Denon DRA-685 2 Channels Receiver
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- THX Certification: No
- Number of Channels: 2 Channels
- Type: Receiver
- Surround Mode Power: 100 Watt @ 8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.05%
- Stereo Mode Power: 100 Watt @ 8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, THD: 0.05%
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Almost Perfect
Pros
Quality build, perfect sound, MultiSource capable, two remote controls
Cons
Noisy sound from relay, cheap remote.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The best two channel receiver you can find in the market for these days.
I am not sure how many people will look at this review, since everybody is going for HT(Home Theater), but I am going to write it anyway in case some people like me had the old fashion for two channel.
I had my HT system setup about three years ago, and it is mainly for watch movie and never use them to listen to music just because my ear is picky. I spend most of my time in front of a good old Marantz two channel receiver listening to the music, the Marantz is from 70's (OK, I am not that old, it's a second hand one) and now it's time to retire. You may say that why not use the HT system to listen to the music? Well, if I have a 2~3K receiver then the answer will be yes, but my HT is just average system. To me, the sound quality of a 500$ two channel receiver is much better than a 500$ 5.1 receiver. When I watch moive, you want the HT to create an environment to make me feel like I am the part of movie, but I am not too care about the sound detail. When I listen to music, I want to be able to hear every instrument it has and ping point the location. Sure there are good HT receiver out there can handle both, but the price...
That's the reason I try to find a two channel system. I did a lot of search over the net, the first target is A500 Integrated Amplifier from Cambridge Audio. It has very good review and rated as the best on the price range ( I paid about 320US, much lower than the budget). I end up return it after 4 days, since there is a continues "ham" noise at 60Hz coming out from the speaker and the store demo does the same thing, I did some test and find out it's coming from Preamp part. The next one I brought back to home is Onkyo TX8511 ( I will have a review for it soon). It's a nice solid build receiver, but missing some of the feature I am looking for, so three days later I brought it back again. This time I took back the Denon DRA-685.
The first thing I did after I back home is open the case to find out how good the build quality is. And here is want I've seen: the front panel is aluminum, not to many plastic parts inside out. The lay out of the components looks very neat; Most receiver I've seen looks messy, the components are not standing straight, jumping wires are all over the place, heat conductor are all over the board..., but not on this one, the board layout is very clear, wires are well managed and only going along the side, no messy heat conductor. It looks well build and well assembled.
This receiver has two sets of speaker out put, one set of Preamp out, and also a set of multi-source Preamp out. The multi-source Preamp out is controlled by a separate volume control and can take a different source then the current source being played through the main speaker A/B. What you need on the other room is an amplifier hook up to the multi-source Preamp out. So one room can play CD while the other room is listening radio. Both volume are controlled by the receiver but completely separate. Denon also provide two remote control with the unit.
It is very easy to use, menu is clear and easy to understand. The FM/AM part is good but I did not use them most of the time. Tone defeat and loudness is very useful, but a little confused by the logic, when tone defeat is on(No tone adjustment), you can still turn on the loudness!? Also there is no way to check loudness on/off status from display, only by you ear(I have no problem to figure out by my ear, but would it be nice to have the status displayed?).
While hook up to my Denon370 CD player, this receiver delivers good detail and soundstaging, excellent clarity. Most of the times I fell the music became alive. Compare to Onkyo TX8511, it sounds bit warn and bit more colorful, some people may not but I like that way. The rated output is 100Wx2, and it's powerful enough to drive my Boston Acoustics CR85 bookshelf (on speaker A) and PSB Image 2B (on speaker B).
The remote looks like something they sell at toy store, but they function OK. The red mark on the volume knob is kind of strange, I would expect a LED there (should have a LED for a motorized volume control). The other thing is every time you switch source, the relay kicks in with very loud. But these are just cosmetic issues.
Several things do want to mention if you decide to go with this one.
