The very best sound quality in a receiver. Easy to operate. Great WAF (except price).

Poor price to performance ratio.

I auditioned this beautiful audio piece by accident at Audiocraft, in Cleveland, OH while shopping for a receiver. It sounded marvelous.
I don't normally listen to Eric Clapton but that was what was playing through this receiver from a DTS laserdisc. At first I didn't like what I ws hearing, it sounded too bright. After about a minute of adjusting to the sound while browsing for other equipment, I started getting pulled into the music. This hasn't happened to me with Eric Clapton before. This receiver actually made me enjoy Eric Clapton's music. I know it was the receiver and not the speakers because I got a chance compare the same music and speakers with a Yamaha RXV 1105. The Yamaha sounded very good but not to where I was pulled into the music as much as with the B&K.
My wife heard a difference too and she actually said to me if I wanted buy it I could. I won't though. It's too expensive for my beer budget. Maybe when my ship comes in...

Taz

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I'll stick with my Nakamichi AV-7 with the Denon AVD 2000 DD decoder for now...

Why would you buy anything else?? This is the BEST receiver on the market. Nothing but pure, clean sound. Bright? No, accurate. Beautiful? You'll stare in amazement. Powerful? Rattles the house. Solid? Like a tank. Beats every other one-box system? Absolutely!! Some people have complained of hum problems, heat problems, etc. I've had none of these. Unit is warm to the touch after many hours of operation. Also, no hum. Very quiet. The remote is very easy to use, and has replaced 4 other remotes in my system. Excels on music and movies. The one trade-off: it lacks a six-channel input, but is upgradable. Five-year warranty. More inputs than you'll ever need. High-quality parts. Two-zone outputs. Plug-and-play. Excellent tuner. On sound quality alone, you'd have to spend thousands more to beat it. You can't go wrong with the AVR202!

Just recieved my new AVR202 and have been running it extensively for a week. It sounds great, is easy and intuitive to use with the plug and play features, and has no hum or other problems that I can find. Maybe I'm just lucky or maybe the factory has fixed all the early release problems. I suspect there are certain individuals out there that have a vendetta against B&K and are repeating problems (verbatim in some cases) that they may , or may not have really had. I wonder.
Anyway, I am 110% happy with my AVR202 so for and that's that.

After reading many bad reviews on the new B&K AVR 202 receiver, I decided to evaluate it for myself to determine the validity of the negative comments it was receiving. To my surprise, pretty much everything I read badly about this receiver was true.
The AVR 202 runs extremely hot, even in idle, and has a loud, noisy fan that would irritate the hell out of me if I had to hear it on a daily basis.

The rear channels had hum in almost every source I listened to. In had nice sound in 2 channel, but I would be using in 5.1 channels about 85-90% of the time.

IMHO the Yamaha DSP A1 outshines the B&K AVR 202 in just about every aspect. The DSP A1 is more powerful, cleaner processing (No hum or leakage in any channels), better remote, and better looking. In addition, the DSP A1 has 7 channel DSP that I could not live without after having it!!!! The 6 channel inputs make it an even sweeter deal.

I got my Yamaha DSP A1 brand new for $1999 shipped with a 2 year warranty. I challenge anyone to find a better one box solution at any price level. I guarantee that you wont. And, at this price point, it represents the nicest value currently available in today’s market !!!

I RECENTLY PUCHASED THE AVR202 AND AFTER AFEW HOURS A LOUD SQEALING DEVELOPED IN THE UNIT THAT ALSO WAS HEARD THROUGH MY CENTER SPEAKER. I EXCHANGED IT AND THE 2ND ONE IS GREAT. I NOTICE IT HAS A LOW HUM THAT IS AUDIBLE THRU ALL SPEAKERS. I AM AT THIS TIME AWAITING DELIVERY OF THE REF20 AND WILL TRY SEVERAL AMPS TILL I FIND THE RIGHT ONE. AT THIS TIME I STILL HAVE THE AVR202 IN MY SET UP AND THE SOUND IS TERRIFIC . MOVIES IN DOLBY PRO ARE BETTER THAN I HAVE EVER HEARD AND DD IS OUTSTANDING. CDS SOUND BEAUTIFUL AND HAVE TERRIFIC DETAIL , BUT THAT IS USING MY AUDIO ALCHEMY DAC. I GIVE IT 3 SPKRS BEACAUSE OF DEFECTIVE IST UNIT WHICH I AM NOT ALONE, AND BECAUSE AS GREAT AS IT IS THERE ARE LITTLE PROBLEMS THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST IN A UNIT SO COSTLY AND B&K'S REPUTATION FOR TURNING OUT HIGH QUALITY AMPS AND PREAMPS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE USING THE PUBLIC TO TEST OUT THEIR EXPERIMENT INTO AV RECIEVERS.

