Denon AVR-988 7.1-Channel/5.1+2-Channel Multi-source/Multi-zone Home Theater Receiver (Black)

When this product arrived, I took it out of the box and spent over an hour hooking up all of my speakers and cords. I got to the final step of turning the power on (which the directions specifically said to wait to last before doing so) and it would not power up at all...dead on arrival. The return process was fairly easy to do through Amazon and they refunded me for most of the shipping cost of sending back the dead product(they were short a few dollars...not sure why). They sent a new receiver immediately and upgraded the shipping.

The new receiver sounds great, but it definitely is a bit tricky for the average user to figure out how to connect to the tv, cable box, and blu-ray, but I think I have got it. There are a ton of features that I am still trying to figure out, but the sound so far is great!

Absolutely a 5 star AVR. I was set to pull the trigger on the 1909 when I saw the 988 at Amazon's price of $599. I compared on Denon's web site, and AVS Forum (check the "official AVR-2808 thread for some great tips), and easily made my decision.
I have a Denon DRA-685 Stereo Receiver for my music listening room with a pair of Boston VR950 speakers. I knew I'd go Denon again.
Lots of others have posted the pro's & cons of this unit, and yes, it is a very sophisticated piece of equipment. Patience, and reading the manual (as poorly organized as it is) will get you through, and the rewards are worth it.
I purchased the Def.Tech ProCinema800 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System, and the Panasonic BD-30 Blu-Ray Player, coupled with the Samsung LN52A650 HDTV, and I'll never go to the theater again!!
For a great price on the Def Tech line of speakers, check Abt. They post MSRP prices, but call the sales department for the discount.
So now I love my HT, and I'm not spending as much time with my Stereo system, because the AVR-988 & Def Tech Speakers are REALLY Impressive.

The bad news:
The 1st receiver was damaged in shipping. Amazon's Customer Service in India is awful,and it took 3 calls before I got a US CSR. It was Thurs. before Labor Day, and they refused to ship until after the Holiday, so had to wait home again for UPS.
The driver came to the door with a box that was hanging on by a thread!
Totally trashed, the Styrofoam was hanging out, it was mutilated.
The driver said it must have been shipped to Amazon that way.
I refused delivery, and got on the phone w/ amazon.
I was promised next day delivery, but didn't get a tracking # till 6PM with 3rd day shipping! Spoke to another rep, who was most sympathetic, but only offered to issue a credit to my account for a small amount.
At least the 3rd unit was unscathed, and by the time it arrived, I had enough time with the original unit to understand the menu system, and set it up.
The Audessey Auto setup was great, but it set my Sub crossover to 250 HZ. After dialing it down to 80HZ I was home free.
Bottom line 5 star AVR & zero for Amazon customer service & UPS.

First receiver defective... Called Denon, worthless! Amazon customer service is GREAT! They swapped out receiver with next day air!
Second receiver OK. REMOTE IS HORRID! Manual is horrid.
Hard to figure this thing out - and I am very tech savvy...
I much preferred my older Yamaha. Now have an Onkyo - nice.

I purchased this AVR-988 Receiver from Amazon after weeks of research. I intially thought It was a terrific deal for the features based on the cost of the unit. This unit was purchased to replace an older JVC RX 6500V 5.1 model that I recently lost during a lightning strike to my home. I would like to add that the JVC was not my first surround sound unit. My first surround unit was a Pioneer VSX-5700S 5.1 model that I purchased about 15 years ago and currently been set up in my lower level. It was also lost in the lightning strike. I point this out to make you aware that I am VERY familar with home theater systems and how to set them up. After you have done it a few times and have helped friends with theirs, its pretty easy and intuitive.

Since most of my equipment was lost, I deciced to upgrade to a 7.1 system with 7 new Mirage speakers and subwoofer, a new 72" Samsung TV and Samsung Blu-Ray player.

After connecting everything to the AVR-988 I had problems right off the bat. First of all, amazingly, it did not detect all 7 speakers. It treated the setup as if it were a 5.1 system. The onscreen setup menu was terrible. It was very complicated as was the manual. It was very hard to decipher to say the least. I was able to find the speaker set up in the menu, but nothing allowed me to change it to a 7.1 system. Finally I broke down and called Denon. This was the first time in 15 years I had to call a manufacturer's customer service to set up a surround receiver.

To their credit, Denon's wait time was not that long. However the technician had to do alot of research before sending me deep into the system under a menu that had nothing to do with speakers to change the unit from a 5.1 to 7.1 setup. He said that very few people actually use the full 7.1 setup and thats why it was so difficult. I found that odd, since every decent receiver nowadays is 7.1.

I finished the rest of the set up with great difficulty as the setup was not intuitive and then decided to use the Audyssey automatic speaker set up. I plugged in included mike. The receiver detected the mike and prompted me to hit set the mike to the prime listening position and hit enter to start the test. I did and nothing happened. I tried again, and nothing. Then it locked up. - Back on the phone with Denon. They had me reset the whole system. Again, the system would not detect all 7 speakers and had to be manually told they were there. Again, the Audyssey system would not work. After an hour on the phone with Denon, the tech told me the system was defective and to take it to an authorized repair center. That wasnt happenning, so i called Amazon. Their customer service was very nice and sent out 2nd AVR-988.

The 2nd AVR-988 had the same identical problems. It did not detect the 7 speakers and had set up manually. The Audyssey system again froze. Furious, I called Denon a third time and explained that this was my second AVR-988 receiver and I was having the same problem. The tech had me reset the system again, and after following all his instructions he could not get the Audyssey system to work and said the receiver was broke. He said he would escalate this to senior management and that I would get a call back in a few hours, but no later than the following day from Denon to see if something out of the ordinary could be done to help me. (Instead of just blowing me off by telling me to take it to a repair center)

I waited two days and heard nothing more from Denon. I sent the receiver back to Amazon. It took them two weeks and 3 calls to customer service to fully credit my account.

2 days ago purchased an Onkyo TX-SR706 7.1 receiver. I plugged my 7 mirage speakers in, my sub woofer, my blu-ray player, my dishnetwork receiver, and a new Panasonic vcr/dvd recorder I just purchased. I connected everything via HDMI. The ENTIRE setup took less than a 45 min. Everything worked perfectly from the moment I turned the receiver on. All 7 speakers and subwoofer were immediatly detected and sounded incredible. I ran the Audyssey setup. It worked flawlessly. Everything works and sounds terrific. Unbelievable is really a better word! I was intially reluctant to go with Onkyo because of the poor customer service reviews I had read about them. However I realized that I never once had to call Pioneer or JVC with my other surround receivers and I took a chance. I am very happy I did. I noticed that the Onkyo 7.1 Home theaters in a box actually come with 7 speakers and a subwoofer, Where Denon's top of the line still only give you 5 speakers. It is appearent Denon does not believe consumers really want a true 7.1 sound system.

In conclusion, the Denon AVR-988 has some serious flaws, is very very hard to set up, and while Denon is easy to reach, their customer support is useless other then to help you with basic set up problems. My advice is to stay away from this unit. FAR AWAY.

Sent my first Denon (3802) and component HDTV home with my daughter. Got the Denon AVR-988 and new Samsung, what a beauty. Ease of use was greatly enhanced with the addition of the OPPO hdmi switch. So much easier to use.