Denon AVR-x5200W ATMOS 9.2 Channel 250 Watt Receiver

This Denon AVR X5200W is a great
receiver in excellent cosmetic condition (no dings, scratches or blemishes) and works great;  from a pet and smoke free
environment.  I am selling due to
upgrading to 4K system.   Comes with all original accessories; manual, remote,
factory box and packing. Shipping is included to the US contiguous 48 states,
and I pay for the Paypal fees in the sales price.  This unit
is priced to sell quickly.

Daniel Kumin from Sound and Vision’s Review dated 11/9/2014:

"Music and Movies

My first order of business, as always, was to evaluate the big Denon’s
abilities as a plain ol’ two-channel amplifier, driving my front pair in
stereo, Direct mode—that is, full-range, no subwoofer. No problems there: The
AVR-X5200W sounded warm yet defined on superbly recorded two-channel material
like “Cry Me a River” from the inimitable Bonnie Bramlett (an 88.2-kilohertz
HDtracks download). At convincing concert levels (loud!), everything coexisted
in unfettered musicality: the rich tonality of acoustic piano, the very strong
bass guitar, the full detail of brushed-cymbal nuance, and the ultra-defined,
hollow, shell-y thwack of the brush-hit snare, not to mention Bramlett’s
amazingly rich, world-weary contralto, miked and recorded to perfection.

While I’m thinking about
it, let me make a short detour here to say that the Denon’s handling of
DLNA-networked music, via my Mac’s Twonky Media–driven server, was exemplary.
Its navigation of the server menu structure and its cueing, play/pausing, and
skipping of tracks were reliable and notably quicker than that of most other
receiver-based DLNA clients I’ve used. (And as more and more of our listening
comes from streamed files, high-res or otherwise, these ergonomics become
increasingly significant.)   When playing
Internet radio, the Denon displays not only stream name but codec and format as
well—for example, “MP3/192 kbps.” (Thanks again, Denon.) However, despite
statements to the contrary in the supplied manual, the AVR-X5200W wouldn’t play
or even display DSD files streaming in via Ethernet/DLNA (UPnP), at least not
for me. Most A/V receivers similarly won’t, but I’ve encountered a few that
will. The Denon did play 2.8-megahertz DSD files from a USB memory drive.

On to multichannel music. There
aren’t many better-sounding smooth-pop SACD productions than Norah Jones’
maiden effort, Come Away with Me. The Denon made short work of this at
any volume up to (and beyond) control-room-playback levels, maintaining
lifelike, airy transients and sweet, DSD-at-its-best ride cymbals and
brushwork. Jones’ vocals remained pristine throughout, and her characteristic
double-octaves piano punctuations had real dynamic conviction.

With these bona fides established, I had little fear for the AVR-X5200W’s
movie-sound performance. Cloud Atlas is a perfect exemplar of why it’s better
to take your sci-fi folderol with a wink and a nudge (T2, The Fifth
Element) than with literary pretensions (I haven’t read the book). Still,
it’s hard to argue with the movie’s production, makeup, and sound design. As an
audio demonstrator, it neatly wraps up nearly every sort of sonic element and
style into a single DTS-HD Master Audio–encoded Blu-ray package, one that the
Denon delivered with gusto. Plenty of power was evident for big-action material
like the futuristic-city chase-and-fight sequence, while all the dialogue nuance
of the many quiet one-on-one scenes was well served.

Of course, the AVR-X5200W’s marquee mode is Dolby Atmos, so I fired up the
only Atmos-pheric content available to me at the time: Dolby’s own Blu-ray demo
of the format, a collection of trailers and shorts. The Denon handily played
all of these selections, some of which are quite demanding, at a fully
theater-like reference level, without any suggestion of having broken a sweat.
My pressed-into-service Def Tech Elevation Modules also received surround-processed
content in the Denon’s various Dolby Surround modes from both two-channel and
non-Atmos surround-encoded programs, but I couldn’t determine if these
contributions incorporated any actual height cues or steering; I suspect not.
That said, they did make stuff like NFL games sound bigger, taller, and more
immersive. Atmos-ready? Based on these early returns, I’d say yes, yes I am.

Ergonomics

These days, any AVR above the entry-est of levels lives or dies by its onscreen
prowess, and the Denon’s is first-rate. Menus appear and disappear quickly, and
the design is infallibly clear and readable. There’s a very handy Option menu
that pops up via a single press of a remote key, and it gives a short list of,
well, options; different ones depending on source or listening mode (radio
options for radio modes, streaming options for streaming modes, etc.), but they
always include Picture Mode and Channel Adjust. The latter jumps to a submenu
with a level-offset slider for every active channel, a feature that’s near and
dear to my heart in everyday use. (Thanks yet again, Denon. That said, this is
similar to an identically named feature on Onkyo/Integra designs. No, I don’t
know who stole it from whom.)

With a full complement of wireless and video features, the AVR-X5200W should
keep tweakers happy. Bluetooth and AirPlay are both on board; they worked fine
from my iPhone. (The Denon doesn’t incorporate aptX, at least as far as I could
determine.) Video options include the usual Custom, Movie, and Vivid modes,
plus the ISF/Day and Night presets, but user-accessible controls for
brightness, black level, and so on are available only on Custom—sensible
enough, in my view.

Like most every networkable AV receiver today, the AVR-X5200W can be
controlled by an iOS/Android app. Denon’s is a bit less immediately intuitive
than others I’ve used but generally usable enough. (You can also control the
receiver over IP from any Web browser.) In addition to the already mentioned
vTuner Internet radio, the AVR-X5200W offers Pandora and streaming-Sirius/XM,
and it can serve as a streaming-playback destination for Spotify apps (there’s
no Spotify software resident on board).

The Denon enables you to choose surround modes by pressing dedicated Movie,
Music, Game, or Pure keys, each of which cycles through the relevant modes.
This scheme is similar to that of many competing AVRs, but I found myself
wishing the AVR-X5200W had a single, selectable menu that listed all the
available surround modes in one place. The Denon presents no Dolby
PLIIx/Movie/Music options, just a single “Dolby Surround” option under
each—this is Dolby’s new Atmos-era designation for its logic-based surround
processing. Activating this option superimposes surround processing (presumably
PLIIz-ish) onto two-channel (or bitstream) signals, but with none of the PLII
adjustable parameters on tap. DTS Neo:X is present in each flavor, also without
adjustment options.

Audyssey’s DSX extended-surround processing is also available if non-Atmos
height or width speakers are present in the setup. Since the AVR-X5200W has an
extra pair of speaker jacks beyond an Atmos 5.1.4 setup, it’s possible to have
both, but the Atmos speakers can’t be reassigned for DSX without physically
moving their connections and locations in the room.

All in all, Denon has done a reasonably good job of making all this power
and flexibility accessible. Proving once again that the simplest solution is
always the best, Denon’s Quick Select feature lets you easily establish four
macros combining source, volume, surround, Audyssey, and picture/scaler
settings, together with (my favorite) relative channel-level tweaks, all with
one-touch recall from four dedicated remote keys—potentially, a very handy
feature.

The Bottom Line

I have little but praise for Denon’s AVR-X5200W. It sounded first-rate in every
mode, and I should think it would prove amply powerful for even quite
generously sized home theaters. Dolby Atmos may be a real draw, but there are
enough other virtues on board the new Denon to attract non-Atmos (or at least
pre-Atmos) shoppers as well."