Harmon Kardon DPR2005, Denon 3805s, Sony 5000ES?

Fullcontact,

If you search threads on the DPR you'll come accross my posts. I no longer have a DPR 2005 but when I did I loved it. It is not without its faults but I believe its strengths far outweigh them. I also auditioned the 3805, 9000ES, and a lot of other AVR's before settling on my current 59 TXi.


First of all the 2005 has enormous amounts of clean power with virtually no noise floor (background hiss/hum). It has MUCH more power than the other two In fact it has more power than anything I looked at within twice its price. The bass management is outstanding with individual crossover settings for each speaker. Having Logic 7 AND DPLIIx is also a great feature. L7 is great for music and DPLIIx is great for movies.

Drawbacks: the Denon's auto cal is more sophisticated. I liked the Denon in all regards except it became compressed when pushed to its limits. I have inefficient speakers in a large HT, so I need a fair amount of headroom. You may like it a lot if your HT is small or you don't listen loud.


The biggest issue with the 2005 is that it defaults to 5.1 DD PLII whenever the source changes format even if you're configured for a 7.1 set up. If you're watching a show on SAT or Cable that's DD 5.1 and you have PLIIx going to utilize your 7.1 set up, if there is a commercial that's 2.0 DD then the AVR defaults to 5.1 DPLII and when the program returns you have to scroll through the Dolby modes back to PLIIx. It's only an occasional minor inconvenience for most but for some it's a deal breaker.

If you need lots of clean power this things for you. If you have a 7.1 set up and watch a lot of Satellite or Cable then maybe it's not.