Home Cinema Choice – September 2019

HOME CINEMA CHOICE SEPTEMBER 2019

AS REGULAR AS clockwork, Denon launches an

update for one of the mainstays of its AV receiver lineup.

The aff ordable AVR-X2600H broadly off ers the same

feature set as last year’s X2500H, but adds some future-

looking HDMI features. This may not sound particularly

exciting, but Denon receivers at this price point have

typically off ered great value for money, combining

a rich feature set with expansive connectivity and HEOS

streaming integration. There’s no reason for the Denon

AVR-X2600H to be any diff erent, surely?

Easy Atmos

The AVR-X2600H is a 7.2 design

boasting a 150W per channel

rating. This fi gure is into 6 ohms

with 1% THD and one channel in

play; take the 95W per channel

fi gure (8 ohms, 0.8% THD,

two-channel) as a more real-world

starting point.

That said, this is not a budget

receiver masquerading as a more

powerful product. It's defi nitely an

entry into the more serious side of

Denon, with the means to drive a more demanding

speaker setup. You’ll notice that the moment you set

it up; the 7.2 channels can be confi gured in various ways,

including a 5.1.2 system with one pair of height channels

for Dolby Atmos/DTS:X, or 5.1 with a second zone

with wired speakers. There's no option to add extra

(external) channels.

One of the X2600H's strengths is its user interface,

which is rather excellent, and allows you to quickly

confi gure your speaker layout, and caters for front height/

top height/refl ected height enclosures. In fact, it's a superb

example of how to design an AVR for people who’ve never

installed such a device. Denon's Setup Assistant guides

you through all steps, and will even show you which

cables need to be inserted where. The cardboard DIY

tripod in the box is a real boon too, allowing more accurate

measurements for the onboard Audyssey MultEQ XT room

correction. Shell out an extra 20 quid for the Audyssey

MultEQ Editor App and you get more parameters to play

with and can tweak the results more easily without redoing

the measurements.

New is support for Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization,

which aims to deliver an Atmos-like experience from a

two-channel or (fl at) fi ve-channel system. Does it work?

Jamie Biesemans discovers not a lot has changed with Denon's mid-market seven-channel

AVR, but that doesn't take the shine off an accomplished all-rounder

Seven-channel

stream machine

PRODUCT:

7.2-channel

networked AVR

POSITION:

Mid-range, above

X1600H and fi ve-

channel models

PEERS:

Onkyo TX-NR696;

Pioneer VSX-LX304

AV I NF O

2

1

56 DENON AVR-X 2600 H/£6 00