Denon has forged a reputation for producing excellent A/V receivers, a status that only gained renown some 3 years ago with the debut of its gargantuan flagship, the 90-pound AVR-5805. The new AVR-4308CI — barely two-thirds the height and less than half the weight of that beast — is substantially more human-scaled and a lot less likely to collapse your furniture, while retaining much of the goodness of its ancestor. But it must be said that laurel boughs have been harder to come by for the Denon receivers' user interface, which has suffered from oh-so-20th-century monochrome text and simple ASCII-like graphics, even on the company's top-dog models.

All that changes here with the 4308CI's new full-color, high-def, onscreen graphical user interface. This icon-based GUI is available for all video outputs from HDMI to composite, in all resolutions up to and including 1080p, and it makes accessing the impressive depth and breadth of the 4308CI's abilities almost easy. The supplied remote controls that run it are another story, which I'll get to later.

The Short Form

Price $2,400 / usa.denon.com / 800-497-8921

Snapshot

Outstanding performance, a sexy HD interface, built-in Wi-Fi, and a host of useful functions overcome a poor remote in this high-end receiver.

Plus

•1080i/p scaling to HDMI of all inputs •Colorful high-def GUI over HDMI •Four full-function HDMI 1.3a inputs •Extensive multiroom/zone options, including second-zone HD video •Built-in Wi-Fi/wired networking •Accurate auto-setup/calibration; extensive EQ and processing

Minus

•Poor remote-control ergonomics •Some modest operational glitches/oddities

Key Features

•7 x 140 watts (2 channels driven) •Four HDMI 1.3a 1080p-capable inputs •Transcodes all video to HDMI, scales output to up to 1080p •Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, DVD-A, and DSD/SACD bitstream decoding •HD Radio and XM satellite compatible •Onboard Wi-Fi (and wired) networking •Networked control via any Web browser •Optional iPod dock •IR in/out, (2) 12-volt triggers, RS-232 •17.75 x 7.6 x 17.8 in; 41.75 lb

Test Bench

Denon's AVR-4308CI impressed, with very good power results and virtually perfect noise and linearity performance. Stereo power handily bettered the 140-watt spec, and 5-channels-driven power was only a scant half-dB shy. S/N on PCM signals was spot-on the theoretically "perfect" mark, and a couple tenths “better than perfect” with Dolby Digital signals (a lab-only anomaly). The 4308CI's only technical issue was a subwoofer output that was on the brink of digital-clipping when driven by a 6-channel full-scale 30-Hz signal. This is meaningless in real-world terms for several reasons, not least of which is that program material almost certainly never calls for full-scale output from all 5.1 channels simultaneously. Full Lab Results

Setup
In a thoroughly up-to-date home theater, basic 4308CI setup could entail little more than hooking up speakers and plugging in a handful of HDMI cables. The Denon upscales and converts any or all sources to HDMI at whatever compatible resolution you elect (up to 1080p) — although, depending on source formatting and resolution, standard-def sources may result in picture-boxed images via HDMI, as was the case on my Samsung LN-T5265F 52-inch LCD TV. As usual, the default HDMI Auto mode lets the monitor request signals from the receiver in its own maximum resolution. Interestingly, the 4308CI provides two HDMI monitor outputs, though both carry the main-room signal. (There's a Zone 2 component-video output that can serve up source-independent HD video to a second room. Rock on!) I also connected my XM MiniTuner, a conventional dipole antenna for the Denon's HD Radio tuner, and the supplied Wi-Fi stubby for the 4308CI's wireless networking.

Next, plugging in the supplied calibration microphone, I ran Denon's Audyssey MultEQ XT auto-setup routine. I used five different mike positions around my usual listening seat (as guided by the GUI; up to eight are possible). This took about 10 minutes altogether. The results yielded accurate channel levels and acceptably sensible crossover choices.

The routine also crunched the numbers for MultEQ XT's Room EQ, which automatically calculates both "Flat" and Denon's "Audyssey" target curve, between which the user can select on the fly. I wasn't wholly convinced by the result — there was a substantial increase in midbass output in both curves — but I've learned that the Audyssey system can produce surprisingly different results on consecutive "runs" with only slightly different mike (and speaker) positions, so I'd encourage extensive experimentation. Nonetheless, I did most of my evaluation with Room EQ bypassed entirely.

The Denon is a bit unusual among A/V receivers in its upscaling of incoming HDMI as well as the usual analog sources. I confirmed that this did indeed take my cable box's HDMI output, which was set for 1080i, and scale it to 1080p. And the results looked fine — indistinguishable from 1080i, but clean and artifact-free.

There's a vast array of further setup options, but I will take space to mention only Network Setup. Yes, the 4308CI can join a home LAN via wired Ethernet or Wi-Fi. For most home networks using a wireless router with DHCP (automatic address assignment), this is transparent to the user: The Denon found my Wi-Fi network with no prompting, and it worked perfectly. However, for more elaborate (or secure!) setups, there are manual-entry pages for fixed IP addressing, subnet mask, proxy servers, and all that happy horse — er, wonderful stuff we've learned to love so much.

Music & Movie Performance
Expanded features and trick graphics are cool, but sound and (ahem!) vision are still what makes or breaks an A/V component. The Blu-ray Disc of Pixar's Cars orders up ample servings of both, and the Denon earned high marks in both disciplines. The alternation of roaring, circling engines and a quiet interior-monologue voice in the movie's opening sequence is a recent home-theater showoff fave, and the 4308CI made the most of it, with clear, nuanced dialogue and head-snapping, wholly integrated rapid-surround effects. On Cars, as well as on numerous other titles, I confirmed that the 4308CI's real-world power was more than ample for my mid-sensitivity speaker layout; I never sensed strain at any volume setting I'd use for recreational surround listening.