I had to return the AVR202 because I too experienced an annoying buzz when the receiver was on. This occurred even in sleep mode which tech support claimed causes all the output stages to turn off. This unit also runs very hot, so be prepared to ventilate it in open space or endure a noisy fan. I'm not impressed at any price, much less so for 2800 bucks. It did sound great when operating, however. It was the clear winner when doing an AB with the Yamaha DSP A1, which is why I bought it in the first place.

I took an AV202 home to audition on my current system. I have been wanting to switch to separates. However, I had heard about the unit and how it had the sound of separates.My current receiver is a Sony DA80ES. The B&K definately sounded clearer than the Sony with much more detail. The reason that I decided to take it back was due to the fact that it has a pretty bright sound. It doesn't have an EQ to tone down those bright-sounding movies. I also didn't have a good time working the menus and setups. For the same price, I can get a better pair of separates.

Well, have had my AVR202 setup and running for a week now. Absolutely perfect. So easy to setup that I didn't even need to consult the manual to connect and start listening. The Zone 2 setup is confusing though and I am still not sure how to switch back and fourth, but the IR inputs and DC control outputs are a godsend (for those of us doing whole house audio. No more stick-on emitters!). As for the sound... It's great!!! No hum, clicks, or thumps so far. Very beefy amp. Definitely B&K's trademark. The AVR202 flawlessly detected each DD DVD, DTS CD, and DTS DVD I tried, NICE. Unit runs warm, but seems to be no problem if you follow the manufacturers recommendations for space. For those poopooing the remote, this is the same top rated Univeral Audio remote that beat the Marantz unit in HT and SGHT! I have found it to be very easy to program and use (since it is fully user configurable). One minus so far: I would like more (actually, some would be nice) control over crossover points between front speakers and sub-woofer. Not as full featured as the Lexicon unit, but I have an extra $2,000.00 in my pocket.. Fair tradeoff.

I've had the AVR-202 for 2 weeks now, and absolutely love it. It sounds superb in my NHT VT-2/VS-2a speaker setup, on both music and movies. I researched and auditioned receivers for 10 months before deciding, and the AVR-202 surpasses everything else in its price range, as far as I can tell. I have to put my ear up against the speaker to hear any sort of problematic "hum" (see earlier posts below) and it's unnoticeable at 1-2 feet away. Dimmer switches operating on the same electrical circuit in the room do cause the AVR-202 to generate a louder hum, as I suspect they would with other receivers. The heat is not a problem (I'm using an open rack) and the fan is not noticeable. The build quality of this beast is awesome. If you're looking for a receiver in this price range, you won't find better.

After *several* problems with the B&K AVR202 (unit control freezing upon both front panel and remote, sound cutting out, volume control
turning on `Help' menu), I decided to go with components and purchased
the Reference 20 because of its price/sound quality.

The B&K Reference 20 had *exactly* the same problems!

I've absolutely given up on B&K and am moving up to a Proceed AVP or
Lexicon DC-1. The sound quality on the comparably priced Yamaha
DSP-A1 is distinctly inferior.

To determine if your B&K unit has these buggy features:

1. Leave unit on for ~24 hours at low levels (-50 dB or so).
2. Use front panel volume control.
3. If the `Help' menu ever comes on when you do this, chances are that
the unit will freeze up and you can only regain control by powering down.
4. Leave the unit on for another day or so and you may find that it
completely cuts out and sends a low hum to your amp or speakers.
Powering down for a few minutes fixed this problem for me.

It's up to you decide if this equipment will always return control to
you over a reasonable lifetime.