AVR-2307CI: Auto and Video Setup, Remote

While purists and do-it-yourselfers may thumb their collective noses at it, auto-calibration sells receivers. It doesn’t matter how easy you think setting levels is with an SPL meter, Joe Consumer doesn’t want to do it. And why should he? He just paid $800 for a new receiver; the least it can do is calibrate itself. While the Denon AVR-2307CI doesn’t sport the highly touted Audyssey Room Correction System (you need to jump to the AVR-2807 for that) it does have an auto-calibration system. Using bursts of pink noise, the hockey puck-shaped mic sets the distance, size, level, and EQ for each speaker. The results are listed in the table below:

As you can see, the AVR-2307 pretty much got all the distances wrong (surprisingly – usually they just mess up the sub) but hit the speaker sizes and channel levels dead on (and I do mean dead on – I didn’t have to adjust it even a little). The Axiom m60 v2’s are a large speaker that I choose to run Small with an 80 Hz crossover (I’d run the crossover lower for the mains but the Denon AVR-2307CI has a global crossover) so I don’t consider that a “wrong” measurement. It doesn’t seem that the auto calibration sets the crossover point for the system which I find to be a pretty glaring omission. More than likely, since the unit defaults to 80 Hz that should be more than fine but it seems that is should have the ability to set the crossover point as well - especially for those with smaller satellite speaker systems.

Now the auto calibration also sets an EQ up for you (see the table below). Now, looking at the table two things become readily apparent – first that the EQ seems to think my Axioms are bright (notice the reduced output on the upper end of almost all my speakers. Secondly, the EQ is NOT locked into a set of frequencies. On the other hand, when using the Manual EQ, you can only adjust 63, 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz. Obviously the Auto EQ has a lot more flexibility than the Manual EQ does. With the Manual EQ you can only really adjust the dB change, not the Q which means that either the manual EQ is NOT parametric or that the Q is preset within the receiver (I’m guessing the latter).

Flat EQ Setting

Video Setup

HDMI handling is a big deal for many consumers and the Denon AVR-2307CI didn’t skimp. Not exactly an entry-level receiver (the price point is a little high for that); the AVR-2307CI provides upconversion from composite up to HDMI. The downside? No deinterlacing or upscaling. That means that your high definition display is going to need to be able to handle 480i over HDMI if you want to take full advantage of the upconversion. On the Westinghouse LVM-42w2, it can’t so I ran into a number of interesting problems. The menu for the AVR-2307CI wouldn’t display over HDMI (no problems over component), the Escient DVDM-300 movies would show over HDMI (as long as the DVD player was set to “Progressive”) but the Escient menus are all sent out via 480i, so I couldn’t see them either. I also had a problem with my Xbox 360. While it is sending a 1080i signal out over component, I couldn’t get it to show up over HDMI. There is a cryptic statement in the manual that warns that video game systems may have problems upconverting. I like the way the AVR-2307CI lists all the different inputs so that you can select which ones to upconvert. It is very intuitive.

One nice little feature is that you can hit the V. Select button on the remote to switch the video inputs while keeping the same audio input. So you could, if you want, set up some background music playing on your music server and then manually switch the video to something else (a documentary with sweeping vistas perhaps) if you like. I’ve done just that at dinner parties before where I wanted to show off the display with some good HD content but I didn’t want to listen to the droning: “And see how the desert beetle lays its eggs in the decaying corpse of the Gila monster…” and all that. Better that we don’t know what exactly that beetle is doing during dinner if you know what I mean.

Remote Control

Remotes, I love to hate them. There are a lot of reasons (mostly because they are an afterthought and universally stink) but in the case of the Denon AVR-2307CI I’m finding a lot to like here. First of all, it is shaped like a scrap piece of 1”x3” with absolutely no ergonomics. It’s ugly, grey, the mute button is too close to the “night mode” button, and not back lit (well, kinda – it has some glow-in-the-dark material around a few of the buttons but it wasn’t until I took the remote outside that it absorbed enough light to actually glow – and this was after weeks of testing). The last one is really the only thing that brings it down in the ratings for me. Why? A number of reasons:

1. The buttons for the volume, directional arrows, and play/stop/channel/pause/etc are easily remembered and located – even in the dark – based on their shape and location.
2. The remote has a good weight to it which I find to be reassuring in this age of disposable accessories and planned obsolescence.
3. But most of all because there is a second control panel under a cover on the back of the remote.

The second panel is great in that it houses all the inputs buttons on the front plus a few that aren’t, the DSP and Surround mode buttons, Zone 2 power, and the System Menu button. This has a number of glorious applications in my mind including:

1. The ability to “hide” some inputs from unknowledgeable guests and prying children
2. It keeps most of the setting buttons away from everyone else (an extra layer of protection above the Setting Lock in the menu)
3. It is just a nice elegant way to free up real estate on the front of the remote

Now however un-ergonomic the shape of the remote is, using the back makes it worse. But as they’ve mostly put buttons back there you a) don’t want people to have access to or b) won’t use very often, I’m OK with it. My wife hates the remote (says it isn’t as responsive as she’d like) but all in all, I like this sneaky little remote.