Hurricane

Good Gear Guide

Denon's Hurricane home theatre kit is comprehensive, and offers great sound. The bundle comprises a centre speaker, subwoofer, two front speakers, and two rear speakers in addition to a standalone DVD player and surround sound receiver. The speakers are not sold separately, but you can grab the surround sound receiver for $699 and the DVD player for $299. The entire kit (with six speakers) retails at $1999, which is a pretty good deal considering the quality of the output.

Pros

  • Great audio quality, ample connectors

Cons

  • Lots of parts, bulky

Bottom Line

Denon's Hurricane is a good choice for anyone looking to establish a serious home theatre. The sound quality is fantastic and the array of connections ensures it won't be obsolete any time soon.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 1,099.00 (AUD)

The Denon DVD-1710 DVD player is relatively simple, with the front panel featuring a tray for DVDs and CDs, and basic buttons to control playback. The unit measures 44 x 22 x 8cm and weighs a mere 2kg. It's designed to play both DVD and CD (including burnt media), and also handles MP3 and WMA discs. The rear panel features a standard array of connections: RCA audio out, component and composite out, S-Video out and SCART. Digital coaxial and optical sockets are also provided to integrate the DVD player with the AVR-1705 surround-sound receiver.

The six-channel receiver, in contrast with the straightforward DVD player, is covered in buttons and connectors--not only for the speakers, but also for source components. The source list is massive: six RCA audio inputs along with coaxial and two optical connectors. There are three component video inputs and a single output, along with five S-Video/composite AV inputs, and FM and AM antenna connectors. There's even an outgoing power connector, so you can daisy-chain devices off a single power socket. A headphone connector and alternate composite video/audio sockets are located amid the array of buttons on the front panel. DTS and Dolby Surround are supported natively. The enormous array of buttons is a little daunting at first, but we found the receiver easy to use after some minor adjustments. The receiver measures 44 x 42 x 15cm and weighs 11kg.

The kit sounded fantastic, offering plenty of punch with rich, deep lows and ear-shattering high end. There's also fine attention to detail that impressed us further: all the speakers are bundled with cables, and there's a 3m cable included for the subwoofer. Add a screen and you'd have a pretty impressive home theatre. A two-year warranty covers all components in the kit and provides a little peace of mind for what works out as a sizeable investment.

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