Denon Previews New Receivers, Blu-ray Players, Docks

Denon showed off its latest AV Receivers, Blu-ray players and iPod docks, with improved processing, networking and interfaces among the features.

Denon showcased new product lines for 2009 on Monday with something for everyone—the videophile, the audiophile, the tweaker, the iPod lover.

The company has a slew of A/V receivers, Blu-ray players and iPod docks to highlight its 2009 product releases, so we’ll give you a heads up on what to look for.

Receivers will bear HDMI repeaters on all new models, part of Denon’s one-cable HD solution across the line—one cable from the source, one cable to the television. All the models will also include the latest lossless audio codecs Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, the new Dolby ProLogic IIz front height surround channel, and send analog video to HDMI at a minimum (starting with HDMI conversion on the entry-level models, and moving on to upscaling).

The receivers range from the five-channel entry-level $379 AVR-1610 to the fully loaded $1,999 AVR-4310CI, which is the first to include Audyssey’s DSX technology for height/width surround-sound expansion. The AVR-4310CI has six HDMI ports in total, including one on the front panel, and also includes a vertical stretch feature for theater owners with CinemaScope aspect ration projection setups.

On the video processing side, Denon has also switched from Faroudja to Anchor Bay, with the AVR-4310CI, $1,499 AVR-3310CI and $1,499 AVR-990 employing the ABT2010 scaler; the $549 AVR-1910, which is the new version of Denon’s best-selling AVR-1909, includes ABT1030 processing among the improvements you’ll now get for $100 less than the 1909.

Other highlights on the higher-end models include 10-bit processing/12-bit audio output, party mode that lets you stream iPod tunes to up to five Denon products on one network, and OSD menus that are more navigation friendly.

Among Blu-ray Disc player offerings, Denon’s do-it-all DVD-A1HDCI tops the line at $4,500 and combines SACD, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, CD and Blu-ray playback. The BD-Live-ready (look for the firmware update in June) also has balanced XLR connectors, 32-bit DAC upsampling and vertical stretch mode. The more traditional Blu-ray products include the DBP-2010CI for $699 and the DBP-1610 for $499—both will be BD-Live upon arrival, with the lower-end model losing the analog 7.1-channel outputs.

Also keep an eye out for Denon’s new iPod dock, the ASD-51N/W wired/wireless docks, now featuring a coax output, for $249 and $299, respectively.