There's so much more to cover that I fear you might conclude I'm glossing over the 4308CI's excellent A/V qualities by choice. Don't: The Denon is an impressive performer, soup to nuts. Sonics were uniformly excellent, and video scaling looked first-class on standard-DVD and cable sources. Upscaling of S-video to HDMI was very solid as well.

The Denon's cool built-in networking feature gives access to a long list of Internet radio streams right out of the box once you've accessed your Internet connection. This worked very well. Although the receiver locked up on two occasions when peppered with multiple, too-fast stream-change requests, it generally delivered a vast world of music and polyglot talk that you might otherwise never hear. Indeed, if you haven't checked out Internet-streamed audio for a while, give it another shot: I found a number of streams, particularly European classical and jazz/New Wave, that sounded quite listenable.

Unlike some other Net-enabled A/V receivers, the new Denon (via its manual) directs you to a Web page where you can enter URLs to add your own streams to its memory; these immediately join the list that comes up onscreen when you select Internet radio. The 4308CI's Net-audio talents further include playback of MP3/MP4, WMA, WAV, and FLAC files from a networked PC (but not a Mac, alas!), as long as the computer uses Windows Media 11 as its library/server (but not iTunes, alack!). It also will play tracks from a connected USB drive (with album art from supported files) — which would be outstanding if it offered some library control. Unfortunately, all you can do is play an entire volume or folder automatically (in sequence or shuffled) or manually, one track at a time. Too bad, because as cheap as external USB memory and drives are, you could otherwise have a serious, high-quality lossless music server for very low dollars.

Denon equips the 4308CI with a DSP mode it labels "Restorer," said to "generate the signals eliminated upon [data] compression, restoring the sound to conditions near those of the original." Hmmm. How does it know? The Restorer can be set to three different levels, and it did indeed have audible results. On compromised files (like low-bit-rate MP3s, most Internet audio streams, and many XM channels), I actually preferred it, which I confess was a surprise.

Next up: HD Radio. The Denon has that, and it worked fine on the two FM stations so equipped in my area, adding average MP3-quality to analog AM/FM, not to mention multicast streams where available.

XM: The 4308CI has that, too (with an optional, third-party MiniTuner and, of course, a subscription). And it, too, worked fine and sounded as usual. Denon's onscreen display shows XM's meager text data all at once, which is nice, and — yay! — you can set the page to stay put for as long as you remain listening.

iPod: Like many other receivers today, the Denon accepts an iPod docking station — in this case, its ASD-1R (around $100), which integrates onscreen metadata display and remote-control operations.

Multizone: The 4308CI's multiroom/zone abilities cover as many as three additional rooms/zones, two of which may be powered with the receiver's unused amplifier channels. The receiver has extra, switched speaker-terminal sets, which means you can set up one or two powered stereo remote rooms but still enjoy 5.1- or 7.1-channel home theater in the main room (without changing wires and setups), as the receiver reroutes the needed channels back to multichannel duties as necessary. (You can also use the extra terminals for main-speaker biamplifying or biwiring setups.)

Web control: Say what? Yes, the 4308CI's Wi-Fi (or wired) networking can be used to command it from any Web browser — PC, Mac, PDA, smartphone, whatever — on your local network (or outside it, if you know what you're doing). The control page comes up when you load the receiver's local IP address (there's even a PDA-sized subpage). It can command all functions and zones, so the possibilities are obvious for customizing a multiroom setup, particularly for someone with a little HTML-programming knowledge.

Ergonomics
With its buff, colorful GUI, you might think the 4308CI would be a lock for ease-of-use. And as far as the display itself goes, you'd be correct: The menus and navigation are fast, generally well organized, and largely intuitive. There are quirks, however.

For one, the GUI won't come up in any mode if the volume is muted. Wha?! Here's another quirk: One of my favorite 4308CI features was its Channel Balance display, which comes up with a single key-press and gives you a nice, single-screen, graphical-slider display to temporarily adjust relative channel levels; excellent! But it doesn't work on either XM or Internet-audio sources, even though surround playback is available for both. (What's more, because there's no escape command, you have to wait for the display to time out — another oops.) On the other hand, Denon has included Quick Select, a nifty feature that lets you store and instantly recall your three most-used combinations of source, surround mode, EQ setting, and channel-levels/volume. Amazingly useful.

But the real Achilles' heel? The 4308CI's supplied remotes, plural. Yes, it comes with two. The first of them — Denon's eight-component, membrane-switch RC-1068 — may be handsome and reasonably powerful, but it's an ergonomic disaster. It's very difficult to read and impossible to use by touch, and it necessitates tricky sequences to access multiple sources "stacked" on a single "page" — such as the XM and FM tuners, which share the same set of keys. And these are only the RC-1068's worst offenses. Handier but more limited is the RC-1070 button remote, which is dedicated to the receiver only and is zone-selectable for use from remote rooms. (Denon's $299 RC-7000CI two-way RF system controller is probably a much better solution — but note that its RF transceiver costs another $199.)

Bottom Line
Either way, if you buy the Denon AVR-4308CI, you'll probably want an alternative system-controller, be it from Denon or a third party. But with that hurdle cleared, you'll enjoy a truly outstanding A/V receiver whose serious performance and plethora of genuinely thoughtful value-added features overwhelmingly outweigh its occasional shortcomings.

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