1. Give it some time to break in, it does sound better and better after weeks of using.
2. Get good interconnection cable and speaker wire, this will make difference.
3. Be careful about the price, the MSRP is 500$US, but lots of place sell it for 300~400US. Most of the place selling cheaper usually is not a Denon authorized dealer, therefore according to denon, the product is NOT covered by their warranty. I did some search on the internet and found out that the price from Denon authorized dealer always close to the MSRP. So if you find a cheap one claim to be brand new, make sure they are Denon authorized dealer unless you don't care.
I had my HT system setup about three years ago, and it is mainly for watch movie and never use them to listen to music just because my ear is picky. I spend most of my time in front of a good old Marantz two channel receiver listening to the music, the Marantz is from 70's (OK, I am not that old, it's a second hand one) and now it's time to retire. You may say that why not use the HT system to listen to the music? Well, if I have a 2~3K receiver then the answer will be yes, but my HT is just average system. To me, the sound quality of a 500$ two channel receiver is much better than a 500$ 5.1 receiver. When I watch moive, you want the HT to create an environment to make me feel like I am the part of movie, but I am not too care about the sound detail. When I listen to music, I want to be able to hear every instrument it has and ping point the location. Sure there are good HT receiver out there can handle both, but the price...
That's the reason I try to find a two channel system. I did a lot of search over the net, the first target is A500 Integrated Amplifier from Cambridge Audio. It has very good review and rated as the best on the price range ( I paid about 320US, much lower than the budget). I end up return it after 4 days, since there is a continues "ham" noise at 60Hz coming out from the speaker and the store demo does the same thing, I did some test and find out it's coming from Preamp part. The next one I brought back to home is Onkyo TX8511 ( I will have a review for it soon). It's a nice solid build receiver, but missing some of the feature I am looking for, so three days later I brought it back again. This time I took back the Denon DRA-685.
The first thing I did after I back home is open the case to find out how good the build quality is. And here is want I've seen: the front panel is aluminum, not to many plastic parts inside out. The lay out of the components looks very neat; Most receiver I've seen looks messy, the components are not standing straight, jumping wires are all over the place, heat conductor are all over the board..., but not on this one, the board layout is very clear, wires are well managed and only going along the side, no messy heat conductor. It looks well build and well assembled.
This receiver has two sets of speaker out put, one set of Preamp out, and also a set of multi-source Preamp out. The multi-source Preamp out is controlled by a separate volume control and can take a different source then the current source being played through the main speaker A/B. What you need on the other room is an amplifier hook up to the multi-source Preamp out. So one room can play CD while the other room is listening radio. Both volume are controlled by the receiver but completely separate. Denon also provide two remote control with the unit.
It is very easy to use, menu is clear and easy to understand. The FM/AM part is good but I did not use them most of the time. Tone defeat and loudness is very useful, but a little confused by the logic, when tone defeat is on(No tone adjustment), you can still turn on the loudness!? Also there is no way to check loudness on/off status from display, only by you ear(I have no problem to figure out by my ear, but would it be nice to have the status displayed?).
While hook up to my Denon370 CD player, this receiver delivers good detail and soundstaging, excellent clarity. Most of the times I fell the music became alive. Compare to Onkyo TX8511, it sounds bit warn and bit more colorful, some people may not but I like that way. The rated output is 100Wx2, and it's powerful enough to drive my Boston Acoustics CR85 bookshelf (on speaker A) and PSB Image 2B (on speaker B).
The remote looks like something they sell at toy store, but they function OK. The red mark on the volume knob is kind of strange, I would expect a LED there (should have a LED for a motorized volume control). The other thing is every time you switch source, the relay kicks in with very loud. But these are just cosmetic issues.
Several things do want to mention if you decide to go with this one.
1. Give it some time to break in, it does sound better and better after weeks of using.
2. Get good interconnection cable and speaker wire, this will make difference.
3. Be careful about the price, the MSRP is 500$US, but lots of place sell it for 300~400US. Most of the place selling cheaper usually is not a Denon authorized dealer, therefore according to denon, the product is NOT covered by their warranty. I did some search on the internet and found out that the price from Denon authorized dealer always close to the MSRP. So if you find a cheap one claim to be brand new, make sure they are Denon authorized dealer unless you don't care.
