Denon factory Refurbs

Look refurbished I say

First I really like Denon products. Their AVRs have been great for us over the years. Denon is highly recommended.

However, their record for refurbished items is horrible. We've gotten refurbished units with the center channel out, intermittent power and missing parts. It's as if whatever vendor they get to repair these units doesn't even try them out before sticking the "refurbished" label on them.

So, my advice is save your money and buy new. If you have to go refurbished, only buy from the current model year (AVR-xx13 right now) since then you won't be getting the last of the refurbed units that no one else wanted.

I'll only be purchasing new units from Denon from now on.

Refurb is always a gamble. Frankly, I've gotten more headaches than good deals with refurbs over the years.

Thanks for the heads up. I almost pulled the trigger on a denon or marantz avr but decided to go with new for a few more dollars and better warranty.

Really? I purchased a refurbed AVR from an authorized Denon refurbed retailer. That was the last of their inventory for that model. The unit started intermittently power cycling after a week.

Went through all of the trouble-shooting steps. Denon then shipped me a replacement unit - same model number (cross-shipped after I escalated since normally they must receive the defective unit first). From first power-up, the replacement refurbished unit's center channel didn't work. Denon was then closed for holidays.

When they reopened, Denon shipped the third refurbished unit which was a more up-to-date unit. That refurbished AVR has worked fine.

So, sure if you don't mind a little extra time and hassle, you shouldn't be too concerned. 1 out of 3 worked.

The quality of the refurb all depends upon the quality of the vendor that receives the refurbished units and "restores" them to as-new. That is likely not the manufacturer but instead a vendor hired to refurb the units in a set amount of time. Refurbished units are a gamble. Of course, if there wasn't anything wrong with the unit to begin with, then a refurbished unit would be great.

I went through a similar experience around the Christmas holiday window, with two refurb 3313 receivers bought from a Denon authorized refurb dealer: Accessories4Less.com. First one failed a firmware update and developed lots of video output issues - got a cross shipped replacement after I raised a stink. The replacement had some weird panels stapled on the top - allegedly to prevent accidental burns from a hot chassis. It also developed video dropouts and eventually gave up the ghost. I am now going through Denon and the dealer to return the unit for a refund.

I found a mint condition open box Marantz SR5007 at a local Best Buy for a hefty discount, so I jumped on that deal. All in all, I've bought refurbs many times before, and only ever had issues in this instance. I would not hesitate to buy refurbs in future too. Just be advised that the current batch of Denon refurb receivers (at least the 3313 models I've tried) seem to be a flaky bunch. Make sure you are getting a good deal in terms of price and shipping for you to go through potential hassles like mine. You may also keep an eye out for flash sales on open box items at your local Best Buy/ Fry's or equivalent, and maybe able to bargain the price down close to the authorized refurb prices.