HELP I need alot of audio advice....

Very few DVD players are tolerable for CD playback, and even fewer are actually good. The handful of *really* good ones cost well north of $2K. Unless you're prepared to spend that, get a separate CDP for sure.

I'm not really familiar enough with the rest of your gear to discuss it. Hopefully it's all better than the Apex, which is definitely a weak link.

Like the others said, some idea of budget would help, as would knowing the kind of music you like. Most A'goners are music lovers first and HT users second, if at all. You're in the right place, but be prepared for some major sticker shock from some of the advice you may receive!

You don't need a lot of advice--you've chosen your equipment very well, with only one obvious exception. Apex is an off-brand with a poor reputation. A name-brand DVD players (Sony, Pioneer, etc.) will serve you much better.

The other thing you shuld do is play around a little with speaker positioning--it can make a bigger difference than changing anything in your system (the Apex excepted).

You might want to consider a used, older DVD/CDP. RIght now, Sony DVP S-7000 or Pioneer Elite DV-05 or 09 are available for $250-500.00 and would be a major upgrade to your APEX. The Sony compares quite favorably (not as good, but not a major step down) to a $4500 list/$1900 used transport/DAC combo in my system.

I'll defend APEX. You get a lot for your money. However, I would never use the audio outs. Use the digital outputs only and use the Denon's internal d/a. It should make a huge difference!

The biggest improvement will be changing the cd player, maybe check out Sony 555, Rega or Audio Research CD-1 as all three are nice payers. How much are you into 2 channel, as in most cases it's tuff to get the best of both worlds HT and 2 channel. If your happy with the speakers I would consider looking into changing the denon and replacing it with seperates if it's in the bugget. I'm 2 channel first then HT and could never have both in one room, tried it and hated it so I dedicate one room for 2 channel and one for HT.
Happy Listening!