AVR-X8500HA

Finally, I have the Denon AVR-X8500HA receiver installed and working properly - after it was delivered about a week ago. Some background: I've had a home theater for more than 20 years - and have upgraded components occasionally over this time. I've been looking for a new home theater receiver for about 3 years. My sights were set on the Denon AVR-X8500H model - but then, I heard about some video-related issues, and decided to wait for the fix to come out. When the fix was released, the receiver was re-designated as the AVR-X8500HA. The updated receiver was priced a little higher than the first edition of this receiver, so I continued to wait for the price to come down. Denon has now released the successor flagship model, the AVR-A1H - which officially replaces the AVR-X8500HA. So now, we're finally seeing better prices on the AVR-X8500HA - and I decided to go ahead and order one from Amazon. Of course, this receiver does everything I need it to do. I have it configured in a 7.2 speaker arrangement. I have it connected to a 4K TV, a 2K projector, a 4K Blu-ray player, a CD player, a Roku Ultra, a 2K cable TV box, a 2K laptop computer, and an FM antenna. The receiver is plugged into my home network - so it can find and use my music server, and I can cast music from my phone to the receiver over the DLNA or Bluetooth protocols. I also use the receiver's Zone 2 to distribute analog stereo music to other parts of the house, and that is working fine, too. Review: Build quality is excellent. Music and video quality are also excellent. Remote control is pretty good - and has all the functions I need. This receiver replaces my 11 year-old Pioneer SC-68 home theater receiver - which has found a new life in another part of the house. A word of advice: The Denon AVR-X8500HA is a 52 lb. receiver, so be prepared for some heavy lifting. It took me couple of days to remove the old receiver, remove some other equipment and cables I no longer needed, fully clean the equipment area, and then get the AVR-X8500HA installed. It took me another day going through the receiver's configuration setup menus for my theater. Finally, a lot of testing to make sure I had everything working properly with all the other components that are connected to the new receiver. Be sure to schedule a large block of uninterrupted time when installing this receiver. It takes quite a bit of time. Patience is a virtue when installing something as heavy and complex as this. In closing, I'll post an update later if I discover something new and interesting about this receiver. When I get my printed copy, I'm planning to read the entire user manual to see if I've missed something in my installation and setup. Please note: A printed user manual is not included with the AVR-X8500HA, but you can order a printed version on-line. The PDF version of the user manual is also available free on-line from the Denon web site. Update, 11/20/2024: So I've had this receiver for a year now. I use it almost every single day, for TV, Movies, Music, Web surfing, Youtube, Chromecast audio, etc. Still loving it - and apparently it's still available at close-out prices. During this year, I've upgraded my projector to 4K (JVC DLA-NP5, see review) and a 4K laptop (Lenovo ThinkPad G17 Gen 2, see review). Everything in the home theater is now 4K capable (all video sources, my two displays, laptop, and the receiver). The main thing I've done since my original review is room EQ using the supplied Audyssey Multi-EQ calibration system and microphone supplied with this receiver. I spent 3 days messing around with it - trying to get the best sound. I recommend downloading the Audyssey Multi-EQ app to your phone or tablet ($20) - and running the Audyssey software from there. Using the app, the EQ results are editable, with more features available than just using the receiver in a standalone way. And with the app, you can save/edit multiple EQ sessions - and clone existing EQ sessions in order to tweak, and to try out various settings - of which there are more than I can count. There are several YouTube videos that walk thru the setting up, and usage of this app. After running thru a bunch of EQ sessions, I settled on Audyssey Reference mode, with subs equalized from 20 to 80 Hz, and the other speakers equalized from 20 to 1000 Hz. The idea here is that most room EQ issues are due to lower-midrange and bass frequencies causing resonances and nulls due to sound reflections - and wave interference. Since my speakers are high-end, I'm assuming anything above 1000 Hz is not going to be a big problem. More testing and listening may change my opinion though. As always, your mileage may vary. But for me, this has been a fun experience, and I do think the sound is better than before the EQ sessions - so probably worth checking out if you have the time, and a quiet environment in order to run the EQ sessions. Carry on! Update, 11/23/2024: I checked the back panel of my 2 subwoofers to make sure they were set as I remembered. I found the gain was set too low, and the crossovers also set too low. They are now set as: Gain at 12 o'clock position (half-gain), Crossover at max (150Hz), Phase shift set to 0 degrees. With that, I performed another EQ session with the Audyssey app. Afterwards, I chose the following settings: Audyssey reference setting for all speakers. For subwoofers, the curtain set at 200Hz, and for the rest of the speakers, the curtain set at 500Hz. So basically, the subs are fully EQed by Audyssey, and the Front, Center, Surround, and Surround Back are EQed at 500Hz and below. After extensive listening tests, I think this is the best EQ so far. For midrange and highs, the speakers are playing naturally with no EQ - with the room correction only happening below 500Hz (and below 200Hz for the subs.) I'll try living with these EQ settings until I find a good reason to change them - but so far, very happy with this EQ. Good luck with your experience.

