So far I am pleased... I know this is a bad time to be buying a receiver being that we are on the verge of proper HDMI 2.1 receivers coming out. But I needed something to replace my other garbage one I had previously. It was an entry level Onkyo which I purchased on BB as well but it just wouldn't play nice with my newly acquired LG C1 65". Anyways got tired of trying to make it work properly and went on BB and looked for the best sub 699 receiver that I could get right away. Well this one was the only free overnight one and it just happened to have a lot of the features I was looking for.~ Arc/eArc works without any fiddling along the LG C1 TV.~ 7.2 with the option of running Bi-Amp fronts. Since I am a 3.1 guy this was a nice feature to utilize that amp a ... MoreSo far I am pleased... I know this is a bad time to be buying a receiver being that we are on the verge of proper HDMI 2.1 receivers coming out. But I needed something to replace my other garbage one I had previously. It was an entry level Onkyo which I purchased on BB as well but it just wouldn't play nice with my newly acquired LG C1 65". Anyways got tired of trying to make it work properly and went on BB and looked for the best sub 699 receiver that I could get right away. Well this one was the only free overnight one and it just happened to have a lot of the features I was looking for.~ Arc/eArc works without any fiddling along the LG C1 TV.~ 7.2 with the option of running Bi-Amp fronts. Since I am a 3.1 guy this was a nice feature to utilize that amp a little bit more.~ Enough inputs for all my devices including proper phone input for the wife record player, something the Onkyo did not have.~ Nice calibration even though I changed a lot of the settings after.~ And overall clean look receiver.I have paired it with a pair of Klipsch RP600, a RP600C center and R100SW sub. Sounds short of amazing being that I upgraded from some white van speakers I got some 10 years ago... I did only pay 50 bucks only and they weren't bad just meh. But this receiver gives this speaker a nice lively sound compared to the Onkyo. It may be just in my brain but once I bi-amped the speakers along with going from the built in preamp to the receiver phono preamp the wife record player just sounds amazing.Anyways solid receiver. Feature packed and if you in need for a receiver right now and you can't wait then this receiver will work superbly.Works perfectly with the LG C1 TV.

I wanted to upgrade my home theater and needed to replace my 8 year old Sony AVR to accept HDMI's and ARC+ to match my Sony Bravia TV. After comparing Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo and Denon units, as well as advice from my son who is an audiophile and 100% Denon advocate, I selected this refurbished unit. Since I had such success with Sony's refurbished items, I was not concerned about this one. The unit I received was beautiful. It looked new. Set up was easy and I had it up and running and the speakers aligned in less than 90 mins. (easy peasy) The integration was perfect. I could not be happier. BUT. 2 weeks later, as we were watching a movie, there was a pop and the was sound but no picture. I finally disconnected the HDMI cable from the Cab/Sat input and installed it on ... MoreI wanted to upgrade my home theater and needed to replace my 8 year old Sony AVR to accept HDMI's and ARC+ to match my Sony Bravia TV. After comparing Sony, Yamaha, Onkyo and Denon units, as well as advice from my son who is an audiophile and 100% Denon advocate, I selected this refurbished unit. Since I had such success with Sony's refurbished items, I was not concerned about this one. The unit I received was beautiful. It looked new. Set up was easy and I had it up and running and the speakers aligned in less than 90 mins. (easy peasy) The integration was perfect. I could not be happier. BUT. 2 weeks later, as we were watching a movie, there was a pop and the was sound but no picture. I finally disconnected the HDMI cable from the Cab/Sat input and installed it on the TV. That fixed the problem. All was well until 2 weeks later. While watching TV, the receiver shut down with a message "Update Error 2A02" It also said to unplug and replug the power cord. The unit did not respond to the power button on the remote nor the power button on the unit. I tried unplugging and plug it back in. The power light would come on, the unit worked for less than 2 minutes then shut down with the same result. At this point I will send it back since it is within the 60 day return and would not go with another refurbished unit.

