Denon AVR-2312 Review

Performance

Thanks to the banana connectors, we were up and ready to go in a matter of minutes with the wires firmly in their ports at the back of the AVR-2312. No doubt, since this receiver looked like a black demon in the darkness, we had to give it something that could justify its 105W of power. Behold, the  Blu-ray of ‘Transformers: Dark Of The Moon’. No explanation is needed for why we selected this particular film first up for the audition process  and the receiver gave us no time to get in our seats before sending us into a revolving sphere of metallic sounds as the Paramount stars line up in the opening. Following that, the entire surround setup went into a beautiful and very articulate frenzy as the back story of the planet Cybertron and its destruction is shown. There was a definite sense of both sonic and visual transportation into this electric world that’s bursting with violence in the form of lasers, robots and lots of explosions. We had the receiver at its half point on the volume dial and we could hear some real earthshattering frequencies.

Plenty of room for all your media peripherials

We continued this action testing but with a little more attention to dialogue with ‘Star Trek’ (Blu-ray). There is a tremendously subtle sequence in this film when Kirk (played by Chris Pine) and Sulu (John Cho) jump into the atmosphere of the planet Vulcan. Now, sound does not travel through the vacuum of space, so when you hear them jump, the thrusting engines of the aircraft that dropped them fades out and we’re surrounded by nothing but a low hum, which is probably the resonating frequency of space. Then, as they break more and more into the atmosphere, first their clothes flutter with sound, then their bodies and finally the enormous pop of their parachutes along with the music. Each and every one of the six channels of our 5.1 setup had a chance to play with this silence, and they all performed flawlessly. This receiver knows how to handle its power.

We moved onto a DVD of ‘Sherlock Holmes’. The fronts really came in first with their grinding cellos in the opening credit sequence from Hans Zimmer. I could hear the reverberation of the recording room in the surrounds while also getting the sound of the horse cart’s wooden wheels rolling over the granite road. Throughout this film, the centre channel gets a lot of work, thanks to Sherlock’s (played by Robert Downey Jr.) constant blabbering. The AVR-2312makes sure it pierces through the action as there’s plenty of dialogues by Sherlock about what he’s going to do with the goon in front of him.

The Denon AVR-2312

Verdict and Price in India

Denon’s AVR-2312 is a receiver that knows what it’s doing, and it knows this to a phenomenal extent. It has been priced to cater to the mid-level market and for the price tag, it’s a steal. There’s authority under that black hood that takes charge of its 105W of sheer power, and plenty of features that can make your entertainment experience all the more enriching. The only real fault with the AVR- 2312 was the remote control but even that can be covered by the fantastic RemoteApp application that can make your Apple product into the Denon's remote. It’s all just so fascinating when Denon demonstrates to even us experienced AV reviewers what they can do with machinery.

The current price of the Denon AVR-2312 is Rs. 69,900.