Denon AVR-4306

By Jamie Gemming

October 2006

Denon AVR-4306 AV receiver. $4999

The Denon AVR-4306 (click for larger image)

Rear panel connections (click for larger image)

The remote control receives top marks (click for larger image)

Under the front panel flap (click for larger image)

Inside the AVR-4306 (click for larger image)

The contents of your iPod show on the AVR-4306's display (click for larger image)

PC control, customisation and setup is available (click for larger, animated, image)

It’s the day after a large mid-year work party and the editor’s phone call shatters the delicate peace existing within my head.

“Got the Denon review for me?” he asks.

“Yep, was going to email it in today,” I lie. I’ve had the big Denon 4306 for two months but have yet to write anything because I don’t want to give the amp back.

As many of you will know from experience, trying to do your best work while in the clutches of well-earned hangover is a near impossible task. In the time it has taken me to write this much, I’ve watched three Discovery Channel documentaries on how to buy and repair a Porsche for £1000, the life of Admiral Chester Nimitz and the restoration of an historic E-Type Jaguar.

Keeping it in the family

The Jaguar doco showed a vast range of past and present models and it was instantly obvious that each model shared the same DNA. It’s the same with Denon receivers. They all feature classic good looks and if you stand them side by side, it is very hard to visibly tell the old from the new.

I bought my Denon 3805 because it was the best receiver in the price bracket by far. It’s a heavyweight with movies and equally as good with music. If you stood the new 4306 beside my 3805 I doubt you could visually tell them apart. And it’s the same with the sound. I conducted blind tests with my brother by swapping between the two amps and the two sound identical. I’m sure Denon have fine-tuned the internals over the last year, but to us, any difference was audibly indistinguishable.

The 4306 certainly demonstrates the high performance with music and movies we’ve come to expect from Denon’s high end receivers. But this is only half the story; the 4306 has extra features that set this receiver apart.

HDMI in, HDMI out, HDMI shake it all about!

One attraction of the 4306 is its HDMI video switching. It has three HDMI inputs and one HDMI output. Now I can plug everything into the Denon and run a single HDMI cord into my projector. The Denon also up-scales to 1080i, but Sky TV’s crap feed still looks just as unimpressive. I’ve read elsewhere that the 4306 has problems converting signals to HDMI, but after playing with the settings, I had no issues with this feature.

I think the 4306 would make a superb backbone to anyone’s home audio set-up. It has three zones, with zone two capable of transmitting video signals. This will allow you to watch Nascar in the lounge, whilst directing Dirty Dancing on DVD through to the bedroom for the wife. And if I had kids, the third zone could divert the iPod downstairs to entertain them.

The receiver also features an Ethernet network socket. This enables you to connect the receiver to a music server, or to your home computer network, allowing you to stream music or videos from your PC to your receiver, with the 4306 both displaying and controlling the media information. If you have the urge to do so, you can use the 4306 to listen to all sorts of overseas radio stations via the internet.

You can stick it in my iPod if you like

You can even dock your iPod directly into the 4306. This allows full display of your iPod options on the Denon screen. As a bonus, it also charges your iPod while connected. The iPod can be connected in two different ways: there is an iPod input hidden behind the flap on the front panel and there is another iPod input amongst the multitudes of connections on the back panel. Using the iPod input requires a specific cable, at an eye-watering $190.

Self control

The most used part of any receiver has to be the remote control. Denon’s last effort was a foot-long dual illuminated screen model that was the best remote on the market – until now. The new remote features one of the illuminating screens of the past remote, with the regularly used buttons perfectly placed in the lower half, which has now been ergonomically tapered to fit better in your palm.

Drawbacks? Only the price. The extra features add a cool two grand to the price of a 3806 – that’s a lot of folding. If you don’t need the ethernet music server and multiroom facilities, then the 3806 is a better buy.

I realise that this review hardly mentions audio performance; that’s because if I had, I would have run out of word space within which to share the unique features that make the 4306 better than any other receiver in this price bracket. The 4306 is a slightly more powerful version of the much loved, multi-award winning 3805/6 and I’d trade up in a heartbeat.

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