Its not cheap. And technically there are other AVRs that would make very solid "entry-level" products if you are trying to get into building your home theater.But at this level, at this price, this is the entry point for those who want to get a little serious with their home theater, and they want some conveniences to go along with it.The main thing right now is Dolby Atmos, and this takes care of the basics and then some. Its meant for normal sized living rooms, and technically Dolby recommends 4 elevated speakers for a "standard" home Atmos experience. This will only come with 2 elevated channels. The difference between this and paying for a AVR with two additional elevated channels is simply too much for the average person.But there's other options. This ... MoreIts not cheap. And technically there are other AVRs that would make very solid "entry-level" products if you are trying to get into building your home theater.But at this level, at this price, this is the entry point for those who want to get a little serious with their home theater, and they want some conveniences to go along with it.The main thing right now is Dolby Atmos, and this takes care of the basics and then some. Its meant for normal sized living rooms, and technically Dolby recommends 4 elevated speakers for a "standard" home Atmos experience. This will only come with 2 elevated channels. The difference between this and paying for a AVR with two additional elevated channels is simply too much for the average person.But there's other options. This comes with Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization, which it uses when you have no elevated channels, it uses your regular speakers at eye level to simulate noises overhead. Don't know how, and I haven't been able to test what that sounds like with it on and off. But the good thing is, if you haven't gotten around to buying your speakers, or installing the wiring, this AVR still gives you a good experience at 5.1, or even 3.1.I bought some discreet Atmos speakers on sale, those sit on top of your left and right speakers, and are pointed upwards. The idea is that the sound is supposed to bounce from your ceiling (assuming you have a non-vaulted flat ceiling) and the sound comes down on you. When running the speaker setup, they ask you if you have elevated speakers, and then they ask you what kind of configuration. Are they sitting on top of the F-Left and F-Right, pointing upwards? Are they speakers that are up against the wall where the TV is, but near the top of the ceiling? Or are they actually hanging FROM the ceiling. And they adjust accordingly. Which brings me to the next part.The calibrator function. This is where this AVR is convenient. It has its own calibration program, called Audyssey MultiEQ XT, and this is a huge help. They give you a microphone that you connect to the receiver. They ask you for how your speakers are setup, how many speakers you have. And then they have you place the microphone in the EXACT spot you would sit, and nearby spots. At ear-level. And then they run a series of sound tests to determine position and speaker power.And then they calibrate everything so that you have a perfect, level sound right where you sit. If one speaker is slightly further away than the other, the sound takes longer to travel to your ears, and could result in a slight echo or muffled noise. it compensates for that by CHANGING the timing of each speaker so that the audio arrives at both of your ears at the same time. If a speaker is sounding weaker than the other, it increases the power to that speaker to compensate.This takes 15 minutes, and this is what makes your home theater experience pain-free. The lower-priced AVRs do not come with this, and Denon's calibrator is one of the better ones. Unfortnately, there is one complaint. Some people say that it doesn't calibrate the subwoofer too well, and its too loud and heavy. Which you can turn down your subwoofer when watching a movie to adjust it to your preference.Lastly. This receiver has eARC. Not "ARC", but rather "eARC". And if you are buying a high-end television from 2020 onward, you are going to want this.A new, high-end TV will have one HDMI 2.1 port listed as "eARC" you just connect a HDMI cable (HDMI 1.4 or higher, but I'd splurge some money on buying some HDMI 2.1 cables anyways) from your TV's eARC port to the eARC HDMI port on the back of this receiver.Makes everything easier. I turn on my cable box, which turns on the television as well, which sends a signal to the receiver for it to turn automatically and set it to "TV Audio", and that automatically turns on my powered-subwoofer, which has an Auto-On/Off function (if it detects a signal, it turns on, and after a few minutes of inactivity it turns off).It does everything. I don't need to go through multiple remotes. It all turns on and its ready to go.It detects if you are watching something that has a Dolby or DTS signal, and if automatically notifies you on screen that it has detected Dolby Surround, or DTS, or something else, and it decodes it accordingly. You don't have to do anything.If you switch over to a video game, or turn on Netflix or some other streaming service, it will recognize the special audio codec.eARC will allow for lossless, uncompressed Dolby Atmos and DTS-X audio data. The only places you will probably find uncompressed audio will be 4K UHD Blu-rays for big-time hollywood movies from recent years.Shopping for home theater is EXHAUSTING. I understand. Its like shopping for a car, and the more you look into it, the more buzzwords get through at you.This is why alot of people simply run towards buying a packaged Dolby Atmos Soundbar set. And, let me tell you. Paying over $500 for thin speakers housed in a thin "polycarbonate" slim box that look like PC speakers that came with your Dell PC many years ago, it just doesn't make any sense.I was lucky in that I found 20 year old "reference" speakers that I bought at a Goodwill several years ago for $70. This is old speaker technology, just heavy wood and heavy magnets. And this Denon AVR has the juice to make them sound fantastic.If you live in an apartment, buy a 2.1 or 3.1 soundbar and just leave it at that. If you are in an area in which you can run wire up walls, invest in a real home theater system. And that means buy a real AV Receiver. if you can find somebody getting rid of big ole heavy speakers because they're from the 90's, and you can buy the whole set for very cheap, I'd even recommend that. This AVR will make them shine. Or slowly buy your speakers over time, buy the Front Left & Right, and then a subwoofer, and then a center channel, and you will already be having a great listening experience by that point.