiver can actually come close to what it is rated to put out.

For example, the

RC-180 from Onkyo is rated at 110 Watts/channel 2 channels driven
40 pounds
Power Draw 7.8 amps (x120 = 936 Watts)

TX-SR508 from Onkyo is rated at 80 Watts/channel 2 channels driven
19 pounds
Power draw 3.9 amps (x120 = 468 Watts)

So, the 180 has twice the weight and power draw than the 508. It's more likely that the 180 will continue to output close to its rated power for multiple channels driven.


If I screwed anything up, please let me blame it on my partially functioning brain.