Denon AVR-688 Dolby Digital Surround Receiver

• 7.1 channel home theater system with 75 Watts per channel
• Dolby Digital Surround EX and DTS decoding
• Component video switching with 3 inputs and 1 output
• XM Satellite ready
• Automatic room equalization

Amazon.com Product Description:
The AVR-688 surround sound receiver is network ready and can integrate into a home networked system when used with the optional ASD-3W/3N iPod docks, allowing more sources for playback then ever before. HDMI 1.3a video switching has been employed for today's demanding HD sources, providing rich color quality for 1080p signals. Digital audio is distributed by either optical or coaxial connections to high speed surround processing circuits for premium quality Dolby Digital and DTS Digital decoding. Seven high-current style amplifiers are used in the AVR-688 to deliver clean, clear performance for unmatched sound quality from your DVD or set top box digital devices. Analog video up-conversion makes switching various types of analog video signals easy, as duplicate wiring can be eliminated and signals channeled into one single component video output. Audio Delay is provided to allow for exact matching of audio and video signals when signal delays occur from some audio/video sources. Our newly styled pre-programmed remote control provides ease of use for the newcomer, or enhanced use for the seasoned user.

Horrible in every way:
I purchased this receiver at Circuit City to replace an old Yamaha, having upgraded to a plasma tv, a Wii and an upconvert dvd. I wavered between the Denon and a comparably priced Onkyo (TX-SR605). What a mistake! After 3 days of attempting to get all of my components to work properly I gave up and hooked everything up through the tv and then out to the receiver. Meanwhile I attempted 3 times in the next week and a half to contact Denon customer service by email for some help without an answer. One big problem with this receiver is that it does not run audio through the HDMI hookups, a separate coax or optical audio cable is required. Of course you can't find this information until you get it out of the box and go through the manual. Even though I had all of the required cables and followed the guide I was unable to get everything working as it should. Finally I took it back to CC and exchanged it for the Onkyo. 45 minutes later EVERYTHING worked perfectly. Over a month later I still have had no return emails from Denon. Stay away

So much better than the Onkyo TX-SR605!!:
My 2005 Yamaha 650 series was very good to me until my dog chewed one of the speakers wires and shorted out the receiver, so I decided to try the new Onkyo TX-SR605 model everyone was raving about besides the overheating problem with Onkyo, everything I heard about the receiver was good. Which I agreed until I tried the Denon. I did all the automatic speaker calibration which worked very well. The sound was ok but not very impressed so I tried tweaking with the sound but did not get much better. Remember, I was comparing this unit to my Yamaha. Then I decided to look to see what else what out there around the same price and the Yamaha and Onkyo. I found the Denon AVR-688, so I tried that out since I knew Denon was pretty reputable. Both places had a 30 day return policy so I new I had 3 1/2 weeks on left on the Onkyo to do the comparison. After the lengthy set up with the Denon (took me 4 times longer to set up the Denon than the Onkyo), which is not as hard as people say as long as you go step by step through the instruction. I decided to play some music and all I can say is this thing sounds 20% better than my two year old Yamaha and 40% better than the Onkyo. The Onkyo was very good for the money but the sound did not have the depth of the Denon. Listening to a TV program, the center speaker sounds so much more life like. The Onkyo had a very thin sound compared to the Denon. It was almost like teh Onkyo was playing through curtains. This is playing on a $400 center speaker. I wish I could put a picture on here of me with both receivers just to prove that I did the test. This is not just my opinion but even my wife, who could care less of how it sounds, said she could tell a difference. I had them both out side by side so I could quickly plug up one to compare. I also use banana plugs to for the speaker connectors to make the swap even faster. I will be returning the Onkyo this weekend. I do have not have a vested interest in this article but the difference in sound was worth writing.

Good product, terrible manual:
I agree with the prior review that the manual for this product is near-useless. Looks like a robotic translation of the Japanese original. I was minutes away from returning it to Amazon after 3 days of frustration. Noticed quite by chance that the manual mentions in a footnote that HDMI cable attachmnents do NOT carry audio through the AVR 688. Had to use optical audio cables and finally figured out that these were assignable inputs. Once I assgned them correctly, everything works just fine. I have a Sony Bravia Full HDTV, Polk Audio speakers (SW404, RC80i's, and RTi6's) a Sony upconverting HD/DVD player. Also connect an XM radio mini-tuner. I love my current setup, but if I had it to do over I'd probably wait for the AVR788. Once I factored in the cost of a pair of optical audio cables, the price difference is nearly negligible. While setup is definitely not for the faint of heart (a nightmare, actually) the product is a good value. Love the surround sound and the integrated XM radio is a real plus.

Good value, but you need a digital coax cable:
Watch out for one thing: this unit does not accept audio IN over the HDMI cable. This means that if you are connecting your Blu-Ray player to this receiver, the HDMI cable will only carry the video signal. For the audio signal you need to use a digital coax cable. Now, this may seem like a drawback, but let's do the math; if you want the HDMI to carry audio, you need to step up to the Denon AVR-788, which is $100 more than this unit (you also get some more wattage with the 788, although this 688 has plenty). OR, you could just buy a digital coax cable (less than 5 bucks from some place (...)) and have exactly the same sound quality. It is all digital, so you just have to get the sound in and you are fine. People have also complained about the instruction manual--it takes time but it is not written in Greek. This is not a $40 DVD player, but a complicated piece of audio equipement, and you need to invest the time to get it set up properly. In terms of bang for the buck, this receiver is an amazing deal.

Garbage - Never worked right, then broke, service horrible.:
I spent days agonizing over the purchase of this, trying to decide between comparable Sony/Yamaha/Onkyo components. Finally purchased it at Circuit City after talking to the staff. Yes, the manual is poorly written and you have to follow it step by step and not miss a single point. Finally after getting it set up, it sounded great...for a week. Then it began to randomly generate horrible screeching noises during movies. Resetting fixed it each time. And then it began to forget which component was assigned to what port and was mixing up all the signals so you got TV sound with DVD pictures, etc. Finally, it just gave up the ghost, dying completely and just giving a flashing red power light which according to the unhelpful telephone "support" person meant "Something is wrong" with the system and I had to send the unit to a Denon repair facility which was 8 states away. To top it off I had to pay shipping, plus it has now been 10 weeks and I still don't have my system back. Folks, this is junk. I had Yamaha amps that lasted YEARS with no problems. This one hardly made it 90 days. Never, ever buy Denon.