Denon AVR-787 or AVR 3300?

Jimbo18

Both receivers are available locally for the same price, $100. The 3300 has the remote and the other does not.

I was thinking of picking one up as an upgrade from my Yamaha RXV 373 in my bedroom. It's working fine, at least most of the time, but seems a little underpowered for the Mariah Acoustics speakers I got recently.

Can anyone tell me which receiver is the better deal and will it make much difference over the Yammy?

cnh

The AVR3300 is a much "older" model than the 787. I'd check to see what it has on the back. OK, NEITHER has HDMI outs! And both seem to have Pre-outs!

Obviously the higher/older model has a bit more power (105 watts./channel vs 85 watts for the 787), but it's decoding for surround formats is probably more limited.

Hard call to make. That 3300 has got to be VERY OLD from the numbering--at least a decade--maybe less!

The 787 is probably 2006-7 or so? So not that new there either. Tough call!

The 3300 weighs over 30 pounds so that's a good indication of the fact that it's got a little punch. That entry level Yamaha would be much lower power, especially in the surround mode. But the Yammie probably has HDMI and Hi-Def Dolby and DTS processing, no?

So the lower power Yammie has features that trump the older model Denons?



cnh

Jimbo18

Yeah, I was aware of the lack of HDMI, not too worried about it, but it sounds like there's not that much that stands out about the Denons to make the switch, other than the preouts. I would only be using this in 3.0 mode for TV/Movies and stereo for music, so wasn't too worried about the surround formats.

But I am not close to getting an amp, so am probably better off just sticking with the Yamaha for now if there's not that much increase in power.

Thanks, cnh

cnh

Jimbo18 wrote: »

Yeah, I was aware of the lack of HDMI, not too worried about it, but it sounds like there's not that much that stands out about the Denons to make the switch, other than the preouts. I would only be using this in 3.0 mode for TV/Movies and stereo for music, so wasn't too worried about the surround formats.

But I am not close to getting an amp, so am probably better off just sticking with the Yamaha for now if there's not that much increase in power.

Thanks, cnh

Well, as far as 2 channel sound the 3300 will be a LOT more robust than your Yammie and sound more musical if that's a consideration. This unit weighs, I believe 33 pounds whereas the Yammie has to be less than 20?

Really depends on pricing. Denons are pretty good with external amplification. I like the sound of my 2807 which is almost as old as the 787 but has two 1.1 HDMIs with LPCM sound pass through so it works with any Blu-ray with internal processing. I would imagine that the 3300 may be comparable to the amps in the 2807 which is about 31 lbs and 110 watts x 7?

cnh

Jimbo18

I figured I could run my Roku, bluray and antenna (I dropped cable) to the TV and then run optical out from it to the Denon, assuming the sound would be better with more power. My Mirage speakers seem to want more power than the Yamaha is giving them. Defnitely need more than the Monitor 7's do.

Just not sure what to do right now. The 3300 has been for sale for about 2 months and he hasn't renewed the ad lately but I checked and he does still have it.

wz2p7j

I remember looking pretty seriously at the 3300 years ago. Numerous reviews said it runs pretty hot, so I would not consider it if it's going to reside in close quarters.

Chris