Customer Ratings & Reviews

I'll start by putting it simply - a no brainer awesome AVR that sounds much better than its MSRP suggests. Being a serious audiophile snob ( I'll say no more about that), I've come to realize how good high end audio & video can be. I really don't have the space or a separate room to install a serious 9.2 or 11.2 home theater and really, anything beyond 5.2 would be overkill for my space. I don't have Bluray disks so a higher priced AVR wasn't needed. Also, I didn't want to spend big bucks to get the best sound and have tons of features and power I would never need. But I did want to have good decent quality, dare I say "audiophile" sound to enhance cable TV, Netflix, etc. I looked for the best price and found the Denon AVR-S540BT at Best Buy on sale for $229. Having owned several more expensive AVRs, I just assumed a 5.2 entry level AVR selling for $229 would be just ok sounding, a step down. Well I was wrong!. This is NOT entry level sound to my ears. I have to disagree with reviewers who have said otherwise. And considering the fact, that I am a audiophile snob, it sounds very very good and gets very very close to the performance of my 2 channel high end audiophile system. Well, maybe not that close. I do have good speakers so maybe that 's the key to why this Denon AVR-S540BT sounds so good. BTW- video quality is also very good- vivid and crisp. Anyway, it's perfect, just enough for a smaller room. Not perfect though in other ways. Barebones features. I understand the reason most likely was to cut costs. I get it. If you use more than two old school analog sources, XM rcv, CD player, tape player, you maybe out of luck, actually out of inputs. NO phono input. Not enough analog inputs. I was able to connect my XM tuner and VCR. That's about as old school as it gets. But I really don't care that much. Two analog inputs is just enough to fit my bill. Files on flash drive thru USB input on front sound great. Tiltes show up on the display so you don't need the TV on to search for files on the flash drive. Bluetooth connects easily and work great too. I was able to listen to High Rez files from Qobuz, Iheartradio, Pandora from my computer, iPad, phone and control the volume remotely! Not sure why AM/FM tuners are still included on modern AVRs when you can bluetooth or WiFi AM/FM. But programming presets seems easy enough to do. The auto set-up, oh sure, it's easy to run but not so good and left a little to be desired. It sounded just awful- flat, dull like an old am radio. At that point, I assumed it was not such a great sounding AVR as I anticipated. But I spent some time tweaking the sound manually and was able to get it to sound to my taste. And it sounds awesome. If you only use the auto setup, you will be disappointed. Speaker connections accommodate only thin gauge wire but connecting is quick and simple. Manual ( online download only) is vague especially if you are new to home theater would probably find it confusing. After all it really IS an "entry level" AVR so manual should be simple & user friendly. The remote is good enough and simple to navigate. Haven't tried the app yet. Even with these "cons" still had to rate it 5 STARS Just get one.

I was skeptical about buying Subwoover for my 2.0 with amp sound setup but I was wrong. subwoofer Give muscles to your speaker! it's add a lot to the general music or song sound.

I have two of them in my setup and they work great

I bought a Geek Squad refurbished Sonos Playbase and it works perfectly and looked brand new! It was however missing an optical cord, which I had to purchase through Amazon for just $9.

Solid sounding speaker! This is a great addition to my stereo system. Good buy!

I never expected such a low bass, more than I expected,

A little disappointed. Connected it to the subwoofer out on our receiver and have played with the low bandwidth filter on the sub, but the sound remains muddier than I would have hoped for given the manufacturer and the power of the unit.

Subwoofers should be FELT, not heard. I barely felt this one, and when I turned off my main speakers, this unpowered sub was pumping out louds of sounds.... This one is going right back....