I'm thinking of getting a Denon AVR-686 for personal use. Anyone had any experience with them? I'm mainly wondering about quality/reliability. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

I never liked their sound quality... Sold them for years, but never would have bought one for myself...

Depending on your budjet, I would consider the equivalent Yamaha for surround sound, or the equivalent Marantz if you're going to be listening to a lot of music...

JMHO

I use Denon for 90% of my receiver based systems. Great features, reliability and happy customers. Not one complaint. I used to sell Marantz and NAD but NAD is not reliable enough IMHO. I think the current Marantz line doesn't do well on music. Their Reference line was awesome but it has been discoed for a few years now.

Denon is a great reciever, in terms of performance and reliability. However, Denon reciever tends to be on the warmer side , as fas as the sound carateristics. Yamaha is more aggresive and brighter sounding. What kind of speakers that you have in mind?

Zebra, you are right on. If you are looking for bright, Yamaha is your winner. Warmer/more neutral, Denon works.

Had a client that hada secondary 5.1 system that was Yamaha receiver and Klipsch speakers. Yow, my head hurt after 5 minutes.

We have a 686 in our demo system right now along side a 3806. The 686 is pretty good for the $$. I would use one at home for sure depending on the application.

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm planning on just a small system with it with an older set of NHT's (model 1's & 0's) I have from a few years back. I think I'll go for it.

installtech...
For about $550 retail...Yamaha has a pretty nice little receiver... RX-V657. Recently got a killer review in The Absolute Sound (Issue #156 11/05)... They put it up against one of the high-end $2,000 Sonys... They said the Yamaha was the best sounding AVR in it's price range they've heard yet...
The NHT's are nice speaks in general... not as hot sounding as the Klipsch's ... Might check out this review...?

I've always used Denon or Marantz in the majority of my installs, but now that anybody can get Denon or Marantz in my area... I've been looking into Yamaha. I was really impressed with this article. A friend of mine sells Yamaha along with several other decent brands, and speaks very very highly of the Yamaha receivers.