Denon AVR-1909

Pros: Audissey digital volume: works well
Audissey in general: more sophisticated and effective than the competition

Cons: Not as musical as Harman Kardon or Marantz

Summary: If you need a good AVR for home theater only, or mostly for that, I recommend it: Audissey really works well and it is not just marketing hype. Commercials are not going to bother you anymore with louder volume. Low volume listening will be easier than ever.
If, instead, you intended usage is mostly for music I recommend Harman Kardon or Marantz. This Denon does not even come close in sound quality, it is just an average, generic sounding receiver (I also found the Pioneer 1018 better for music listening).
Power is fine, remote is terrible. Reliability I do not know, I only had it for 2 weeks and then returned, but I noticed that this unit is made in China (2309 and above are still made in Japan). My unit had troubles with HDMI, with really long lag time when switching sources and also when switching from HD to SD channels. The Pioneer 1018 did not have any issue instead.

Overall, an OK reciever and recommendable for watching TV and DVDs.