DenonAVR-X1800H

Headroom notes

Denon prints two power figures for the same amplifier. The honest one is 80 W + 80 W into 8 ohms, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.08 % THD, two channels driven — that is the number kept here. The marketing one is 120 W into 6 ohms at 1 kHz and 0.7 % THD: a single tone, a lighter load and nearly ten times the distortion. Neither is measured with all seven channels driven, which is how a 7.2 system actually plays; expect noticeably less than 80 W per channel in that state.

Thermal behavior

The specification block says 4 - 16 ohms, not the 6 - 16 ohms usually assumed for this price class. That allowance covers the receiver's own rating; it says nothing about what happens with a speaker whose impedance dips below its nominal figure, and the amplifier is still a shared heatsink with seven channels on it.