Denon DRA-685 Stereo receiver with dual-room/dual-source A/V output

Rating:
Summary: A fine piece of high quality audio hardware.
Review: I had actually been searching for a different piece of Denon audio hardware when I ran across this rather new Amazon listing for the Denon DRA-685 receiver, which has been a key component in my "main" audio system for nearly two years now. It is certainly a "keeper," and a receiver whose capabilties and features one can "grow into" over time. A few of the features are quite unique, and I have yet to exploit them.

I am not one who changes audio components at whim, or according to changes in consumer taste. My general tendency is to buy the best that I can afford, and then only when needed. This in fact happened, when my previous integrated amplifier (a Pioneer Elite A-90, a true state-of-the-art behemoth of its time some fifteen years ago) started acting flaky. (It turned out that the problem was minor, and the A-90 is scheduled for future use in a separate system.) Comparison shopping led me to the Denon DRA-685, a robust 2-channel receiver having impressive specs and performance.

While I don't consider myself a "golden ears" type of person, the music I prefer to listen to can, and often does, place a premium on clean power-handling ability. And my loudspeakers, by the nature of their design, require prodigeous bass-handling capability and very tight damping for them to reproduce music - often very complex music - accurately. I could immediately determine that the amplifier section of this Denon unit easily outperformed the A-90 it replaced, despite the latter having twice the rated per-channel power. Even more to my liking, the Denon DRA-685 has a pair of "preamp out/main amp in" jacks, just perfect for my outboard equalizer without my having to tie up the tape monitoring jacks. And it has a tone-defeat button for assuring flattest possible frequency response (save for a one-time-only setting of the outboard equalizer that I utilize for accomodating room acoustics).

The tuner is very sensitive (using just a self-powered indoor antenna), with excellent stereo separation and negligible noise/hiss. Up to 18 separate FM and AM stations can easily be preset and recalled using the buttons provided. Tape-monitoring controls are flexible and straightforward. (I happen to use mine for CD burning of "air checks" off the FM tuner, where the functionality is equally straightforward.) The unit has the usual array of inputs and outputs, as well as a few unusual ones.

Among the unusal ones: Not only is there provision for two sets of speakers, but there is also provision for sending separate signals to these two: It is (or at least seems to be) simple and straightforward to hear signals from CD in one room and tuner in another. This is a feature that I have yet to try.

Also among the unusual ones: Another feature I have yet to try is the unit's ability to feed both audio AND video signals to a video monitor/speaker system, from either a TV or DBS tuner or a DVD player. (Keep in mind, though, that this is not a surround-sound system; just two-channel stereo.) These are just a few of the ways I have yet to grow into the full capabilities of the Denon DRA-685.

Two-channel hardware of this level of performance and quality is increasingly hard to come by these days, what with surround-sound receivers of lesser performance and quality crowding out the market, lest one go to a high-end audio salon and spend a bunch more than for what this Denon unit retails. I've been only delighted since the first day I brought it home, hooked it up, and listened. And that was, as I earlier noted, nearly two years ago.

If you're like me (which is to say that best possible stereo sound is your objective), this is a receiver that will serve your needs - and then some - for years to come.

Bob Zeidler