Excellent receiver

Spent 2 hrs hooking this AVR up. Sounded pretty good. Cranked it up to 80% volume. Was pushing the 9.2 Definitive Technology speakers nice. Then, no sound. Display went off, no sound. Called Denon support They had me reset the AVR, no good. Then was told looks like the power transformer failed. Back it went to Amazon. No more Denon equipment for me.

Wonderful sound from this home theater beast. Audyssey works very well, leaving a pleasing and detailed soundstage across the listening area. This is a pricey piece of hardware, but it checks a lot of boxes for setups with many speakers or multiple listening zones.

Works great but not the “WOW” I was hoping for. Certainly better than the cheap units. Setup was easy.

I've been buying Denon's middle-of-the-road AVRs for something like 20 years. I decided to upgrade my home theater, and ordered this beast. It's taller, deeper, and heavier than all of the other AVRs I've had. The unit has HD music streaming with some providers, and it sounds amazing (a marked, instantly noticeable improvement in sound quality). The unit does 8K upscaling, and I think that my 4K upscaling projector has benefited greatly from the quality and color of the Denon's processor. I was quite astounded by the color, contrast, and sharpness improvements I saw after just installing this AVR. I had already ordered a laser projector, but now I'm not so sure that was necessary! If all of your HDMI cables aren't 8K compliant, you may have to upgrade them. I had video drop-outs on my 4K Bluray player, and my Nvidea Shield until I upgraded the cables. I'm also not sure how/if Denon has a better Audessy sound calibration included in this AVR, but the detail of the vocals and music, and the calibration for my home theater sounds amazingly better than with my old AVR. I have much better vocals clarity. I'm really impressed. 150 watts per channel are plenty to drive my Klipsch Cornwalls! I thought I was maybe wasting $ ordering this flagship AVR, but after experiencing its performance, I have no regrets! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Just an update… after contacting Denon numerous times with no positive outcome, I took it upon myself to remedy the issue. The primary reason for the failure had to do with a handshake communication error between the display and the AVR. I use a programmed Harmony Remote hub to turn on my equipment and essentially added a power on delay to the AVR and changed the order of powering up to last on the list. So the display and streaming device power on first and a few seconds later, the AVR. It has been over one week now and the problem has not returned. Bought the AVR-X8500HW mid September and had issues with HDMI handshake which Results in dark video and over saturated colors. Turning the unit then on fixes the issue but Denon said the AVR needs to be replaced. Amazon refused to replace because too much time has gone by. I am horrified with this entire experience. Denon wants me to send unit for repair. Are you kidding me? $3000.00 and I am supposed to send it back for repair. Amazon you should make this right!!!

Beautiful design Lots of I/O Suppler did not package it in a secondary package. Original box came damaged. Reciever was undamaged.